Acrobat online tools
Generate your signature online.

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ACROBAT

Digital signature generator — how to create your online digital signature.

Signed, sealed, delivered – add your digital signature to electronic documents with the Adobe Acrobat signature generator.

Sign Online with Adobe Acrobat

An image preview of Adobe's online signature generator tool used to create your own online signature.

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What is a digital signature?

How to generate a digital signature online.

Different types of digital signatures.

How to add your digital signature to different files.

Digital signature inspirations.

Frequently asked questions.

Whether you’re signing legal documents, making important financial transactions, or not-so-cautiously accepting personal responsibility on waivers for extreme activities like skydiving – there’s always something to sign. Once upon on a time, you would sign those with a flick of a pen. Now, you can save time by signing with a digital signature online.

Basic signatures are fine and all, but why not add a bit of flair and flourish to your documents with a personalised, yet professional online signature?

Put down the pen and discover how to create your own with Adobe’s digital signature generator.

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What is a digital signature?

Simply put, a digital signature is an electronic (often online) signature that you can use to sign digital documents such as PDFs. In some cases, it’s referred to as an e-signature (or e-signing.)

Just as in person, a digital signature adds personal authenticity to important documents. Best of all, with a digital signature, documents can be signed from a variety of devices – even your phone. That’s a lot less running around and a lot more convenience.

Learn more about digital signatures and how to generate them by reading on.

How to generate a digital signature online.

With a digital signature saved and ready to go, signing digital documents is faster than ever. Forget running to the printer to sign before you scan and send, just add your digital signature to your documents and share.

Open the PDF you want to sign in Adobe Acrobat.
Select Tools > Fill & Sign – or just click the Sign icon.
In the Fill & Sign menu, you can sign yourself or request e-signatures from others.
Adobe Acrobat can automatically detect where you need to fill in the form or sign. Just hover over the section with your mouse and a blue box will display.
Click anywhere in this box and you can fill the form in, including the signature section.
To add your digital signature, click the Sign icon in the toolbar. You can add your signature or your initials, depending on preference. First time signee? If so, you’ll need to create a signature first. You’ll be given the following options:
- Type. Enter your name into the field and choose from a selection of signature styles.
- Draw. Simply draw your signature using your mouse, finger or a stylus.
- Image. Add an image of your signature.
- Save Signature. Assuming you’re signed in, you can securely save your signature in the Adobe Document Cloud.
Once your signature is added, you can select it from the Sign options.
Click Apply, and then select where you would like to place your signature in your PDF document.
Signed the wrong section? You can easily move your signature – just select the field you signed and use the arrow keys to move it. If you want to delete the field, you can use the options in the Field Toolbar.

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Different types of digital signatures.

Signatures are designed to be distinguishable as your own, and difficult to replicate – that’s why cursive is more popular than print when it comes to writing out a signature.

Still, a cursive signature with loops and flourishes might not be ideal for every task. Select from simple, advanced and qualified e-signatures and choose the right one for each situation.

Simple e-signatures.

Simple e-signatures (SES) are exactly what’s implied – easy to create signatures that are ideal for simple forms.

SES are commonly used and include:

The I Agree button.
An image of a handwritten signature.
Initials.

Simple e-signatures provide little in the way of authentication but are ideal for quick and easy signing. However, they’re not suitable for anything that requires verification or security, such as a legal document. In fact, for these reasons, an SES isn’t legally binding. If you’re filling out an attendance sheet for a school trip though, they can be great.

Advanced e-signatures.

Advanced e-signatures (AdES) are the “next level” of digital signatures as they offer greater security measures. An advanced e-signature is usually linked to a specific signee via a piece of personal information that can identify them, such as a mobile phone number, device, or employee ID.

Because of this, AdES are more secure than SES, and more desirable when a form of identification verification is beneficial, but they can be more expensive and trickier to implement. AdES might not be ideal for documents that need to be legally binding, as the identity assurance of AdES is stronger but not watertight. Instead, they can be useful for non-binding agreements that require a bit of personal identification and security, such as a volunteering sheet.

You can make things a bit more secure by using Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) to protect against any fraudulent identity attempts, but it is not secure enough to be used for legally binding documentation.

Qualified e-signatures.

With Adobe Acrobat Sign, our digital signatures are backed by the Cloud Signature Consortium (CSC) standard. With CSC, third-party trust service providers (TSP) authenticate each signer’s identity via one of three processes:

Mobile app
Video call
Username/Password.

This is then supported by the presentation of a valid passport or driver’s license.

This multifactor process ensures an audit trail is attached to each signing. Because of this audit trail, QES is generally considered to be legally equivalent to a handwritten signature meaning it’s binding on most legal agreements. This makes QES ideal for use with work contracts, tuition documents, or other legally sensitive agreements.

How to add your digital signature to different files.

Digital signatures are an increasingly important part of personal and professional life – from simple document sharing to signing for parcels or volunteering, they’re a regular occurrence.

With Adobe’s digital signature solutions, you can do more than just sign PDFs. Whether you need to get a budget signed for quickly in Excel or you’re waiting for important signatures to sign off on a social media schedule in Word – with Adobe Sign, you’re not left waiting around.

Applying signatures direct-to-document makes your life (and a signer’s) easier. Now all that’s left to do is to get inspired and start crafting your own stand-out digital signature.

Digital signature inspirations.

Signatures help you to stand out from others by letting you get creative with your lettering. Whether you want to swoop and sweep your way onto the dotted line, or artfully accentuate those dots or tittles above your Is and Js, your signature gives you character.

So, let’s look at some famous signatures to inspire our own digital signature and what we want it to represent.

Winston Churchill’s signature is tightly written in cursive, with a punctuation mark clearly defining his name. It gives a sense of intellect and focus.

Ernest Hemingway’s signature presents an artistic flow, without too many flowery frills. It pairs well with his logical and direct writing style.

Bill Gates’s signature gives a sense of his determination and thoroughness. It coordinates well with his modest approach to leadership and a quiet confidence.

Serena Williams’ signature swoops out of the lines, conjuring an image of grace and confidence. It’s playful and diverts expectations by only using her first name.

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By changing the angle, weighting, or flourishes of a letter, you can send signals about your personality:

Slanted and energetic lettering could give somebody the sense of an extrovert.
Creating patterns with lettering could be deemed creative.
Flicks and flairs can showcase energy and enthusiasm.
Strict, legible signatures can convey a serious or focused nature.
Including your full name may give a sense of authority.

Whether you want to jot down your signature as a legible scrawl or a piece of cursive craftsmanship, it’s easy to make your signature uniquely yours. Try Adobe Fill & Sign today and create a unique digital signature to save time on signing documents.