Sign a PDF without uploading it
Draw your signature, drop it onto the page, and save. Add text and highlights too. It all happens inside your browser — the contract you are signing never leaves your device.
No sign-up. No upload. Nothing to install.
How to sign a PDF
- Open the document. Drop your PDF onto PDFLight. Nothing is uploaded.
- Enter annotation mode. Open the Tools menu and choose "Sign / Annotate".
- Create your signature. Draw it with your mouse, trackpad or finger — or import an existing PNG of it.
- Place it. Drop the signature where it belongs, then drag or resize it. Add text or highlights the same way.
- Apply and save. Click Apply to bake the annotations into the PDF, then Save. The signed file is written to your disk.
Why this matters more for signing than for anything else
A signature is not just an image — it is the thing that makes a document binding. And a document you are about to sign is, almost by definition, a document that matters: a lease, an employment contract, a consent form, a bank mandate. It usually carries your full name, your address, and often more.
Signing is therefore the one operation where you upload two sensitive things at once. The contract is one. The other is your signature itself, which is reusable: an image of your handwritten name, extracted from a PDF, can be placed on any other document. Sending it to a server you know nothing about is a different order of risk from sending a holiday photo.
Here, both stay on your machine. The signature you draw never leaves the canvas it was drawn on, and the document it is baked into is rebuilt in your browser. Neither is transmitted, which is the specific reason to prefer a local tool for this task over any other.
Worth being clear about what this is and is not: a drawn signature is a simple electronic signature. It is admissible in the EU and the US alike and is perfectly adequate for most agreements, but it is not a cryptographic one — it does not make the file tamper-evident. Where you need that, you need a certificate-based signature.
One current limitation, stated plainly: annotations assume upright pages. If a page is rotated, the placement will be off. Rotate the page back before signing.
Frequently asked questions
Is my signed document uploaded?
No. Both the document and your signature stay in your browser. Nothing is transmitted to a server.
Can I draw my signature or must I import one?
Either. Draw it directly on a canvas with your mouse, trackpad or finger, or import a PNG you already have.
Is an electronically drawn signature legally valid?
In most jurisdictions a simple electronic signature is valid for everyday agreements, but rules vary by country and by document type. For anything high-stakes, check what your jurisdiction requires — PDFLight does not provide a qualified/certified digital signature.
Can I also add text and highlights?
Yes. Annotation mode offers text, highlights and signature images, all of which you can move, resize and delete before applying.
Can I undo a signature after applying it?
Yes. Applying is a normal undoable edit — Ctrl+Z brings the document back.
Go deeper
Before signing anything consequential, it is worth knowing what your signature is legally worth and what else the file might be carrying: