Mac guide
Sign a PDF on Mac,
in your browser.
Preview can sign PDFs, but it's fiddly for quick one-off documents and it strips form fields on save. For everyday signing, pdf2sign in Safari or Chrome is faster and keeps the rest of the PDF intact.
Open pdf2sign1. Drag the PDF in
Open pdf2sign.app/sign in Safari, Chrome, Firefox, or Arc. Drag a PDF from Finder, Downloads, Desktop, or the Mail attachment preview — anywhere macOS lets you drag a file — straight into the editor's drop zone.
Prefer keyboard? Click the drop zone to open the standard macOS file picker and pick the PDF there.
2. Create a signature
Draw with your trackpad
Force Touch and Magic Trackpad strokes are captured at full resolution. The on-screen canvas translates trackpad movement one-to-one. It takes a couple of tries to get used to signing on a trackpad, but the result stays sharp when you resize.
Use Sidecar with an iPad and Apple Pencil
If you have an iPad, turn on Sidecar (System Settings → Displays → + sign → your iPad). Drag the pdf2sign tab onto the iPad display, then draw with your Apple Pencil. The canvas captures full pressure data.
Type in a handwriting font
Fastest option. Pick one of four fonts, type your name, done. Good when the recipient cares about speed, not about whether the signature matches a wet-ink sample.
Upload via Continuity Camera
In the Upload tab, click the drop zone. In the file picker, control-click and choose Import from iPhone or iPad. Your phone camera opens; photograph your real signature on a white page. The image arrives in pdf2sign ready to be dropped onto the PDF. pdf2sign can strip the white background so you get a clean transparent signature.
3. Place it and download
Drag the signature onto the signature line. Use the corner handles to resize. When the document looks right, click Download. Safari/Chrome saves the signed PDF to your Downloads folder (or wherever you've configured downloads to land).
pdf2sign vs Preview's Markup
Honest comparison — neither is strictly better, they suit different jobs.
Preview Markup wins when
- You already have a signature saved in macOS
- You're offline and don't want to load any webpage
- You're annotating (highlight, arrows, text) as well as signing
pdf2sign wins when
- You want a fresh signature without committing it to macOS
- The PDF has form fields you want to preserve
- You need the same flow to work on a phone later
- You want a typed handwriting-font signature
Keyboard shortcuts worth knowing
- ⌘O — open the file picker from the editor
- Delete — remove a selected signature or text overlay
- Arrow keys — nudge a selected overlay by 1 pixel (with Shift, by 10)
- ⌘S — download the signed PDF
Frequently asked questions
Doesn't Preview already sign PDFs?
Yes — Preview has a built-in Markup tool that can sign PDFs. It's great when your signature is already saved in macOS. pdf2sign is useful when you want a fresh signature, want the signed PDF to retain all its form fields, or want to use the same flow across Mac and any phone you pick up.
Can I use Continuity Camera to upload a signature from my iPhone?
Yes. In the Upload tab, when the file picker opens, right-click and choose Import from iPhone (or the three-dot menu in the picker). Your iPhone camera opens; photograph your signature on white paper, and it appears in pdf2sign ready to be cleaned up.
Does it work with Apple Silicon Macs?
Yes. pdf2sign is a web app — it runs identically on M1, M2, M3, M4, and Intel Macs. No architecture-specific binary to install.
Will this work if I'm offline?
Once the page is loaded, yes. You can disconnect from Wi-Fi and the full sign-and-download flow still works, because everything runs locally in Safari/Chrome.
Is it safe for confidential documents?
Yes — your PDF never leaves your Mac. Open DevTools (⌥⌘I) → Network while you sign; you will see zero PDF uploads. Full details on the security page.
Can I sign multiple PDFs in a row?
Yes. After downloading a signed PDF, drop the next PDF into the editor. If you create an account, you can save signatures so you don't have to redraw them each time.