How to sign a PDF in Microsoft Edge

Sign a PDF in Edge

Microsoft renames toolbar buttons from time to time. If a label doesn't match, hover over the toolbar icons at the top of the PDF; the pen is the one you want for signing.

1. 1

   Open the PDF in Edge

   Right-click the file, choose Open with, then Microsoft Edge. Or drag the file into an Edge window. On many Windows PCs, Edge is already the default PDF app, so a double-click does it.

2. 2

   Fill in the form fields

   Click into each blank field and type. Some versions of Edge want you to select Edit in the toolbar first. Check boxes and drop-downs work too, as long as the PDF has real form fields.

3. 3

   Add text where there's no field

   Choose Add text, click where the words belong and type. You can drag the box into place and change its size, color and spacing.

4. 4

   Draw your signature

   Select Draw, pick a color and line thickness, and sign on the signature line with a pen, your finger on a touchscreen, or the mouse. Erase removes a stroke if you want another try.

5. 5

   Save a signed copy

   Choose Save as to keep the unsigned original, or Save to overwrite it. The ink is saved into the file and prints with it.

A signature that looks like yours

• Use a pen or a touchscreen if you have one. Microsoft built Edge's inking for pens and touch; a mouse works, but it rarely looks like handwriting.
• Zoom in before you draw. A bigger page gives you more room, and the signature comes out smaller and neater when you zoom back out.
• Sign once, slowly. Several overlapping attempts look worse than one careful one. Erase and start again instead.
• Pick dark blue or black ink at a medium thickness, so it reads clearly when printed or faxed.

What Edge can't do

Microsoft's own documentation for the Edge PDF reader lists a few gaps worth knowing before you start:

• XFA forms don't work. Some government and insurance forms are built in this older format. If the fields are missing or the page says to open it in Adobe Reader, do that instead.
• Forms that run scripts don't work. Edge supports basic form filling, not JavaScript forms, so totals that should calculate themselves won't.
• It checks digital signatures, but doesn't make them. Edge can view and validate a certificate-based signature already on a PDF; adding one needs other software.
• Nothing records who signed. Your drawing is ink on the page, with no trail of who drew it or when.

For a fillable form that Edge struggles with, try our free Fill a PDF tool, or Adobe Reader's Fill & Sign, which handles XFA.

When someone else has to sign

Edge is fine for your own signature. When a customer or a colleague has to sign, send it for signature instead: in SignMaster, which runs in Edge like any other site, upload the PDF, add each person's name and email, place their signature and date fields, and send. They open a link on any phone or computer with no account. When everyone has signed, each person gets the PDF with a certificate of completion listing who signed, when and from which IP address. The Free plan sends 3 envelopes a month.