Stamps

A stamp is a rubber-stamp mark on the page — APPROVED, RECEIVED by Alex Morgan, 14 Sep 2026, 10:21 UTC+1, a company seal, a SIGN HERE flag. Stamps are saved as standard PDF stamp comments with their own appearance, so every PDF reader shows them. A stamp placed by Nixt PDF keeps what it was made from, so it can be changed after it is on the page.

Kinds of stamp

The stamp list (Comment › Choose a stamp…) groups stamps into shelves:

The ready-made stamps

Standard stamps come in green, red or blue ink to suit their meaning. The Name and date stamps add two small lines under the big words: By and your name, then the date and time. The Sign here stamps are solid flags with the words in white.

Your details

Stamps that say who stamped them fill that in from your details. Set them once:

1. On the Fill & Sign tab, click Your details… (or choose More › Your name for stamps…, or click Your details… in the stamp list).
2. In the Your details dialog, fill in:
   • Name
   • Initials — worked out from your name if empty
   • Job title
   • Organisation
   • Email
3. Under Dates, choose how dates are written. The choices are shown as examples: 14 Sep 2026, 14 September 2026, 2026-09-14, 14/09/2026, 09/14/2026, 14.09.2026, 14 SEP 2026, September 14, 2026 and Mon 14 Sep 2026. The first is the default.
4. Choose 24-hour clock (the default) or 12-hour clock with the switch.
5. Click Save.

Your details are kept on this computer. A line of a stamp that would be empty — By with no name set — is left out rather than stamped half-finished. Times include the time zone, such as 10:21 UTC+1, unless a stamp’s design says otherwise.

Choosing a stamp

1. On the Comment tab, click Choose a stamp…. You can also click the stamp’s name in the Stamp tool strip.
2. In the Stamps dialog, click the stamp you want. The dialog closes.

The Stamp tool puts down whichever stamp was chosen last. Until you choose, it’s Approved.

Buttons along the bottom of the Stamps dialog:

Small buttons on a stamp’s tile:

A shelf of shared stamps also has Remove this set, which asks Remove the stamps from “Finance”? and takes every stamp from that set out of your list. Stamps already on documents stay as they are.

Putting a stamp on the page

1. On the Home, Comment or Fill & Sign tab, click Stamp.
2. Check the stamp named in the tool strip; click its name to choose another.
3. Put it down:
   • Click to place it at its natural size, centred where you click. An outline under the pointer shows how big it will be.
   • Drag a box to place it at the size of the box.
4. If the stamp asks questions — an invoice number, for example — the dialog titled with the stamp’s name says This stamp asks before it goes down. Answer each one and click Stamp it.

Stamps that fill in a date use the moment you put them down.

Stamping every page

In the Stamp tool strip, turn on On every page before you place the stamp. It goes on every page at the same place relative to the page, with any page-number gaps filled in for each page. The message says Stamped 12 pages. Undo takes them all off again. — it is one step for Undo.

Working with a stamp on the page

With the Stamp tool in use, every stamp on the page is outlined faintly. Press a stamp to pick it up. It shows eight handles and a bar of actions above it.

• Move — drag the middle.
• Resize — drag a handle. The stamp keeps its proportions; hold Shift to change them.
• Nudge — press an arrow key to move it one point, or Shift and an arrow key to move it ten.
• Let go — press Esc or click an empty part of the page.

The same works for signatures and initials with the Sign tool; see Signing.

The action bar

The bar names what you picked up — Stamp, Signature or Initials — and offers:

A stamp another program has locked shows · locked: it can be picked up to see it, but not moved, changed or deleted.

Changing a stamp

1. Pick the stamp up and click Change….
2. In the Change stamp dialog, a preview shows the result as you go. Change any of:
   • Big words and Small lines — the stamp’s text.
   • One box for each question the stamp asked, holding the answer it was given.
   • Update to now, or Another date… to choose a date and time — beside Stamped and the current date.
   • Use my current details — refills your name and details from Your details.
   • The date format list.
   • The ink colour: green, red, blue, purple or black.
3. Click Change it.

The stamp is redrawn in place, at the size it was dragged to.

Stamps other programs left without a drawing

Some PDF software saves a stamp with only its name, relying on the reader to know what to draw. Most readers draw nothing. Nixt PDF outlines such a stamp in amber so you can find it, and Draw it gives it the drawing its name calls for.

Fixing stamps to the page

A stamp is a comment, so it can be moved or deleted in any PDF reader. Fixing it draws it into the page itself, so nobody can move, change or delete it — what a document going out stamped and signed needs.

To fix one stamp, pick it up and click Fix to page, then Fix it in the Fix this stamp to the page? dialog.

To fix every stamp and signature in the document:

1. On the Fill & Sign tab, click Fix to the pages… (or choose More › Fix stamps and signatures to the pages…).
2. In the dialog, click Fix them.

The message says Fixed 4 to the pages. or There are no stamps or signatures to fix to the pages. Undo takes it back.

Picture stamps

A picture stamp is a picture you use as a stamp: a company seal, a logo, a PAID stamp photographed on paper. It goes on the page as a stamp that can be moved, resized and taken off, and is kept on this computer to use again.

1. In the Stamps dialog, click New picture stamp….
2. Click Choose a picture… and choose a picture file.
3. If the picture was photographed or scanned on paper, tick Take a paper background away, and drag the slider under it until only the stamp is left.
4. In Name in the stamp list, type a name. It starts as the file name.
5. Click Keep it.

The picture stamp becomes the chosen stamp, and appears under Your stamps. A picture that already has a transparent background keeps it. If the dialog shows the file name followed by is not a picture Nixt PDF can read., choose a different file.

Related pages

• Designing stamps — words, gaps, questions, fonts, colours, shapes, borders, pictures and date formats.
• Sharing stamp sets — giving your team the same stamps.
• Signing — signatures and initials, which work the same way on the page.