Initials on every page in DocuSign, in Adobe, and for free

Signing in DocuSign: initials on every page

When you open a DocuSign envelope, select the yellow Start tag and DocuSign walks you from field to field. Select each Initial field to fill it. The first time, you're asked to adopt your initials: pick a style, draw them, or upload an image. After that, each Initial field fills with a single click. The Finish button only becomes available once every required field is complete, so a skipped page stops you rather than slipping through.

What you can't do as a signer is add initials where the sender placed no field. When the question came up in DocuSign's community forum, the answer from DocuSign staff pointed to sender-side fixes, AutoPlace and copying fields, not to a button for signers. If you've been told to initial every page but the envelope only has a signature field, ask the sender to add Initial fields and send it again.

Don't download the document and initial it in another app instead. The sender is waiting for the completed envelope, and a separately signed copy won't show up on their side.

Sending with DocuSign: an Initial field on every page

On the fields page, drag an Initial field for each recipient onto page one and size it. For a one-off envelope, select those fields, copy them with Ctrl+C (Cmd+C on a Mac) and paste them onto each following page with Ctrl+V. It's quick for ten pages and tedious for sixty.

For documents you send often, AutoPlace does it automatically. Select the field, open its location settings, choose Set up AutoPlace and enter a phrase that appears on every page of your document, such as “Tenant initials”. DocuSign places the field at every occurrence of that text. DocuSign's own trainer tip suggests putting a short trigger word in the footer of your template for exactly this purpose. Save it as a template and the next envelope needs no manual placing at all.

Initialing a PDF yourself in Adobe Acrobat or Reader

Open the PDF and choose All tools, then Fill & Sign. Create your initials in the E-sign panel (type, draw or use an image) and drag them onto the page. Acrobat keeps the signature and initials you create for later documents.

The catch is repetition: Fill & Sign places your initials one page at a time. Asked in Adobe's community forum how to put initials on all pages with one click, a community expert answered that it takes a custom script. For a long contract that's a lot of dragging, which is the job InitialPDF's “Place on every page” button exists for.

Sending with Adobe Acrobat Sign

When you request signatures from Acrobat Standard or Pro, you place fields for each recipient before sending. In Acrobat Sign's authoring view, add an Initials field on page one, then open the field's menu and choose Repeat Field on All Pages. Adobe describes it as adding a copy of the field to every page of the agreement in the same position as the original. Copy and paste with Ctrl/Cmd+C and Ctrl/Cmd+V also works for individual pages.

One snag: since Adobe redesigned the Acrobat desktop app, people in Adobe's community forum have reported that Repeat Field on All Pages is missing from the new request-signatures screen, and have got it back by switching to the classic experience. If you can't find the option, try that, or place the fields in Acrobat Sign on the web, where Adobe documents it.

Recipients then complete every required field, including all the initials, and select Click to Sign. As with DocuSign, they initial inside Acrobat Sign rather than in a separate copy.

The free way, without an account

If the PDF came by email rather than through an e-signature service, you don't need either one. Open it in InitialPDF, place your initials on page one and press “Place on every page”; the same initials land in the same spot on every other page. Sign the last page, check the list of placed initials, and download. Placing and checking is free; downloading the result needs a plan.

If you're the sender and simply want the other side to see where to initial, the free box builder adds a labelled “Initial here” box to every page, or every page except the signature page, before you email the PDF. Your recipient initials the boxes with whatever they use, and nobody needs an account.

When a paid e-signature service is worth it

DocuSign and Acrobat Sign earn their price when you need things a plain PDF can't do: a fixed signing order, automatic reminders, a certificate showing who signed what and when, and required fields that block an incomplete document. If you send contracts every week, that's worth paying for. If you initial or send the occasional lease or agreement, a PDF with clear boxes and a careful check does the job.

Sources

• DocuSign: how do I sign a DocuSign document?
• DocuSign: adopt your signature (and initials)
• DocuSign Community: apply initial to all pages (answer from DocuSign staff)
• DocuSign Community: add fields automatically with AutoPlace
• DocuSign trainer tip: AutoPlace triggers in the footer
• Adobe: fill and sign flat forms (Fill & Sign)
• Adobe: e-sign agreements in Acrobat
• Adobe Acrobat Sign: field actions, including Repeat Field on All Pages
• Adobe Community: no Repeat on All Pages option in the new Acrobat
• Adobe Community: initials on all pages in a single click