Sign a plain sheet of paper, take a photo, and drop it here. The paper, its shadows and its texture are taken out and only the ink remains, ready for a document or an application form.
How the ink is picked out
A phone photo of a signature is rarely clean: one corner of the paper is darker than another, the hand casts a shadow and the sheet has texture. A single brightness cut-off either loses faint strokes or keeps the shadow. So the editor first measures how bright the paper is in every part of the picture, then looks at how much darker each pixel is than the paper right around it. Shadows and uneven light divide out, and what is left is ink.
The ink keeps its soft anti-aliased edge rather than being cut to hard pixels, and the result is trimmed to the strokes with a little padding.
Settings
- Ink threshold: higher drops faint marks, paper grain and dust; lower keeps light pen pressure.
- Edge softness: the width of the smooth edge on each stroke.
- Ink color: Keep original, Black or Blue. Recoloring keeps the shape and softness of every stroke.
- Erase and Lasso erase remove a stray line or a printed box edge that came out with the ink.
Transparent PNG or white JPEG
For pasting into a PDF, a letter or a contract, save the transparent PNG: the signature sits on whatever is behind it. Application forms usually ask for a JPEG on white within a size window instead. The Compose stage has signature presets that set the pixel size, a white background and a KB target in one step, for example 140 × 60 pixels at 10–20 KB as in many bank recruitment notices. The export searches JPEG quality until the file lands inside the window and the receipt shows the result, such as 14 KB inside 10–20 KB.
Each preset shows where its numbers came from and when they were checked. Notices change, so confirm the current figures on the official portal before you submit.
Your signature stays with you
Nothing is uploaded: the photo is read into this tab, the ink is extracted here and the file is saved to your own disk. This page cleans a photo or scan of your own signature. Do not use it on anyone else's. Some forms do not accept a signature written in capital letters; that is a rule about how you sign, which no editor can fix.
Step by step
- Sign on plain paper. Use a dark pen on white paper, in good, even light.
- Photograph or scan it. Fill most of the frame with the signature.
- Open it here. The paper and shadows are removed straight away.
- Adjust the ink. Set the threshold and choose original, black or blue ink.
- Save for your use. Transparent PNG, or a white JPEG preset at the form's KB size.
Questions people ask
Can I make the ink black?
Yes. Set Ink color to Black (or Blue). The shape and soft edges of every stroke are kept; only the color changes.
How do I get it under 20 KB?
Choose a signature preset in the Compose stage, or turn on Target a file size in Export. JPEG quality is searched, at most eight tries, until the file fits the window you set.
Transparent PNG or JPEG for forms?
Most online application forms ask for a JPEG on white within a KB range. Use PNG for placing the signature on documents and PDFs.
Can I use it for someone else's signature?
No. Use it only on your own signature, for documents you are entitled to sign.
Why are faint parts of my signature missing?
Lower the ink threshold. If the paper texture then appears, retake the photo in more even light, closer to the paper.