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Two ways to sign, and we never blur them

Most PDF apps call everything “a signature”. We don’t, because the two things behave differently the day someone disputes the document — and because the app tells you, before you sign, exactly which one you are about to produce.

The two things, side by side

Visual signature

Your handwriting, captured from the trackpad, a photo, your phone or an imported image, placed on the page. Free, unlimited, no certificate involved.

In the United States that is usually enough. Under the federal ESIGN Act and the state-level UETA, what makes an electronic signature enforceable is intent to sign, consent to transact electronically, a signature logically associated with the record, and a record that can be retained and reproduced. PDFsigna keeps that association intact and never rewrites the file behind your back. Courts still weigh the evidence, so for anything high-value, sign with a certificate.

Digital signature

A real cryptographic signature built with your certificate — from the system keychain or certificate store, or a .p12 file — embedded in the PDF as PAdES. It detects any change made after signing, identifies you, and survives being emailed around.

Stated precisely: PDFsigna produces advanced electronic signatures under Article 26 of the eIDAS Regulation, in PAdES format as defined by ETSI EN 319 142. When you have a certificate, your visual signature is wrapped as the appearance of that real signature field — the drawing becomes decoration on top of something that actually holds up.

If your document crosses into Europe, the level matters

The EU grades electronic signatures, and the grade depends on your certificate and on where its private key lives. Before you sign, PDFsigna reads the QCStatements in your certificate and tells you exactly which rung you are about to land on. Always a symbol and a label, never colour alone, and never hidden in a menu. The Windows app also checks them against the European trusted list (LOTL) and the Spanish one. On macOS that check isn’t built and has no date: as long as it isn’t, the Mac app treats no certificate as qualified, and the highest level it shows is “Advanced”.

  1. A qualified certificate whose key sits in a qualified signature creation device: a national ID card, a smart card, or remote signing by a qualified trust service provider.

    Qualified (QES)

    “Equivalent to a handwritten signature throughout the EU.”

  2. A software certificate from a qualified provider, held in your system keychain. The most common case in Spain.

    Advanced with a qualified certificate

    “Accepted by the Spanish public administration. Not equivalent to a handwritten signature.”

  3. A certificate that is not qualified — your own, or one issued by your company.

    Advanced

    “Detects changes and identifies the signer, but with no qualified provider behind it.”

  4. Your handwriting placed on the page, with no certificate behind it. The default in the free tier — and the level most US agreements are signed at.

    Simple (visual signature)

    “Not an advanced signature. Limited evidential weight.”

  5. Integrity or certificate chain verification failed.

    Invalid or altered

    “The document was modified after it was signed.”

Those five levels describe the European framework. US practice under ESIGN and UETA is far more forgiving — but a document signed in the US that later has to be produced to a European counterparty, bank or public body is judged by the ladder above, and knowing that in advance is the whole point.

Where this shows up in the app

The level is not a screen you go and look at. It is a band you can’t collapse or hide: before you sign it says what you are about to get, and on a document that arrives already signed it says what is in it.