So many businesses use Google Drive and Google Docs as their primary system for storing and sharing documents.
This online document system is available on a free plan and is convenient, especially for any business that has employees working in a number of different locations.
As any document created in Google Docs exists online, however, it can mean that the document is seen on physical paper
Although this is useful for many different types of documents, it can make getting signatures on important documents a difficult task.
Getting Google Docs signed means taking the time to download the document and print it in order to get handwritten signatures.
However, this isn’t necessary! There are several ways that you can add a signature to your Google document.
In this article, we will show you a few methods to get digital signatures into your Google Docs.
Why Would I Need To Insert A Signature in Google Docs?
There are so many different scenarios where a digital signature may be required.
Many businesses either work from home or from several different locations so simply handing a physical document to someone isn’t always possible.
Although any document can be downloaded from Google Docs as a PDF or in another format, this takes time.
Printing a document and mailing it to be signed and returned can take up to two weeks! Many offices try to be paperless so creating a signature in Google Docs is a better option.
There are many important legal documents that require signatures. For example, employment contracts, enrollment requests, and many other documents all require signatures.
It often doesn’t matter if these are electronic signatures or handwritten ones, as long as they are there.
If you want to quickly execute agreements with business partners, creating electronic signatures in a Google Doc is essential.
How To Insert A Signature In Google Docs
There are a couple of methods you can use to create your signed Google Doc in a free account.
Inside Google Docs
There is a method that uses the tools provided by Google Docs that will allow you to create a signature.
This allows you to quickly and easily sign a document without the need for third-party tools or add-ons.
It uses Google’s built-in drawing tool to create a digital signature in an existing or new document.
The first step is to click on the ‘Insert’ menu which is located in the Google Docs ribbon menu. From there, navigate to ‘Drawing’ and ‘New’
This will give you the drawing tool. There are many options you can select from the top toolbar on the drawing tool. Click the drop-down menu next to the ‘Line’ tool and select ‘scribble’.
You can now create your signature freely, using your mouse, trackpad, or tablet and pen. When you are happy with your signature, click ‘Save and Close.’
Your signature will now be displayed in your Google Doc.
If you decide that you want to edit your signature some more, simply click on it again and select ‘Edit.”
This will open the same drawing tool as before. When you’re happy with your edits and changes, you can select ‘Save and Close’.
The signature appears in Google Docs in the same manner any image file does. This means you can drag and drop it to any part of the document that you need.
If there is a signature field at the bottom of the page, drag your signature there if it isn’t present already.
When you’re happy with the location and look of your signature you can download the document as you would with any Google Docs document or send it to whoever wanted your signature.
If you do send the document link to someone else, here’s a quick tip. Make sure that the security settings of the document allow other people to access the document.
Depending on the settings of your Google Drive, new documents may only give access to the person who created the document.
Of all the ways to sign documents in Google Docs, this is the easiest. It requires no add-ons and makes use of Google’s built-in feature of the line tool.
Using An Image
Another way to add a signature to a Google Docs document is to use a digital signature that exists in an image format.
This requires a few more steps and does need add-ons outside of Google Docs but it still works!
Your first step is to use photo editing or drawing software such as Photoshop.
Instead of creating your digital signatures in Google Docs directly, you create them in this software first and then save them as a file.
You can use many different file types for your signature, but an svg file is one of the best and most convenient.
Once the file is created, click ‘Insert’ and this time, chose ‘Image’ and ‘Upload from Computer.’
This will then insert your signature file. As before, you can drag and drop it into place anywhere in the document.
Remember to ensure that anyone that needs access to the document has it once your signature is in place.
Hints And Tips
An important tip is to double-check the text wrapping options in your Google Doc.
Moving images around in a text-based document can often leave your text unformatted and messy, so make sure you look over your Google Doc to ensure that it looks neat and everything is in place.
Final Thoughts
In this article, we showed two methods for inserting a signature into a Google Doc.
Both of these methods are possible in a free account and don’t require you to install any new software.
If you ever have a Google Doc that you want to sign, you can use either of these methods to create a signature and add it.
Adding a signature to a Google Doc can be important for your business. With these two easy methods, you can easily create a signed document.
