First, get the file right
Two properties decide whether your signature looks placed or pasted.
Transparency. Your signature needs a transparent background, not a white one. On a white page you cannot tell the difference. On a coloured background, a letterhead, or a dark-mode email client, a white background shows up as an obvious rectangle around your name. This is the single most common complaint about signature images, and it is entirely a file-format problem: JPG cannot store transparency at all, so a JPG signature will always carry a box. PNG can, so use PNG.
Resolution. Export at roughly twice the width you intend to display, then set the display size down in the app. A signature shown at 180px but exported at 360px stays crisp on a high-density screen. Exported at 180px and shown at 180px, it looks slightly soft on any modern laptop or phone.
If you do not have a signature file yet, the signature generator produces a transparent PNG (and an SVG) from your name in about a minute, with no signup and no watermark.
Email footers: Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail
All three support image signatures, and all three want the same thing: a PNG, displayed at roughly 150 to 200 pixels wide. Wider than that and your name visually outweighs your job title, your company, and everything else in the footer.
- Gmail. Settings, then See all settings, then scroll to Signature. Create or edit a signature and use the insert-image button in the toolbar. Upload the PNG, then click it once and choose Small or Medium. Gmail's Medium usually lands close to 200px.
- Outlook. File, Options, Mail, then Signatures. Use the image button in the editor. Outlook inserts at full size, so resize it afterward, either by dragging a corner or through Picture, Size.
- Apple Mail. Mail, Settings, Signatures. Drag the PNG directly into the signature editing pane. Apple Mail preserves transparency, but it does not offer a resize control, so scale the file down before you drag it in.
One thing to avoid across all three: do not use an SVG. Most email clients strip or fail to render it, and the recipient sees a broken-image icon where your name should be. Email is the one place PNG is not just easier, it is required.
PDF documents
In Adobe Acrobat, Preview on macOS, or most PDF editors, insert the PNG as an image and position it where a handwritten signature would go. Because the background is transparent, it sits cleanly over ruled lines, coloured blocks, and existing text.
Preview on macOS is worth knowing about specifically: Tools, Annotate, Signature lets you store a signature and reuse it across every PDF you open, so you only do the setup once.
For informal documents (personal letters, invoices, internal forms, offer letters that are not being executed as contracts) this works immediately with no other setup. For anything enforceable, see the section below.
Word and Google Docs
Insert, then Image, then resize to roughly 150 to 250 pixels wide depending on the document layout. The transparent background means no white block behind your name.
In Word, set the image's text wrapping to In Line with Text if you want the signature to move with the paragraph, or In Front of Text if you are placing it onto a specific signature line. Getting this wrong is why signatures sometimes jump to another page when a document is edited later.
Websites, business cards, and print
This is the one case where PNG is the wrong answer. For anything displayed large or printed (a website header, a business card, a book plate) use SVG. It is a vector format, so it scales to any size without pixelating, and print shops generally prefer it.
A useful rule: if it will be viewed on a screen at its natural size, PNG. If it will be enlarged or printed, SVG.
When you need a real e-signature instead
For documents that must be legally enforceable (contracts, deeds, anything governed by ESIGN in the US or eIDAS in the EU) a pasted image is not equivalent to a signature created through a dedicated service such as DocuSign or Adobe Sign. Those services attach an audit trail, timestamps, and identity verification. A PNG carries none of that, and it can be copied out of one document and into another by anyone who receives it.
The test is straightforward: does this document need to hold up if it is disputed, or does it just need to feel personal and signed?
If it is the second, an image is fine, and that covers most of what people actually sign in a week.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my signature have a white box around it?
The file has a solid white background rather than a transparent one. JPG cannot store transparency at all, so a JPG signature will always show a box no matter what you do to it. Re-export as a PNG with a transparent background.
Should I use PNG or SVG?
PNG for screens: email, PDF, Word, Google Docs. SVG for print and large display: website headers, business cards, signage. Email clients generally do not render SVG, so never use it there.
What size should my signature be in an email?
Around 150 to 200 pixels wide as displayed. Export at roughly double that and scale down in the client, so it stays sharp on high-density screens.
Can I reuse the same signature file everywhere?
Yes. One PNG covers email, PDFs, and documents. Keep an SVG alongside it for anything that will be printed or shown large.
Will my signature look right in dark mode?
Only if the background is transparent and the ink is dark. Dark ink on a transparent background can disappear against a dark-mode email client. If your recipients use dark mode heavily, a mid-tone ink such as navy or charcoal survives both backgrounds better than pure black.
Need the signature itself first?
Type your name and get seven handwritten styles, downloadable as a transparent PNG or a scalable SVG. No signup, no watermark, no limit on how many you generate.
Generate My Signature →