Put the date next to your PDF signature

Where exactly the date goes

If the form has a line labelled Date, the date goes on that line, even when it's some distance from the signature. On a single line such as “Signature ________ Date ________”, put the date after the word Date, level with your signature. In a stacked block with Signature, Print name and Date on separate lines, each entry stays on its own line.

When there's no date line but you've been asked to date the document, place the date directly beneath your signature or just to its right, close enough that it clearly belongs to that signature and not the one next to it. A short label, “Date: 28 September 2026”, settles any doubt when several people sign on the same page.

Keep the date out of the signature image

It's tempting to save a signature with the date written into it so both appear in one click. Don't. A saved signature gets reused, and a date baked into the picture will be wrong the next time you sign. It also can't be nudged or corrected on its own. Keep the signature as one item and the date as another; in the editor both can be moved and resized independently.

A plain typed date is fine beside a handwritten-style signature. The date is information someone needs to read, so legibility matters more than matching the look of your signature. If the form shows a pattern such as DD/MM/YYYY, type the date with Add Text in exactly that pattern instead of using the calendar.

In Acrobat Reader: add it as text

In Acrobat and the free Acrobat Reader, the signature and any text are added with the Fill & Sign tools, which the current Acrobat groups under E-Sign. After placing your signature, click where the date belongs, type it into the text box that appears, and drag the box by its border to align it. The same pop-up menu changes the text size and can switch to combed spacing for forms that give each digit its own little box. Because the date sits in its own text box, you can move or resize it without disturbing the signature.

When the date is part of a digital signature

A certificate-based signature made with a digital ID works differently. In Acrobat you draw a rectangle where the signature should appear, and that box can hold text as well as, or instead of, a picture of your handwriting. Adobe's documentation on signature appearances lists what the text can include: the name from your certificate, the date signed, a location, a reason for signing, the distinguished name, and labels for each item. You set this up under Preferences, then Signatures, then More in the Creation & Appearance section, where you create a new appearance.

That date comes from the signer's own machine. Adobe notes that a signature appearance can only show local computer time, which may differ from the time recorded in the signature's properties when a timestamp server is used. When the signature is checked, Acrobat reports either that the signature time is from the clock on the signer's computer or that the signature is time-stamped. If the exact moment of signing could ever be disputed, a trusted timestamp is far stronger evidence than the date printed in the box.

Adding the date after you've signed

With a signature image there's no problem: open the saved PDF, place the date and save again, using the day you actually signed. The guide on which date to write covers what to do if the document has already been sent.

A certificate-based signature is a different matter. Adobe explains that once a digital signature is applied the PDF becomes read-only for others, and a signer who ticked Lock document after signing can't change it either. If you're the only signer and didn't lock it, you can clear your signature, add the date and sign again. If others have already signed, ask whoever started the document for an unsigned copy. Don't work around the lock by printing to a new PDF: the copy looks signed, but the digital signatures themselves are gone.

On DocuSign, Acrobat Sign and similar services

If a document reaches you through an e-signature service, you normally don't type the date at all. The sender places a date field beside the signature field and the service fills it in as you sign. Acrobat Sign, for instance, lists its Date of signing field among the fields whose value comes from the recipient's signing activity rather than from typing. If a date box in such a document is empty and lets you type, it's an ordinary text field: enter the day you're signing.

Sources

• Adobe Acrobat documentation: Custom signature appearances (Configure Text, Date)
• Adobe: Add digital signatures to PDFs in Acrobat (drawing the signature rectangle)
• Adobe: Personalize digital signatures in Acrobat
• Adobe: Validate digital signatures (signing time messages)
• Adobe: Add time stamps (local time vs. timestamp server)
• Adobe: Permissions and limitations of signed PDFs
• Adobe: Fill and sign forms
• Adobe Acrobat Sign: Form field properties (Date of signing)