How do I fill in and sign a form on screen?

The print-sign-scan-return cycle is unnecessary for almost every form now, and the tools to avoid it are already installed. The main confusion is that PDFs come in two kinds, and only one of them has fields to click into.

Safety

Step by step

1. Try clicking into the form first.If a cursor appears and you can type, it is an interactive PDF with real fields. Tab moves between them. This is the easy case and needs nothing special.
2. Use fill-and-sign for a flat PDF.If nothing happens when you click, the form is a flat image. Every mainstream viewer has a tool — variously called fill and sign, text, or markup — that lets you place a text box anywhere on the page.
3. Use what is already on the device.Preview on macOS, Edge or Acrobat Reader on Windows, Files or Markup on iPhone, and most Android PDF viewers. None costs anything and none uploads the document anywhere.
4. Match the text size to the form.Set the size once on the first field and it usually carries to the rest. Text much larger or smaller than the printed labels looks wrong and sometimes gets rejected.
5. Handle tick boxes with a text character.On a flat form, place a small text box with an X or a tick character. Some tools have a dedicated tick and cross. Either is accepted.
6. Create a signature once and reuse it.Every fill-and-sign tool can capture a signature by trackpad, mouse, finger or by photographing one written on white paper. Photographing a real signature gives by far the best result. It is stored for reuse.
7. Size and place the signature sensibly.Drop it on the line, scale it to fit the space, and add the date in a separate text box. A signature that overruns into other fields is the usual reason a form comes back.
8. Know when a typed signature is enough.Most everyday forms accept a drawn or typed signature. Anything legal — deeds, wills, some property documents — may need a wet signature or a formal e-signature service, so check before assuming.
9. Flatten or export before sending.Save or export as a new PDF so the text becomes part of the page rather than editable annotations. Otherwise the recipient may open it with everything still moveable, or not see it at all.
10. Check it on a different device before sending.Open the finished file in another viewer or on a phone. Annotations that render on your machine and vanish elsewhere are a common and invisible failure.
11. Use a phone scan if the form must be on paper.Where a form genuinely has to be printed and signed, a phone scanning app produces a far better PDF than photographing it — square, cropped and readable.

Tips

• Photograph a signature written in black pen on white paper, then crop tightly. It looks better than anything drawn with a mouse and takes two minutes once.
• Rename the file to something meaningful before sending. 'scan_0001.pdf' arriving in someone's inbox helps nobody.
• Keep a copy of what you sent. Forms get lost and reconstructing a submission from memory is miserable.

Common mistakes

• Uploading a personal form to a free online PDF editor — The document goes to someone else's server. For anything with financial or identity details, use the tools already on the device.
• Sending without flattening — Annotations can render differently or not at all in another viewer, so the recipient sees a blank form and assumes you did not fill it in.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask