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Quickstart

Quickstart

Quick start

1. Install

Download the latest release from the GitHub releases page. Native installers bundle their own Java 21 runtime; cross-platform ZIPs need Java 21+ from e.g. Eclipse Adoptium.

  • Windows x64 — jsignpdf-<version>-windows-x64.msi (signed) or jsignpdf-<version>-windows-x64.zip (portable).
  • Linux x64 / aarch64 — jsignpdf-<version>-linux-<arch>.deb, jsignpdf-<version>-linux-<arch>.rpm, or the matching .zip. Flatpak bundles are also published per arch.
  • macOS Apple Silicon — jsignpdf-<version>-macos-aarch64.dmg (unsigned in 3.1 — expect a Gatekeeper prompt), or the matching .zip. Intel Macs: run the Apple Silicon build under Rosetta 2, or use jsignpdf-<version>-full.zip with a locally installed Java 21.
  • Any OS with Java 21 — jsignpdf-<version>-full.zip (JavaFX bundled) or jsignpdf-<version>-minimal.zip (CLI / Swing fallback only).

If you grabbed a ZIP, extract it and run bin/jsignpdf.sh (POSIX) or bin\jsignpdf.cmd (Windows).

2. Get a keystore

To sign a PDF you need a private key in a keystore file (.p12, .pfx, .jks, …). For production, get a PKCS#12 file from a trusted Certificate Authority. For a quick test, generate a self-signed key with keytool:

keytool -genkeypair -alias mykey -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 \
    -keystore keystore.p12 -storetype PKCS12

A demo keystore (jsmith.p12, password 123456) and a sample PDF are included in the demo/ folder of the distribution.

3. Launch the GUI

If you installed via DEB / RPM / MSI / DMG / Flatpak, launch JSignPdf from the application menu.

If you extracted a cross-platform ZIP, run the launcher from the extracted folder:

bin/jsignpdf.sh       # POSIX
bin\jsignpdf.cmd      # Windows

Then:

  1. Open your PDF via File > Open or drag-and-drop.
  2. In the Certificate panel, choose the keystore file and enter its password.
  3. (Optional) Configure appearance, timestamp, or encryption in the other panels.
  4. Click Sign — the signed file is written next to the input with a _signed suffix.

4. Or sign from the command line 

bin/jsignpdf.sh \
    -kst PKCS12 -ksf keystore.p12 -ksp mypassword \
    mydocument.pdf

Add -ts https://freetsa.org/tsr -ha SHA256 to attach a trusted timestamp, or -V -llx 50 -lly 50 -urx 250 -ury 120 to place a visible signature.

Full documentation

For every option, the JavaFX and Swing interfaces, hardware tokens, timestamping, encryption and troubleshooting, see the JSignPdf Guide.