Sign a PDF in Preview without printing it

Steps

1. 01

   Open the PDF in Preview and try typing first

   • Double-click the PDF — Preview is the Mac's default PDF viewer
   • Click a field in the form and type your text; many forms accept this directly

   ✓You should see: Your text appearing inside the form's own boxes.

2. 02

   If the form will not take typing, add text boxes

   Some PDFs are pictures of forms rather than forms

   • Click the Show Form Filling Toolbar button, then the Text Box tool, and place a box where the writing should go
   • Drag each box into position and size the text so it sits on the line rather than over it

   ✓You should see: Your own text boxes sitting where the form's fields would have been.

   Why?

   A scanned form is the common case here. It is not broken and you are not missing a setting — it simply has no fields to click into.

3. 03

   Capture your signature once

   Preview stores it, so this is a one-off job

   • Trackpad: click Trackpad, click the text as prompted, sign your name on the trackpad with your finger, press any key, then click Done
   • Camera: click Camera, hold your signature — written on white paper — facing the camera so it is level with the blue line in the window, and click Done when it appears
   • You can also capture it from an iPhone or iPad

   ✓You should see: Your signature saved and offered in the signature menu from now on.

   Why?

   Apple notes that on a Mac with a Force Touch trackpad, pressing more firmly gives a heavier, darker line — useful if your first attempt looks thin.

4. 04

   Place it and size it

   • Choose your saved signature, then drag it onto the signature line
   • Drag its corner handles until it sits at a sensible size — a signature scaled too large is the giveaway that a document was signed on screen

   ✓You should see: Your signature sitting on the line at a believable size.

5. 05

   Save a copy, not the original

   • Use File›Duplicate,or File›Export as PDF, so the blank original survives
   • Name it so you can tell the signed copy from the empty one at a glance

   ✓You should see: Two files: the blank form you were sent and your signed copy.

   !Careful: A captured signature lives on your Mac and can be dropped onto any document by anyone using your account. Keep the Mac locked when you step away, and keep FileVault on.

   Also see: Turn on FileVault full-disk encryption · Hot Corners: put your screen corners to work