Sign a Contract Online

Before you sign: a two-minute check

• Names and addresses of the parties are correct, including the legal name of any company.
• Amounts, dates, notice periods and renewal terms match what you agreed.
• No blank spaces are left that someone could fill in later; write “n/a” where something does not apply.
• All pages and annexes referred to in the text are actually in the PDF.
• It is the latest version, not a draft with tracked changes.

How to sign a contract PDF online

1. Open the contract. Drop the PDF on Drop your PDF here above or click to browse. A contract sent as a Word file needs to be saved as PDF first.
2. Create your signature by drawing it or typing your name in a handwriting style, then click Use This Signature.
3. Sign the signature block. Go to the right page with Next, click the line, then drag and resize the signature to fit.
4. Complete the block. Use Add Text for your printed name and, if you sign for a company, your title (for example “Director, on behalf of Example Ltd”). Add Date adds the signing date.
5. Initial pages if required. Add Initials places your initials on the page you are viewing; repeat on each page that needs them.
6. Save the signed copy by clicking Confirm & Download Signed PDF. The new file is named after the original plus “-signed”; the original stays unchanged.

When both parties need to sign

Most two-party contracts are signed one after the other on the same PDF:

1. Party A signs and emails the signed PDF to party B.
2. Party B opens that file (not the original), checks that nothing else changed, signs in their own block and sends the fully signed PDF back.
3. Both keep the final file. That fully signed PDF is the contract.

If you sit together at one device, both of you can sign in one session: after the first signature is placed, click New Signature, let the second person sign and place theirs.

Is an online contract signature legally valid?

For ordinary commercial contracts, yes. The US ESIGN Act (15 U.S.C. § 7001) provides that a contract may not be denied legal effect, validity or enforceability solely because an electronic signature or record was used to form it. In the EU, Article 25(1) of the eIDAS Regulation says an electronic signature may not be denied legal effect or be refused as evidence just because it is electronic; only a qualified electronic signature counts as the equivalent of a handwritten one (Article 25(2)). The UK, Canada and Australia have comparable rules.

What makes a signed contract hold up is evidence: who signed, that they meant to, and that the document was not changed afterwards. Keep the email in which the signed PDF was sent and received, and store the final version where it cannot be edited by accident.

Contracts that need more than an e-signature

• United States: ESIGN (15 U.S.C. § 7003) does not apply to wills, codicils and testamentary trusts; adoption, divorce and other family-law matters; most of the Uniform Commercial Code outside sales and leases; court documents; and certain notices such as utility cut-offs, foreclosure or eviction of a primary residence, and health or life insurance cancellation.
• Germany: a property purchase must be notarised (§ 311b BGB), terminating an employment relationship needs a handwritten signature on paper (§ 623 BGB), and so does a personal guarantee (§ 766 BGB).
• Anywhere: if the contract itself says it must be signed in ink or by a specific process, follow that.

Country details: US, UK, EU and the country-by-country overview.

Common problems

• “This PDF is password-protected.” Open it with the password, print it to a new PDF and sign that, or ask for an unprotected copy.
• The contract is a scan. That is fine: a scanned PDF can be signed like any other. If you only have photos, combine them with image to PDF first.
• You need to change a clause. Do not edit and sign. Agree the change, get an updated PDF, and sign that version.
• Many identical contracts. If the signature goes at the bottom of page 1 each time, batch signing saves time.