How to prepare a PDF for other people to sign
Updated
Contents
To get a PDF ready for other people to sign, open Request Signatures, add the PDF, list each signer's name and email, pick the page for the signature block, and press Prepare signature request. Our secure server adds a fillable signature box for each signer, with a date box beside it unless you untick that option, and you download a ZIP holding the prepared PDF.
Know this before you start: pdf.xyz does not contact your signers. There is no email, no signing page, no reminder and no tracking. The names and addresses you type are written into the package, not used to reach anyone, so you send the prepared PDF yourself, and each signer types into their own boxes.
Request Signatures runs on our secure server, not in your browser. Your PDF, up to 100 MB, and the signers' names and addresses travel over an encrypted connection. The PDF you sent is deleted when the job ends, and our server's link to the ZIP, which carries those names and addresses, stops working after 60 minutes. No account is needed.
Step by step
- 1Open the Request Signatures tool. Prepare signature request works once the status badge reads Secure server.
- 2Drop one PDF on the box that says “Add your PDF, or browse”, or click it to choose the file. Its page count appears beside its name once your browser has read it.
- 3Under Signers, type each person's Full name and email address. Add signer adds a row, up to 10. A row without a name or a valid-looking email is left out.
- 4Choose Sequential — one at a time or Parallel — everyone at once under Signing order. Signature page starts on the last page; change it if the block belongs elsewhere, and check the preview of that page.
- 5Fill Request title (optional) if the package should name the agreement, and untick Add a date field next to each signature for signature boxes only.
- 6Press Prepare signature request. Your PDF uploads over an encrypted connection to our secure server, and the button follows the job until the package is back in the page.
- 7Press Download contract-signature-request.zip, the button named after your file: contract.pdf comes back as contract-signature-request.zip. Save it before you close the tab.
- 8Unzip it and send prepared.pdf to your signers yourself.
What is in the ZIP
The ZIP holds prepared.pdf, manifest.json, audit-trail.json, and README.txt. prepared.pdf is your document with the new boxes; every page and any form fields it already had are kept. manifest.json records each signer, the boxes that belong to them and the signing order, and README.txt lists the signers in order with their boxes.
manifest.json and audit-trail.json both carry the SHA-256 fingerprint of the file you sent, so you can later hash your original and confirm it is the document the request was prepared from; prepared.pdf itself will not match, because the boxes changed it. The package is always marked as prepared, never as signed.
Where the boxes go
The boxes are placed for you, near the left edge just above the foot of the chosen page as it is displayed, so a rotation or crop the page carries is taken into account. Signer 1's box is lowest and each further signer's sits above it, with the date box to its right. Rows keep one height for a short list and shrink as more signers are added, so the block still fits the page.
There is no dragging. The boxes are outlines with no background, laid over whatever is printed there, so choose a page with blank space at the foot. The preview shows each signer's boxes on the page before anything is sent.
How your signers fill them in
Each box is an ordinary text form field named after its owner, such as Signer1-Signature-1 and Signer1-Date-1. A signer types a name into their signature box and the date into the date box, in any PDF viewer that fills forms; the date box is blank, not a date stamp.
Fill Forms fills the boxes in the signer's browser. Its Flatten after filling option bakes every field into the page, other signers' empty boxes included, so only the last person to sign should tick it.
Signing order, and what this is not
Sequential and Parallel are recorded in manifest.json and README.txt; pdf.xyz does not route the file, so the order holds only if you pass the PDF from one signer to the next yourself.
A typed name in a form field is not a certificate-based digital signature: there is no identity check and no tamper seal. To sign a document yourself, Sign PDF draws, types or places an image of your signature on the page, in your browser.
Common questions
Does pdf.xyz email the document to my signers?
No. There is no email, reminder or status tracking. The names and addresses you type are copied into manifest.json and README.txt; unzip the package and send prepared.pdf however you normally share files.
Can I see who has signed?
No. There is no status page and no record of signing: the package records what was prepared, not who signed it. Ask each signer to send the completed PDF back to you.
Can I move the boxes?
No. They are placed automatically near the foot of the chosen page, signer 1 lowest. Pick a page with blank space at the bottom, and check the preview before you prepare the request.
How many people can sign one PDF?
Up to 10, each with their own signature box and, unless you untick the option, a date box, all on the one page you choose.
Why can't I prepare a password-protected PDF?
Boxes cannot be added to a locked file, so an encrypted PDF is stopped as soon as you add it, before anything is sent, with a message saying which lock it has. Remove the lock with Unlock PDF, using a password you know, then prepare the unlocked copy.