# Sign a PDF

> How to sign a PDF by hand in vivePDF: draw your signature or take it from a photo, save it, place it on the page and set its size.

URL: https://vivepdf.com/en/docs/sign-a-pdf/
Last updated: 2026-10-24

To sign a PDF, open it, click **Edit** in the strip on the right, choose **Page tools › Place signature**, draw your signature and place it on the page. The signed document is saved as a new file; your original stays as it was.

1. Open the document in the Viewer and click **Edit** in the strip on the right.
2. In the bar at the top, choose **Place signature** from the **Page tools** menu.
3. Click **New** and draw your signature with a mouse, pen or finger. To use a photo of your signature on paper, choose **From photo**. Click **Save signature**.
4. Click where the signature goes, drag it into place and change its size with the **Width** slider.
5. Click **Apply signature**.

![The Signatures window: a signature drawn in the Draw a signature area, with Clear, From photo and Save signature](https://vivepdf.com/shots/en/sign-1-1600.webp)

A saved signature is ready next time, so you don't have to draw it again. It is kept on this computer and never sent anywhere.

![The signature placed on the Client line of the agreement; the Width slider and Apply signature in the bar at the top](https://vivepdf.com/shots/en/sign-3-1600.webp)

After **Apply signature**, the signed copy (for example `agreement-signed.pdf`) opens in a new tab.

![The signed agreement open in a new tab, with a Signed: agreement-signed.pdf message in the corner](https://vivepdf.com/shots/en/sign-4-1600.webp)

> **A drawn signature is not a digital signature**
>
> A drawn signature is a picture on the page; it does not prove the document was not changed afterwards. For formal documents you can sign with a .p12 or .pfx certificate; see [Sign and verify](https://vivepdf.com/en/docs/sign/).