Initials on every page, placed in one move
Leases, loan packets and long service agreements often ask for initials at the foot of every page, so nobody can later claim a page was swapped or never seen. Placing twenty initials boxes by hand is tedious, and asking a signer to draw their initials twenty times is worse. Both take one step in SignMaster.
Updated November 5, 2026 · 3 min read
On this page
Why initial every page
Initials on each page show the signer saw that page, which matters most in documents where one page carries a key term: a rent amount, a late fee, an arbitration clause. In an electronic envelope the record already covers a lot of this. Every page is stamped with the envelope ID and its page number, and the signed PDF carries a fingerprint that shows whether anything changed. Many people still want the initials, and some documents ask for them by name. See initials for when they help.
Place them on every page at once
- 1
Place one initials field
Drag Initials onto the first page where it's needed, usually the bottom corner, and assign it to the signer.
- 2
Open its menu
Click the field's More (⋯) menu and choose Copy to other pages…
- 3
Pick the pages
Choose Every page, Every page after this one, or Choose pages to tick the ones you want, such as every page except the signature page.
- 4
Copy
Press the Copy to … pages button. Each copy lands in the same spot, assigned to the same signer, with the same required setting.
Two signers who both initial? Copy each person's field separately; each copy keeps its owner. The copies stay within the document you're working on, so in an envelope with several files, repeat the step for each file.
Do it on the template
Copy the initials across the template's pages once, and every envelope you send from it starts with them in place.
What the signer does
At the first initials box, the signer sees Add your initials. They draw, type, upload or photograph them once and press Adopt and sign. From then on, every initials box fills with a single tap as the guide moves them through the document, so twenty pages of initials take twenty taps, not twenty drawings. Signers who are signed in with a saved set can use Use my saved initials.
Initialing a change
Paper contracts get handwritten edits with both parties' initials beside them. If you want that, turn on Let signers add text and initials for the envelope. A signer can then add a note and their initials anywhere, and it's printed into the signed copy with the rest. For bigger changes, a fresh document is cleaner than a page of crossed-out lines.
Placing them with text tags
If you build the document yourself, type a tag such as {{initials:1}} where the first signer's initials belong, then save it as a PDF and upload it. SignMaster finds the tags, offers to turn them into fields, and paints over the tag text. Put the tag in your page footer and every page gets one.
Questions? Answers.
Do signers have to draw their initials on every page?
No. They adopt their initials once, and each later box fills with one tap.
Can I skip the last page?
Yes. Choose pages lets you tick exactly which pages get a copy, so the signature page can be left out.
Are electronic initials legally the same as handwritten ones?
In the US, ESIGN and UETA give electronic initials the same standing as electronic signatures. See are electronic signatures legal for the details and the exceptions.
Can I move one initials box after copying?
Yes. Each copy is its own field, so you can drag, resize or delete any of them.