How to create an electronic signature

Creating an electronic signature takes about thirty seconds. Creating one that holds up takes a little more thought. This guide covers the three forms and when each is appropriate.

Form 1: The typed signature

You type your name into a signature field. The platform, or your own process, records the act of typing it and the moment you committed it.

How to do it well:

Type your full legal name, not a nickname — it should be obvious to a later reader who signed.
Make sure the surrounding flow makes the signing action explicit.
Confirm the confirmation email arrives and that it identifies the document.

Legal note: no statute requires a handwriting image. A typed name adopted with intent to sign is a signature. In the U.S. this is the ESIGN Act's definition; see the ESIGN Act.

Form 2: The drawn signature

You draw with a mouse, finger, or stylus on a touchscreen.

How to do it well:

Draw it inside the platform's signature field, not in an external image editor.
If you are on a laptop trackpad, a typed signature usually looks better and carries the same legal weight — do not fight it.
Never place a drawn or photographed signature image into a document manually unless the platform is capturing the act of placement as part of its audit trail.

The common mistake is treating the image as the signature. The image is decoration. The signature is the recorded act of adopting the document.

Form 3: The certificate-backed digital signature

For documents where tamper-evidence must be provable independently, you need a certificate. The steps are:

Obtain a signing certificate from a certificate authority — either a personal certificate or one issued through a trust service provider.
Install it in your operating system or signing application's certificate store.
Sign the PDF using a tool that embeds the signature and the certificate chain.
Verify the signature yourself before sending, in a reader that shows signature validity.
Tell the recipient what to expect; an unverified signature indicator can alarm someone who has not seen one before.

This is more work, and for most commercial contracts it is unnecessary. It becomes necessary when a regulator, an internal policy, or a high-value counterparty requires it. See digital certificates and PKI.

What to set up once, then reuse

A signature profile in your chosen platform with your name, title, and preferred style.
A saved initial set — you will sign far more initials than full signatures.
Two-factor authentication on the account that holds your signatures. An account with your signature in it is a high-value target.
A folder structure for completed documents with the audit trail exported alongside each one.

Do not

Do not reuse one signature image across unrelated people or entities.
Do not sign on someone else's behalf without a documented authority to do so.
Do not store your signing certificate's private key on a shared machine.
Do not assume a signature is invalid because it looks casual — validity turns on intent and evidence, not appearance.