The term ‘free esign’ simply means adding an electronic signature to a document after generating it, either using a free esign online service or free esign software. You can find a free esign service very easily. The online esign option is much simpler because there’s nothing to download. The best free esign software for this purpose is the cloud-based solution called Wondershare Document Cloud. It can be used to esign free online as well as to store confidential documents securely on the cloud. This article explains how it works and also showcases an alternative to esign offline using a desktop software application.
Digital Signature vs. Electronic Signature - What’s the Difference?
Both are used on official documents and are legally valid in most countries. You can use them on contract documents, formal agreements, MoUs, online forms, and any other document that requires a legally binding signature.
A digital signature requires a certifying authority to issue a digital certificate to validate the signature for legal purposes. On the other hand, an electronic signature is validated using unique identification elements like your IP address and other ways. Depending on what platform you are using, you can easily create a digital signature or an electronic signature. Two methods are explained in the two sections following this one.
Wondershare Document Cloud - The Best Free eSign App on the Cloud
As the name suggests, Wondershare Document Cloud is a holistic document management solution on the cloud that you can access on any modern browser on a connected device. It offers free cloud storage as well as a feature for PDF esign free - either signing documents yourself or sending them to others to collect their signatures. If you need to increase the limits, you can opt for an affordable upgrade and get more storage and no limits on how many documents you can send for signing.
Here’s how it works:
1. To store a document on the cloud, sign up for a Wondershare ID and log into the Wondershare Document Cloud website.
2. Once you’re inside, click the Upload Files button to import PDF documents from your local drive.
3. To generate an esignature, click on the image of your avatar on the top left and choose Signing Setting.
4. In the pop-up window, create your e sign using the type, draw, or upload function. Save the file so you can use this to esign documents in the future.
5. To send documents to others for signing, you can use one of the two available options - Request Signatures and Bulk Send. The first one sends one copy to multiple people so they can all sign on it in their respective predefined fields. The second sends one copy to each person in the list so they can sign individually.
6. On the following page, you can add signers, include a special security code, set the signing order with or without including yourself (first or last), include a company logo and a custom message, and so on. Click Next to proceed to the next step.
7. On the final page, you will need to select each signer and add fields for them by dragging them from the left-side panel to the document on the right. Position them where you want them to go, and when you’re done, you can click the blue Send for Signature button.
Each recipient (including you if you added yourself to the signing list) will receive an email with a link. Clicking on the link will take them to a new browser window where they can create their own unique electronic signatures, add them to the document, and submit it back to you. As the main user, you can also sign a document by clicking the Sign button that you see to the right of the document name in the Recent Document Activity section of the Home tab of Wondershare Document Cloud.
Using PDFelement for Windows as a Desktop Digital Signature Solution
Wondershare PDFelement is integrated with a digital signature generation tool that can be used to sign PDF documents. In addition, you will have access to a full suite of PDF tools for editing, file conversion, encryption, annotating, size optimization, page and file organization, OCR, batch processes, form management tools, and much more. To use the digital signature feature, follow the steps shown below:
Wondershare PDFelement Pro DC
Simplify your Workflow with the Document Cloud for PDFelement.
1. Install and launch PDFelement on your PC. Use the Open Files option to upload a document from your local hard drive or an external USB drive.
2. Click the Protect tab in the top-level menu, then click Sign Document below that in the ribbon toolbar.
3. You will see a new window appear on your screen. Click New ID and another window will pop up. In this second window, choose to create a new ID and enter the details to generate the digital signature. Save it.
4. To add the signature to the open document, simply click the Sign Document button again, choose your newly created digital signature, and click the Sign button to add it to the document. You can reposition it after it is added. That’s it!
Wondershare has already released the new Windows version of PDFelement Pro DC, which is integrated with Wondershare Document Cloud. Here are three ways to access DC through the new PDFelement.
1. Uploading the current PDF file - If you’re working on a file offline and need to upload it to your Wondershare Document Cloud account, simply use the Export option and select Wondershare Cloud as your destination directory.
2. Downloading from the cloud - To fetch a file from Document Cloud, click the File menu option and then Open. It will show you the list of your cloud-saved files, from where you can select the Download option to import it for offline editing.
3. Electronic signature feature - This feature now has a dedicated button in the Protect tab of PDFelement Pro DC. Clicking the Electronic Signature button takes you to a new browser window, where you’ll be taken to the Sign tab of Wondershare Document Cloud.
Conclusion
Wondershare gives you flexible free esign options for all your document needs, whether it’s online or offline. If you need to work on a document before sending it for signing, use the older PDFelement 7 (or lower version) or even PDFelement Pro DC to edit your file and add, remove, or change the content. Based on which version you use, you can choose the add a digital signature offline or esign online free. Wondershare Document Cloud can also be used as a standalone service that you can access from any connected device, which gives you the freedom to use the esign software freely as you travel or commute.