Electronic signature vs digital signature
A handwritten image and a certificate-based digital signature can look similar on a page, but they provide different information. This tool creates signature images and adds them to PDFs.
Make Signature Online lets you draw, type, or extract a signature and place that image on a PDF. It does not create a certificate-based digital signature, verify identity, or produce a signing audit trail.
What is an electronic signature?
Electronic signature, often shortened to e-signature or e signature, is a broad term for signing electronically. A typed name or a handwritten mark added to a document can be part of that process. Different signing services provide different levels of identity checks, records, and document protection.
With this tool, you create the visible mark. You can download it as a PNG or JPG or use the homepage PDF editor to place it in a document. The image alone does not prove who placed it, when they placed it, or whether someone later changed the document.
What is a certificate-based digital signature?
A digital signature uses cryptography and a digital certificate to connect signing credentials to the document and support checks of document integrity. Validation depends on the certificate, trust settings, and signing process. A decorative signature image is not a substitute for those checks.
Adobe explains the certificate-based approach in its certificate signature documentation. The digital signature may have a visible appearance, but its cryptographic information is what distinguishes it from a picture placed on the page.
Compare the capabilities
| Capability | This tool | Certificate-based signing |
|---|---|---|
| Create a handwritten appearance | Draw, type, or extract an image | May include a visible signature appearance |
| Place a mark in a PDF | Adds an image to a downloaded copy | Applies a digital signature using signing credentials |
| Certificate validation | Not provided | Checks depend on the certificate and its trust chain |
| Cryptographic document integrity | Not provided | Supports checking changes to signed document data |
| Invitations and audit records | Not provided | Depend on the signing service and workflow |
Choose the workflow the recipient needs
Before preparing a document, check its instructions. If the recipient accepts a signature image, use the homepage PDF signing workflow or insert a PNG into Word. Review the downloaded document before sharing it.
If the instructions specify a digital certificate, an identity check, a particular signing platform, or an audit trail, follow that process. This tool cannot add those features by changing the signature’s handwriting style or file format.
This guide describes technical capabilities; it does not promise that a signature image satisfies a particular document’s requirements.
Privacy is a separate question
Here, signature images and PDF contents are processed locally in your browser. Local processing avoids uploading the contents for the tool’s editing workflow, but it does not authenticate the signer or make a downloaded file tamper-evident.
Once downloaded, the signature image is an ordinary reusable image file. Store it with care and share it only where needed. Read the privacy and security page for details about working copies, downloads, and website hosting requests.
Can I use this to digitally sign a PDF?
If you mean adding a visible handwritten mark, use Sign document on the homepage. If you mean a certificate-based digital signature, you need a tool and signing credentials that support that process. This site also rejects PDFs that already contain certificate signatures to avoid modifying them through its image placement workflow.