How to Add a Signature to Google Forms

Does Google Forms have a signature option?

No. Google Forms has no signature field. We checked the question type menu in the live editor. It has no signature box, pad or line to add.

You can still collect signatures on Google Forms, but every method is a workaround. These are the three that work:

Start with the typed name. It is free, takes two minutes and asks nothing extra of the person signing.

Which method fits your form?

How to add a signature to Google Forms for free (typed name)

This is the quickest way to add an electronic signature (e-signature) in Google Forms. The person types their name, ticks a box to agree, and you record the date.

1. Open your form and click Add question.
2. Choose Short answer and type "Type your full name as your signature".
3. Turn on Required.
4. Add a Checkboxes question with one option: "I agree that my typed name is my signature".
5. Turn on Required for that question too.
6. Add a Date question and name it "Date signed".

Put this block at the very end of the form, after the text people are agreeing to. A signature above the terms signs nothing.

A small thing we noticed while building it: Google picked the question type for us. Typing "Date signed" as the title switched the question to Date.

Sign-off wording you can copy

• Name question: "Type your full legal name. This is your signature."
• Checkbox: "I have read the terms above and I agree to them."
• For a parent or guardian: "I am the parent or guardian of the child named above."

Three settings that make the record stronger

• Collect email addresses. In Settings, under Responses, set it to Verified. Each response then carries the signer's Google email, not one they typed.
• Send responders a copy. Set it to Always, so the signer keeps a copy of what they agreed to.
• Link a Google Sheet. The sheet adds a Timestamp column, so you can show when each person signed.

Verified email does make people sign in to Google. Leave it on Responder input if your signers don't have Google accounts.

Ask people to upload a signature image

Use this when you need to see an actual signature, not a typed name.

1. Add a question and choose File upload.
2. Click Continue when Google warns that files go to your Drive.
3. Turn on Allow only specific file types and tick Image.
4. Set the maximum number of files to 1.

People sign on paper and take a photo, or make an image with a free signature generator. Then they upload it.

The catch is big. File upload makes every respondent sign in to Google, and the images land in your Drive, not in the response. The details are in how to add a file upload to Google Forms.

Use a signature add-on for Google Forms

An add-on is the only way to let people draw a signature on a Google Form. Add-ons come from other companies, not from Google.

1. Open your form and click the three dots at the top right.
2. Click Get add-ons.

3. Search for "signature".
4. Pick an add-on and click Install.
5. Open it from the puzzle-piece icon and follow its setup.

Our search returned add-ons from two companies first, BoloForms and Formesign. The Marketplace notes on that page that Google doesn't verify reviews or ratings.

This is what their Marketplace listings said when we checked:

We have not tested these add-ons. Check four things on the listing before you pick a Google Forms signature add-on:

• The price. Prices change. A "free signature add-on" can also be a free trial, so read the pricing line.
• The signing link. Some add-ons only work through their own link, not your normal form link.
• The permissions. An add-on asks for access to your forms and responses. Read what it wants.
• The PDF. If you need a signed PDF, check that the add-on makes one.

Google Forms to SignNow, SignRequest or DocuSign

These three sign documents, not form questions. None of them puts a signature box inside a Google Form. We searched the Forms add-on Marketplace for each name and found no add-on from any of them.

In these setups a new form response starts a signing request. The signer fills in your form, then signs a separate document.

That works for a contract both sides must sign. For a signature on the form itself, it is more tools and more cost than the job needs.

Google eSignature: it works in Docs, not in Forms

Google does have its own signing tool, called eSignature. It lives in Google Docs and in PDFs in Drive. It does not work in Google Forms.

It suits one contract sent to a few named people. A form that collects answers and a signature from many people is a different job.

Is a Google Forms signature valid?

Often, yes. In many countries a typed name or a ticked box can count as an electronic signature. What matters is that you can show who signed, what they agreed to, and when.

That is why the email address, the copy to the signer and the timestamp matter more than how the signature looks.

The rules change with the country and the type of document. For a contract with real money or risk behind it, ask a lawyer before you rely on a form.

Electronic signature or digital signature?

• Electronic signature: any mark made on a screen to show you agree. A typed name, a ticked box and a drawn signature all count.
• Digital signature: a signature backed by encryption that proves who signed and that nothing changed afterwards.

Google Forms can collect the first kind. It can't make the second.

Fix common problems with Google Forms signatures

Where Google Forms signatures stop

Google Forms can record that someone agreed. It can't capture the signature itself without outside help.

FormNX has a Signature field you drag onto the form. People sign with a mouse on a computer, or with a finger on a phone.

Each signed response keeps four things together:

• The signature, saved as an image.
• The answers the person agreed to.
• The date, time and IP address.
• A reference number for that response.

The Signature field is on the free plan, with no limit on signatures. A signed PDF from the PDF builder is on paid plans.

To compare the two in full, see the Google Forms alternative page.