How to add a date next to your signature on a PDF

You’ve signed the PDF and there’s a short line next to it: Date: ______. Annoyingly, that tiny blank is often more fiddly than the signature itself — you can’t type into a flat PDF, and drawing “24/07/2026” with a fingertip looks like a ransom note.

Here’s how to do it properly, starting with the free options.

First, the two questions worth answering before you type anything

Which date goes there? The date you actually signed — today. Not the date the document was drafted, not the date the other party signed, and never a date in the past to make a deadline look met. Backdating a signature line is the one thing on this page that can genuinely cause you trouble; if you’re signing late, sign with today’s real date and say so in the email.

Which format? Match the document. If the form already shows MM/DD/YYYY or DD/MM/YYYY under the line, use that — it tells you which convention the sender expects. When there’s no hint, spell the month out (24 July 2026) — it’s unambiguous in every country and impossible to misread as a different day.

Free option 1: iOS Markup (no app needed)

If you’re signing on an iPhone or iPad and the PDF is open in Files, Mail or Photos:

Tap the Markup (pen tip) icon.
Tap + → Text.
Type the date, then tap out of the box.
Drag it onto the line. Pinch or use the aA control to size it so it sits on the rule rather than floating above it.
Done → save or share.

This genuinely works and costs nothing. The catch is that it’s manual every single time: new text box, retype the date, resize, reposition. For one date a year that’s fine. For a lease with three date fields and a set of initials on every page, you’ll feel it — which is the same reason filling out a whole form on iPhone with Markup alone gets tedious fast.

Free option 2: Preview on a Mac

If the document is already on a Mac, Preview handles it well: Tools → Annotate → Text, type, drag into place, and use the font panel to match the size. Preview also keeps saved signatures, so you can place both in one pass. Export as PDF when you’re done.

Free option 3: the PDF might already have a date field

Before you annotate anything, tap the blank line. If a keyboard pops up, you’ve got a fillable PDF — real interactive fields — and you can simply type. Fillable forms usually come from HR systems, tax portals and modern lease software. Most documents in the wild are flat scans where nothing is tappable, but it takes one tap to check and it saves you the whole exercise.

Doing it in Signed

Signed treats the date as a first-class field rather than a text box you rebuild every time:

Import the PDF — from Mail, Files, Photos, or any app’s share sheet.
Tap Date. It comes pre-filled with today’s date, so there’s nothing to type.
Place it on the line next to your signature and drag to size once — the sizing sticks.
Add your signature from your saved library — drawn, typed in a handwriting style, or generated from your name.
Initials and printed name if the document asks for them — saved once, stamped anywhere.
Export a flattened PDF and send it back.

Everything happens on the device, so the contract with your salary or address on it is never uploaded to a server.

Getting the date to sit right next to the signature

Whichever tool you use, these are what separate “signed” from “obviously edited in a PDF app”:

Match the ink. Same colour as your signature — black or dark blue. A black signature next to a bright red date reads as two different events.
Size it to the line, not to the page. The date should be roughly the height of the printed text around it. Oversized dates are the giveaway of a phone-signed document.
Sit on the rule, not above it. Zoom right in before you place it. At 100% you can’t see a 3-pixel float; at 300% you can, and so can the person receiving it.
Keep it on one line. 24 July 2026, not a wrapped two-line box.
Check every page. Multi-page agreements often hide a second date field on the signature page and one on an addendum at the back. Scroll the whole document before exporting.

What about the “date signed” line on contracts?

Some agreements have a separate Date Signed block, sometimes with a witness line beside it. Fill in your own date only — leave the counterparty’s and the witness’s blank for them. If a field says “Effective Date” rather than “Date Signed”, that’s usually specified in the body of the contract and may not be today at all; read the clause before guessing. If the two dates genuinely differ and you’re unsure what belongs where, ask the sender — a one-line email is cheaper than a re-signed document.

Signed is a tool for signing and filling PDFs, not a source of legal advice. If the document itself matters — a lease, a settlement, anything with money attached — read what you’re signing, and take proper advice when the stakes justify it.