How to place signature fields on a PDF

A signing link is only as good as the marks on the page. Inkpacket stores signature, date, text, initials, checkbox, and select fields as coordinates on the PDF — percentages of the page, not pixels that break when the viewer resizes. You place them on a draft or on a template. pdf-lib stamps the values onto a second stored object when the envelope completes.

This guide is the public field-editor walkthrough. Desk help is Docs. Features is field placement. Upload and storage errors live at Docs. If you already know the layout and just need to send, use the five-minute send.

What you need before you place marks

• A real PDF — not a scan of a scan, not an empty file, not a .docx renamed in hope. Empty uploads return Upload a PDF file. Non-PDFs return Only PDF files are accepted. Unreadable bytes return This file could not be read as a PDF. Files over 15 MB are rejected.
• A title the team will recognize later. “Vendor agreement — Harbor Co.” beats “Document (3).”
• A decision on who signs which box if more than one person will touch the envelope.

Settings shows File storage as S3-compatible when the S3_* keys are set, otherwise Local fallback. Uploads still work. Other workspaces cannot see the file. If preview says it could not load the PDF, refresh; a missing or empty stored object returns that error instead of a blank page — re-upload if you are the sender.

The six field types

Assign each mark to a recipient slot. An envelope with two signers needs marks on both slots. Suggest starting layout can drop a signature, initials, and date per recipient on the last page — a page-count heuristic, not a model that reads the PDF or guesses labels.

What each mark does

• Signature — the visible mark the signer applies. Required if you mean them to sign there.
• Initials — a shorter mark. Same assignment rules as signature.
• Date — stamped when they submit. Use it for “signed on,” not for a start date they must type.
• Text — anything they must type: title, entity name, a short note.
• Checkbox — stamps an X when checked. Use for acknowledgments you can prove later.
• Select — a dropdown. Needs at least two comma-separated options.

Required fields block submit. Do not mark optional notes as required unless you mean it. Keep marks inside the visible page. A signature in the margin still “works,” but the filed PDF will look sloppy. Place once, scan the page, save. You are still in draft until you send.

One-off draft versus a template

If you will send this PDF once, stay on the document. Place fields, name the signer, send. If you will send it again next week, save the PDF and marks as a workspace template, then start the next envelope from that layout. Templates that reuse field layouts and More on templates are the reuse path.

Bulk send and Web Forms both require a template. There is no “upload a PDF and also a CSV” in this pass, and a public /form/SLUG is published from a saved layout. Bulk send and Web Forms start after the marks exist.

Marks for several signers

Add recipients on the send form — up to 20. Sequential or parallel routing decides who is invited when. Place fields for each recipient before you send. A later sequential signer who opens early sees a waiting page; they cannot complete marks that are not theirs yet. Sequential vs parallel signing and routing help match that send form.

What you can still change

After send, fields and routing are locked. Envelope admin corrects a signer who has not signed, or voids the envelope. It does not move field boxes, and it is not a second upload. If the PDF itself is the wrong file, void the in-flight envelope and send from the right one. Completed envelopes cannot be voided; the stamped copy is the record. Envelope admin is the in-place toolkit.

Access codes, reminders, and expiry are send options, not field types. Lock the link if a forwarded URL would be a leak. Set a cadence so the envelope does not sit. Access codes and reminders and expiry sit on that form.

What field placement is not

• Not model-based detection. Suggest starting layout uses page count and recipient count.
• Not a cross-workspace form library. Templates stay in the organization.
• Not a notary or qualified-signature workflow. Those stay out of this pass — see the FAQ.
• Not a substitute for a readable PDF. Fix the file, then place marks.

When the envelope completes, Inkpacket stamps the values and stores a second object. Preview the pages in the field editor and download the signed copy from the same envelope. What a completed envelope includes is the after-sign guide. Place the fields once if you can name the next send. Then pick a signer — or publish a Web Form — and let the link do the walking. Open a workspace on Free; billing is published, not charging.