A typed name at the bottom of an email, "/s/ Jane Smith" on a PDF, or a name keyed into a box on a website can all be valid signatures. The law asks what the person meant, not what the mark looks like. The real risk with a typed name is not that a court will call it "not a signature"; it is that the other side says "I never typed that," and you have nothing but an email to show.
For whom: an owner, office manager or HR lead deciding whether "just type your name" is good enough. Not for: filings with an agency or a court, which follow that body's own signature rule; see the table below. This is our reading of the texts, not legal advice.
What the statutes say
Section 106 of the federal ESIGN Act defines an electronic signature as "an electronic sound, symbol, or process, attached to or logically associated with a contract or other record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record." The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, the model law the states enacted, uses the same test in section 2(8).
Nothing in that definition requires a drawn signature, a certificate or a particular product. The official comments to UETA go further than the text: "no specific technology need be used," and "including one's name as part of an electronic mail communication also may suffice," as may a digital signature, so long as the signer meant to sign. The same comments use a typed name on an email purchase order as their first example of a signature attributable to a person.
Two limits come with that freedom:
- Intent is a question of fact. The UETA comments say it "may be shown that the requisite intent was not present." A name in an email signature block that is added to every message is weaker evidence of intent to sign this contract than a name typed into a box labeled "Type your name to sign."
- Nobody has to accept it. ESIGN section 101(b) says the law does not require any person to agree to use or accept electronic signatures. If your counterparty asks for something more, the statute does not force them to take a typed name.
Where a stricter format applies
Some bodies define the electronic signature they will accept. Their rule wins over the general one for documents filed with them.
| Where | What counts as a signature | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary contracts (ESIGN and UETA states) | Any symbol or process adopted with intent, typed names included | ESIGN § 106(5); UETA § 2(8) and comments |
| USPTO patent correspondence | Handwritten signatures are accepted; the typed option is the "S-signature": inserted by the signer personally between forward slashes, letters, numerals and listed punctuation only, for example /Dr. James T. Jones, Jr./. It need not be the signer's name (the Office strongly suggests the full name), but the signer's name must also appear in printed or typed form next to it; practitioners add their registration number | 37 CFR 1.4(d), MPEP 502.02 |
| Federal civil court filings | A filing made through the person's own e-filing account and authorized by them, with their name on a signature block | Fed. R. Civ. P. 5(d)(3)(C) |
| IRS Forms 8879 and 8878 | A typed name is an accepted method, but only inside software that verifies identity and records the signing data | IRS Publication 1345 (Rev. 12-2025) |
None of the general statutes gives "/s/" a special status. Outside a system that defines its own format, "/s/ Jane Smith" is simply a typed name: as good as the intent and the evidence behind it, no better and no worse. For the IRS case, see e-signatures for tax preparers.
Our position
Use a typed name for low-stakes, two-party exchanges where both sides already deal by email: confirming an order, agreeing a change to a schedule, accepting a quote.
Use a signing tool that records the event for anything you might need to prove: employment documents, leases, vendor contracts, anything with money or a deadline attached. The tool does not make the signature more legal; it makes it provable, with the signer's email, time stamps and a sealed final file. Our pick for a small business that only needs this occasionally is BoldSign: its free plan includes an audit trail and enough envelopes for a few documents a week.
Who should not rely on either: anyone filing with an agency or a court. Use that body's own process, and for notarized documents read our guide to IRS, USCIS and notarized documents.
If you accept typed names, do it deliberately
- Put the signing words next to the box: "By typing your name you sign this agreement."
- Send the final text with the request, so the signer cannot claim another version.
- Keep the email or form submission with its date, sender address and the full text, outside the inbox of one employee.
- For consumers who must receive a notice in writing, add the ESIGN consent step first; see our consent template.
Traceable evidence
Sources for this decision
- officialESIGN Act sections 101(b), 102 and 106: no duty to accept, exemption to preemption, definitionsU.S. Congress · checked Oct 27, 2026 · supports: ESIGN section 101(b) (no person is required to agree to use or accept electronic records or signatures), section 102 (a state law may modify, limit or supersede section 101 only by enacting UETA as approved in 1999 or by technology-neutral alternative procedures that refer to ESIGN) and section 106 definitions, including an electronic signature as an electronic sound, symbol or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted with the intent to sign; it does not decide whether a given signature was adopted with intent.Open source ↗
- standardsUniform Electronic Transactions Act (1999) with official commentsUniform Law Commission · checked Oct 27, 2026 · supports: The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (1999) text and official comments: section 2(8) defines an electronic signature by intent, the comments state that no specific technology is required and that including one's name in an e-mail may suffice when the intent to sign is present, section 5(b) limits the act to parties that agreed to transact electronically, judged from context and conduct, and section 9 attributes a signature to a person whose act it was, including a typed name; it is a model act, not the law of any state until enacted.Open source ↗
- regulatorMPEP 502.02 and 37 CFR 1.4(d)(2), S-signaturesU.S. Patent and Trademark Office · checked Oct 27, 2026 · supports: USPTO rule 37 CFR 1.4(d) as reproduced in MPEP 502.02: handwritten signatures and, as an alternative, S-signatures; an S-signature is inserted by the signer personally between forward slash marks, consists only of letters, numerals and listed punctuation (example /Dr. James T. Jones, Jr./), need not be the signer's name though the Office strongly suggests the full name, must be accompanied by the signer's name in printed or typed form, and patent practitioners add their registration number; it applies to USPTO patent correspondence only, not to private contracts.Open source ↗
- officialFederal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 5(d)(3), electronic filing and signingAdministrative Office of the U.S. Courts · checked Oct 27, 2026 · supports: Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5(d)(3)(C), as amended to December 1, 2025: a filing made through a person's electronic-filing account and authorized by that person, together with the person's name on a signature block, constitutes the person's signature; it governs federal civil filings only and does not set any private-contract rule or any local-rule /s/ convention.Open source ↗
- regulatorPublication 1345 (Rev. 12-2025), Handbook for Authorized IRS e-file Providers of Individual Income Tax ReturnsInternal Revenue Service · checked Oct 27, 2026 · supports: IRS Publication 1345 (Rev. 12-2025) guidance that taxpayers may e-sign Forms 8878 and 8879 when the software meets IRS requirements: acceptable methods include a typed name, a stylus mark and a shared secret; the software must record the signed form image, date and time, IP address and login for remote signing, identity-verification results and the signing method; identity verification must meet NIST SP 800-63 level 2 with knowledge-based authentication or higher; remote signers are verified through record checks; three failed KBA attempts require a handwritten signature; signed records must be tamper-proof. It does not certify any e-signature product.Open source ↗
- vendorBoldSign official product siteBoldSign · checked Aug 5, 2026 · supports: Vendor-published product scope used to verify capabilities relevant to this buyer context: Product and operations teams comparing web signing with API and embedded workflows. It does not prove the guide's fit verdict, configured performance, current pricing or compliance.Open source ↗
- vendorBoldSign pricing page, plan features and add-onsBoldSign · checked Oct 27, 2026 · supports: BoldSign's pricing page as read on October 27, 2026: the free Essential plan with 25 envelopes a month (five until business details are verified for personal email signups), one user and two templates with an audit trail, the paid plan tiers, and identity verification at two US dollars per verification and knowledge-based authentication at one US dollar fifty per attempt listed as add-ons for Business, Premium and Enterprise API; it does not label which displayed price set is yearly or prove any legal outcome.Open source ↗