How to sign a PDF using DocuSign

With technology transforming our lives at breakneck speed, sometimes we forget to press pause and ask simple questions like, “How can I sign a PDF?”

Even if you do know the answer to this question, do your customers? If you’ve invested in setting up DocuSign to reduce reliance on paper and speed up workflows, then you’ll need to let your customers know how to sign, too. Emailing them a contract only for them to print it out, sign it using a pen, and then scan it and email back … well, it kind of defeats the purpose, right?

The good news is that learning how to sign a PDF using DocuSign is a piece of cake. You and your customers can easily add an electronic signature to a PDF document, save the document with the signature securely in place, and send on for approval.

No customer barriers

If you plan to send PDFs to your customers for signing, they don't need to sign up for a DocuSign account. The recipient of an envelope simply needs to open the email, click  the link provided to the document - and sign. Of course, when they experience how easy and seamless the DocuSign experience is, they will want to sign up for their very own free account! It only takes a minute or so, and can be done here.

Creating an eSignature

To sign a PDF, you first need to create an eSignature in your DocuSign account. You’ve got options here – you can either:

  • Choose one from the DocuSign gallery
  • Make one with your mouse or a touch screen device
  • Upload your handwritten signature

Your eSignature doesn’t have to look exactly the same as your wet-ink signature. Any symbol or squiggle will stand up in a court of law as representing your intent to sign.

Adding an eSignature to a PDF

After you create your electronic signature, you can sign and send your document in minutes:

  1. Go to your DocuSign account
  2. Upload the PDF that requires a signature
  3. Drag and drop the signature field to the right location on the PDF
  4. Sign and email your completed document with a digital signature

It really is that easy. No more printing, scanning, posting and waiting around for documents to be sent backwards and forwards. Just smooth sailing with electronically signed PDFs.

Go paperless with a free 30-day DocuSign eSignature trial. Sign up today.

DocuSign eSignature Trial

Still not convinced? Use our Paperless Savings Calculator to see how much your business could save by going paperless.

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DocuSign
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