How To Add Signatures To Your Finished Document

When you have finished creating your document on HASpod, you will probably want to share it with your team.

Sharing a document with your team is easy, you can attach it to an email, use a file-sharing service or shared drive, or print off a hard copy.

But for your records, you'll want to know who has (and hasn't) seen a copy of the document. After sharing the document, it's a good idea to get your team to sign and date it, to show they have read and agreed to the document's contents before they start work. And you might want to do this without printing off your document and using pen and paper.

There's an easy and free way to add signatures to your PDF documents electronically, and this guide will show you how.

Download your document

The first step is to download your document. On any edit or template in HASpod, you will find a Download button.

Clicking Download will create your PDF download. We will take the template, and any changes you have made, add your business name (and logo if you are on the Documents or Pro membership plans) and give you a finished PDF of your document.

You can share your PDF document with your clients, other contractors, your team, and anyone else who needs to see it. Your finished PDF download is not editable, so you can share it safely knowing your work can't be tampered with.

But when you are sharing your document with your team, you might want them to be able to add a signature.

Sometimes, they might sign a printed version of your document at your business or your sites. But as we increasingly go paperless, why should your health and safety documents be any different?

Well, they don't need to be.

If you want to forget the pen and paper and collect signatures without printing off your PDF download, you can, by using a free PDF reader.

Once you have created and downloaded your health and safety document on HASpod, it's yours to keep. And you can collect signatures on your download at any time in the future, as long as you have it saved on your computer or device.

Let's see how...

PDF reader

A PDF reader is the software you can use to open PDF documents. You will need a PDF reader to view your document, and to add signatures.

We recommend Adobe Acrobat Reader for a few reasons. It's the most popular, comes pre-installed on many operating systems, it's stable, works on desktop, tablets and mobile, and it's free. The engineers at Adobe invented the PDF, so they know their stuff when it comes to this file format!

You might already have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, if not, downloading Adobe Reader is free and simple. Follow this link if you are on a desktop or laptop. If you're on a mobile or tablet, search for "adobe reader" in the app store.

Then follow the installation steps given by Adobe.

Open your PDF

Now it's installed (if it wasn't already!), you can open up your PDF download in Adobe Reader.

If it's the default PDF reader, you can double-click on the file to open your PDF document in Adobe Reader. If Adobe Reader isn't the default PDF reader, right-click on the file and select Open With. Or, open Adobe Reader and choose File > Open and select the document.

Adding signatures

We've opened up the document, but you can do even more. You can add signatures, and dates, and even make other comments if you need to. A record of any changes anyone makes, and when, will also be stored in Adobe Reader, keeping your PDF as part of your paper trail once it's returned to you signed.

Remember, your PDF download is your finished document, for full editing, use the HASpod editor.

To add signatures you have a couple of options, E-Sign or Draw freehand.

Add Signature

Choose this tool if you want to add your signature to a few documents, and are happy to have your signature saved in the software (e.g. you are using it on your secure computer or device).

In Adobe Reader click E-Sign > Add signature.

Alternatively, select Add your signature or initials > Add signature from the floating edit menu.

In the pop-up that opens, you can choose to type, draw or upload an image of your signature to add to the document.

Draw freehand

Alternatively, you can easily add your signature or multiple signatures and other details using the floating menu.

To add a signature click the Draw freehand > Draw tool in the floating toolbar (the curling line icon).

To type your name, date or other comments you can select the Fill in form fields > Type text (the A inside a dotted box icon).

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Want to edit and create a health and safety document? Check out how to create a health and safety document with HASpod. There are hundreds of health and safety templates available on HASpod you can use for your business.