How to sign a PDF without Adobe

Updated 15 October 2026. Steps follow Google’s Chrome help and Apple’s Preview guide; menus can change between versions.

Sign in Chrome

1. Open the PDF in Chrome

   Drag the file into a Chrome window, or click a link to it. If the PDF is shown inside another page, open it in its own tab.

2. Choose Draw, then Pen

   In the viewer’s toolbar choose Draw, then Pen in the panel on the right. Pick a dark colour and a thin size.

3. Draw your signature

   Zoom in on the signature line first, then sign with your mouse, trackpad or a stylus. Undo and try again until you’re happy with it.

4. Download the signed copy

   Choose Download, then With your changes. Open the downloaded file once to check the signature is there.

Chrome has no separate signature tool: Google’s help describes drawing it with the pen, so you sign again on every document. Typing your name with Add text works where a typed name is accepted. More on the viewer’s tools in how to annotate a PDF in Chrome.

Sign with Preview on a Mac

Preview stores your signature so you can reuse it. Apple’s guide gives three ways to capture it: draw it on the trackpad, hold a signature written on white paper up to the Mac’s camera, or draw it on an iPhone or iPad.

1. Open the PDF in Preview

   Preview saves changes automatically, so choose File › Duplicate first if you want to keep an unsigned copy.

2. Show the Markup or form-filling toolbar

   Click the signature button and create a signature with the trackpad, camera or your iPhone or iPad.

3. Place it

   Choose the signature, then drag and resize it on the line. With iCloud Drive, Apple says your signatures are also available on your other Macs.

Step-by-step form filling on a Mac is in how to fill out a PDF on a Mac.

Other free ways

• Microsoft Edge on Windows has drawing tools, and Microsoft’s older documentation for its PDF reader mentions using ink to sign. Microsoft’s current pages don’t describe a separate signature tool. Edge lets you save a copy with your markings.
• A Chromebook’s Gallery app has a signature button and keeps your signature for the next PDF. See how to fill in and sign a PDF on a Chromebook.
• Adobe Acrobat Reader is Adobe, but free. Its Fill & Sign tool is there if a form needs it.

Sign with Quire PDF

Quire PDF is our Chrome extension. Its Sign tool places a typed or drawn signature, and you can save the signature and reuse it on the next document, which Chrome’s own viewer can’t do.

1. Open the PDF

   Click the Quire PDF icon in Chrome’s toolbar, choose Open a PDF, or drop the file on the page.

2. Choose Sign

   Type your name or draw your signature, and save it for next time if you like. Place it, then move and resize it on the line.

3. Save a copy

   Save a copy (Ctrl+S, or ⌘+S on a Mac) downloads the signed PDF. The original file is never overwritten.

Saved signatures stay in your Chrome profile on this computer. Removing a document from Quire’s library doesn’t remove a saved signature; you delete that separately.

Drawn signature or digital signature?

Adobe describes an electronic signature as a broad term for any electronic process that shows you accept a document. A digital signature is a stricter kind: it is made with a certificate from a trusted provider and cryptographically bound to the file, so changes after signing can be detected.

Every tool on this page, Quire PDF included, makes the first kind: a picture of your signature. That is fine for many permission slips, leases and everyday forms. If the sender asks for a certificate-based signature, or sends you a link to an e-signature service, use what they ask for. When in doubt, ask them.

Questions

More guides

• How to fill a PDF form in Chrome without Adobe
• How to fill out a PDF on a Mac
• How to fill in and sign a PDF on a Chromebook
• How to flatten a PDF

All guides · Quire homepage