How to add signature, initials and date fields to a PDF

The five field types

Field	What the signer does	What the signed copy shows
Signature	Adopts a signature the first time: types their full name, then picks one of three handwriting styles or draws it	Their signature in a "Signed with Attest" stamp with the verification code, the signing date and a QR code
Initials	One click, once they have adopted a signature: the initials are made from the name they adopted	Their initials in a smaller "Attest" stamp with the verification code
Date signed	One click fills in the date	The date, as text
Full name	One click fills in the name they adopted	The name, as text
Text	Types what your label asks for, such as a job title or a company name	The text, sized to fit the field

Signature, initials, date and full name fields are always required. A text field is optional unless you mark it Required.

Before you start

• A free Attest account and a signing key, set up once with a passkey and a recovery phrase. How to send a document for signature walks through that setup.
• The PDF, up to 8 MB.
• Each signer's email address. A document can have up to 20 signers.

Place the fields, step by step

The video above shows these steps on the real app.

1. Open Documents in the menu (it reads Agreements on accounts that use every Attest tool) and click New agreement.
2. Add a Title, click Attach the document to be signed and choose the PDF, and type each signer's email address under Signers. If you sign too, check Add me as a signer (sign in-app, no email).
3. Click Next: place the fields. The pages are drawn in your browser from your file. When you send, your browser encrypts the document before upload, and Attest receives where each field sits, never the document in readable form.
4. Under Fields for, click the signer the next field belongs to. Each signer has their own color on the page, and the list shows how many fields each one has, with a warning while someone has no signature field.
5. Under Add a field, choose Signature, Initials, Date signed, Full name or Text. Signature is already selected when you start.
6. Click the page where the field goes. It lands centered on the spot you clicked, and the same field type stays selected, so you can keep placing.
7. Switch signer or field type as you go. To have someone initial every page, place an Initials field for them on each page.
8. For a text field, type What to enter (for example "Job title"), up to 60 characters, and check Required if the signer must fill it in.
9. To adjust a field, drag it to move it, or drag its corner to resize it. To remove one, select it and click its cross, or press Delete.
10. Make sure every signer has a signature field. Until each one does, Attest shows "Every signer needs a signature field" and won't create the document.
11. Click Create and send, or Save as draft to send it later.

Tips for fields that print well

• Signature fields keep room for their stamp. A signature field has a minimum size, and if a page makes it smaller than its stamp needs, the stamp is drawn larger, centered on the field and within the page, so every signature stamp carries the verification code, the signing date and a QR code, on any page size.
• Make text fields wide enough for the answer. Entries are printed as text and sized to fit the field, so a long answer in a narrow field prints small.
• Keep each signer's fields together. Place the date and the full name beside or under the signature line they belong to, as on a paper form.
• Use up to 200 fields per document, across every signer.
• Every signer sees who signs where. On the signing page, a signer's own fields are highlighted and clickable, and everyone else's are shown faintly, labeled with who fills them, by name or email address (for example "Signature, for David Chen").

Fields on a PDF you sign yourself

When someone emails you a PDF to sign and return, click Sign a document yourself instead of New agreement. Attach the PDF (its file name becomes the title), click Next: place your signature, click where you sign, and where you initial or date, then click Continue to sign to go straight to signing it. How to sign a document sent to you and send it back covers the rest.

What each signer sees

1. The page tells them how many places they sign. They click Open and start signing and confirm with their passkey, which unlocks their key, and the document is decrypted in their browser.
2. A bar at the top counts their required fields ("2 of 5 required fields complete"), and its Next button (for example "Next: initials") takes them to the next empty one.
3. The first time they click a signature, initials or full name field, the Adopt your signature window opens. They type their full name, pick a style or switch to Draw and draw it, and click Adopt and sign here. The window reminds them that their passkey makes the signature binding, not the drawing.
4. Initials, date and full name fields fill in with a click each, and they type into text fields. An optional text field shows "(optional)" after its label.
5. When the bar reads "Every field is complete", they click Sign with your passkey and confirm with Face ID, Touch ID, Windows Hello or the device PIN.

Why the entries can't be quietly changed

In a PDF editor that stamps a signature onto the page, the signature is an image and the date is a line of text. Either can be moved or retyped later, and nothing on the page shows it.

In Attest, each signer approves with a passkey, a cryptographic key only the signer controls. It signs a statement that names the document's fingerprint, the fingerprint of everything that signer entered, and where each entry sits on the page. A fingerprint (a SHA-256 hash) is a short code calculated from content: change one character and the fingerprint changes.

• Entries stay private. What a signer types or draws is encrypted in their browser with the document's key. Attest checks only that every required field was filled, never what was entered. It does see where each field is placed.
• Every party gets the same sealed copy, with each entry drawn where it was placed, and the signed state is anchored on Horizen, a public blockchain.
• Anyone with the copy can check it, free. The open-source verifier inside the signed copy re-makes every page from the original document and each signer's entries, in the places their statements name, and compares the result with the copy byte for byte. Change an entry, or move it, and verification fails.

Sending without fields

Fields are optional. If you click Send without fields, each signer reviews the document and signs it with their passkey, and the signed copy carries no in-page stamps. When the document has lines to sign, initial or date, fields show each signer exactly where, and put their signature stamp on the page.