“Fill and sign” is one of the most common PDF workflows — an administrative declaration, a contract to return, a registration form — and one of the worst served since Adobe retired its Fill & Sign app, pushing users toward Acrobat Reader and its mandatory account for online features. The good news: the fill + sign combination fits entirely in a browser, with no account and without the document ever leaving your device.
What changed: the end of Adobe Fill & Sign
For years, the Fill & Sign mobile app did exactly what its name promised: open a PDF, type into the blanks, apply a signature, send it back. Adobe retired it and folded the feature into Acrobat Reader — free, but tied to an Adobe account, and the web version works by uploading your document to Adobe’s servers.
For a mundane form, that’s an acceptable trade-off. For a tax declaration, a medical file or an employment contract, less so: the file contains precisely the personal data you don’t want to hand to a third party. Hence the case for a local path.
Two situations: interactive form or “flat” PDF
Before starting, identify what you’re holding:
- Interactive form (AcroForm fields): areas respond to clicks — checkboxes, text fields, dropdowns. Most recent administrative forms are like this.
- Flat PDF: a scan or an export with no fields. Nothing is clickable; text will have to be placed on top.
Both can be handled locally — only the method differs.
Fill the form without printing it
For an interactive form, the Fill a form tool detects the fields and lets you type your information in place, inside the browser. No data is transmitted — a sensitive point precisely when these are administrative forms. The detailed walkthrough is in Fill a PDF form.
For a flat PDF, use the editor: text boxes placed where the blanks are, then export.
Sign without printing or scanning
Once the form is filled, the Sign PDF tool builds your signature three ways — freehand drawing (mouse, trackpad, finger), styled text, or an imported image — then places it on the pages you need, at the exact size and position. Also handy for initialing every page of a contract.
The signature is visual: the image of your signature on the document. For the legal detail — when it’s enough, when it isn’t — see visual signature vs eIDAS. And for the tool’s full walkthrough, Sign a PDF locally.
Freeze the result before sending
One last recommended step: flatten the PDF. Flattening merges filled fields, text boxes and the signature into the content layer — the recipient can neither move your signature nor edit your answers, and the file displays identically in every reader. Keep the unflattened original for yourself: flattening can’t be undone.
The honest limits
- Visual signature ≠ qualified signature. For deeds requiring verified identity, qualified timestamps or integrity evidence (some notarized procedures, regulated tenders), you need an eIDAS trust service — not an image-placement tool.
- Old XFA forms (produced by legacy Adobe software) remain poorly supported by all non-Adobe readers — ours included.
- No multi-signer workflow: getting a third party to sign remotely requires a managed e-signature service. Here, you’re signing your own copy.
- Always check the exported file in a second viewer before sending — a minute that saves a round trip.
