If you receive a contract or form of some sort in PDF format that you need to fill out and/or sign and send back, there is an easy way that saves time, money and trees not having to print it out and scan it again.
Using the current version of Adobe Reader XI, there are three (3) options in the top right corner. If you click “Sign” you will see a column appear down the right side of your PDF document. You have several options for signing and filling out the document.
Click “Add Text” and then click on the area of the document that you wish to type. You can now type directly onto the PDF document.
Click “Add Checkmark” and you can now click on checkboxes on the PDF document to add checkmarks.
Click “Place Initials” and you can then click where you want to place your initials. If you have not used this feature before it will first ask you to uploaded a scanned copy of your initials, or create initials to use. It will remember this going forward for future documents.
Click “Place Signature” and you can then click where you want to place your signature on the document. If you have not used this feature before it will first ask you to upload a scanned copy of your signature, or create a signature to use. It will remember your signature going forward in future documents.
Once you are finished with all the changes in the document, click “Signed. Proceed to Send”. You will then see a new set of options. You can choose the appropriate one whether it be send via email, fax or saving a copy of it to reply to the original email which is my favorite option. If you forgot to fill out something, there is another option “Back to Fill & Sign”. Click that to go back and follow the same steps above until you are done.
Now you just saved time, money and trees! 🙂