How to fill and sign a PDF
Filling and signing a PDF is two jobs, and the first one decides how easy the second is. If the PDF has real form fields, you click and type. If it's a flat scan or a printed form saved as a PDF, you have to place text boxes yourself. Work out which you have, pick the free tool that fits, and you'll be done in a few minutes.
Updated November 9, 2026 · 3 min read
On this page
Fillable or flat? Check first
Open the PDF and click on a blank. If a box appears with a blinking cursor, or the blanks are highlighted when you open it, it's fillable: the author built form fields into it. If nothing happens and you can only select the printed text, it's flat. Most government and tax forms are fillable; scanned documents and many contracts are flat.
| Your PDF | Fill it with | Then sign it with |
|---|---|---|
| Fillable form | Fill a PDF in your browser, Preview on a Mac, Acrobat Reader, Edge or Firefox | Preview, iPhone or iPad Markup, Acrobat Reader's Fill & Sign, or Edge's Draw tool |
| Flat PDF or scan | A text tool that types anywhere: Acrobat Reader's Fill & Sign, Edge's Add text, Firefox's Text, Markup's text box | The same app, so you only save once |
| Old XFA form that won't open properly | Adobe Acrobat Reader, which supports XFA | Acrobat Reader's Fill & Sign |
Our free Fill a PDF tool lists every field in a fillable form in order, so nothing gets skipped, and it works in your browser without uploading the file. For a flat PDF, or if you want to sign as well, Sign a PDF free lets you drop text, date and signature fields anywhere on the page.
Fill and sign it, step by step
- 1
Save a copy first
Download the PDF and keep the blank original. If you make a mess, you start again from a clean copy instead of fighting the edits.
- 2
Fill every blank before you sign
Go top to bottom. Some tools lock what you've typed once you sign or save, so finish the form first. Use N/A rather than leaving a required blank empty.
- 3
Tick the boxes properly
In a fillable form, click the checkbox itself. In a flat PDF, type an X in a text box over the box, or use the app's check mark if it has one.
- 4
Sign and date
Add your signature on the signature line and the date next to it. If the form asks for initials on each page, add them now, not after you notice on page 9.
- 5
Lock the answers and send
If your tool offers to flatten the form, do it for the copy you send, so nobody changes an answer by accident. Open the saved file to check everything is there before you attach it.
Common snags
- The fields won't take typing. The form may be secured by its author or be an XFA form. Try Acrobat Reader, or ask the sender for an unlocked copy.
- Accented letters print as question marks. Standard form fonts cover English and Western European letters; other characters can fail. Our Fill a PDF tool flags them before you download.
- Your answers vanished after emailing it. Some viewers don't show unflattened form data. Flatten the final copy before you send it.
- The text box covers the printed line. Zoom in and nudge it with the arrow keys, or make the font one size smaller.
When someone else fills it in
If you're the one who needs the form back, from a customer, a tenant or a new hire, don't email the PDF and hope. In SignMaster, upload it and click Add form fields: the PDF's own fillable boxes become SignMaster fields, assigned to the person who fills them. Add any missing ones, such as signature, initials, date signed, text, checkbox, dropdown or file upload, and mark the required ones. Send it, and they fill and sign from a link on any phone or computer, without an account. Save it as a template if you send the same form often, and every answer lands in the template's Responses table on paid plans, ready to export as CSV.
Questions? Answers.
What's the easiest free way to fill and sign a PDF?
Use the tool already on your device: Preview on a Mac, Markup on iPhone and iPad, Edge on Windows. For a fillable form in any browser, try our free Fill a PDF tool, then sign the result.
Can I fill and sign a PDF on my phone?
Yes. On iPhone and iPad, open it in Files and use Markup. On Android, Adobe Acrobat Reader's Fill & Sign or the Google Drive pen both work.
How do I make a flat PDF fillable for other people?
Add fields to it. In SignMaster you place fields on any PDF, even a scan, and assign each one to the person who fills it in. See how to make a fillable PDF.
Is a PDF I filled and signed myself legally binding?
It can be. Under the federal ESIGN Act a signature can't be denied legal effect just because it's electronic. For agreements you may need to prove later, a signing service with an audit trail is stronger.
Sources
- Microsoft Learn, PDF reader in Microsoft Edge (form filling, XFA) · learn.microsoft.com
- Adobe Help, Sign PDFs in Adobe Acrobat Reader · helpx.adobe.com
- Apple, Fill out forms, sign documents, and create signatures on iPhone · support.apple.com
- 15 U.S.C. § 7001, ESIGN Act general rule and consumer consent (govinfo) · govinfo.gov