How to fill in and sign a PDF
Each guide walks through the tool you already have, says exactly where it stops, and links to the vendor's own documentation so you can check. If the built-in tool is enough for your document, use it — we would rather be the page you trusted than the page that wasted your afternoon.
Using the tool you already have
Edge, Chrome, Preview, Word and Drive will each do part of this job. Here is how far each gets.
How to sign a PDF in Microsoft Edge
Sign and fill in a PDF using the PDF reader built into Microsoft Edge — the steps, and the three things it cannot do.
How to sign a PDF in Chrome
Sign a PDF with Chrome's built-in viewer, and why you can't type onto a flat form in Chrome on Windows or a Mac.
How to sign a PDF in Preview on a Mac
Preview is the best built-in PDF tool there is: fill forms, add text boxes to flat forms, and capture a signature from the trackpad, camera or iPhone.
How to sign a PDF using Microsoft Word
You can open a PDF in Word and sign it — but Microsoft warns the layout may not survive. Here is how, and when not to.
How to sign a PDF in Google Drive
What Google Drive can actually do with a PDF form — freehand annotation on Android, eSignature on Workspace — and what happens if you open it with Google Docs.
On a phone
Signing with a finger beats signing with a mouse.
How to sign a PDF on an iPhone
Apple's Markup will sign a PDF on an iPhone, and it is genuinely good. Here is how — plus what to do when the form is flat or needs to go back as Word.
How to sign a PDF on an Android phone
Android has no built-in way to type on a PDF — Files by Google offers pen and highlighter only. Here is what works.
When something goes wrong
The form won't let you type, or the result can still be edited.
How to fill in a PDF that isn't editable
When clicking the boxes does nothing, the PDF is flat — a picture of a form. Here is how to type on it anyway, on any device.
How to flatten a PDF so it can't be edited
Why your filled-in form can still be changed by the recipient, what flattening actually does, and how to do it free.
Try it on your PDF
Open your document, fill it in, sign it and save. Nothing is uploaded, and you don’t need an account to start.
or drop a file here · nothing is uploaded