Remove Background from Signature

How to photograph a signature

The cleaner the photo, the cleaner the cut-out. A few things make most of the difference.

• Sign on plain white paper, not lined or squared, with a dark pen. A thicker tip beats a fine one.
• Shoot in daylight near a window. Skip the flash, which bleaches thin strokes and adds glare.
• Hold the phone flat above the paper so it doesn't cast a shadow, and fill most of the frame with the signature.
• Sign a few times and pick the cleanest one. Add all of them: the batch handles several at once.

No camera handy? A flatbed scan or a phone scanner app works too, and often gives flatter light than a photo.

Then drop the photo or photos into the tool above. This page is set to Logo or signature on white (remove white), which keys out the paper by color instead of tracing an outline, so thin pen strokes are kept.

If faint strokes disappear, lower White tolerance. If shadows or paper texture leave specks, raise it a little. The touch-up brush fixes anything that is left.

Using the PNG in Word, Google Docs and PDF

Word: Insert > Pictures > This Device, pick the PNG, then set Wrap Text to In Front of Text so you can drag it onto the signature line.

Google Docs: Insert > Image > Upload from computer, then choose In front of text in the image options and move it into place.

PDF: most PDF editors can add an image to a page. Place the PNG, resize it and save. Transparency carries over, so the text underneath stays readable.

Resize the signature inside the document rather than re-exporting it. The PNG keeps the resolution of your photo, so it stays sharp when you shrink it to normal signature size. Enlarging a small image makes it soft, so photograph close and crop.

Why PNG and not JPG? A JPG always has a background color, so a signature saved as JPG shows a white box over any shaded or colored part of a page. A PNG keeps the empty area transparent.

A pasted image is a convenience, not a certified e-signature. If a contract or an authority asks for a specific kind of signature, check what it accepts first.

Your signature is never uploaded

A signature is something people can copy, so uploading one to a stranger's server is a real risk. Here the background removal happens on this page and the photo is never sent anywhere. Once you close the tab it's gone.

Cleaning up product photos instead? The bulk tool on the home page is the same tool, set up for listings. Logos and scans work like signatures: see remove white background.