Make it plain who signed and whose letter it is. The usual ways are to sign your own name with "for" or "p.p." in front of your boss's typed name, to sign their name and add your initials, or to use a signature image they have approved or their own e-signature. All of them rest on one thing: your boss said yes to this letter, or to this kind of letter. If it commits them to money, a contract or a legal position, ask before you sign anything.
Four ways to sign a letter for your boss#
Most assistants learn these from whoever had the desk before them. Each one tells the reader who the letter is from, and who actually signed it.
Convention | What it looks like | What the reader learns | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
"for" | Your signature, then "for Alex Kim" and the typed block | You signed, on Alex's behalf | Routine US business letters |
p.p. | Your signature, then "p.p. Alex Kim" | The same, in older or British-style offices | Offices that already use it |
Their name, your initials | "Alex Kim" in your hand, your initials below the end of it | Someone else signed Alex's name, and who | When Alex wants their name in the signature space |
Approved image or e-signature | Alex's own signature, placed from a file or signed by Alex on a screen | Alex signed, or approved this signature | Letters Alex has read and okayed |
"For" is the plainest choice in a US office. The National Archives' correspondence guide, based on the U.S. Government Correspondence Manual, tells staff who sign informally for an official to sign their own name in that official's signature block and write "for" before the official's name, then mark the file copies with the name of the person who actually signed. That last habit is worth keeping anywhere. The Canadian government's writing guide shows the same layout, plus a second method: sign the sender's name and put your handwritten initials below the end of the signature. It also states the condition that matters most: you do this with the sender's permission.
Sincerely,
[your signature]
for Alex Kim
Chief Executive OfficerOne thing initials at the very bottom do not do: typist initials such as "jd" say who typed the letter, not who signed it. If you signed, show it in the signature block.
What p.p. means, and why it reads two ways#
p.p. is short for per procurationem, Latin for acting through an agent, and it has long been read two ways.
- The dictionary reading. The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines pp (also p.p.) as "used in front of a person's name when somebody signs a business letter for that person": your signature, then "p.p. Alex Kim". Read it as "for Alex Kim".
- The traditional reading. Per procurationem means "through the agency of", so p.p. belongs beside the person who actually signs: Alex's typed name, then "p.p." and your signature. Michael Quinion of World Wide Words notes that most people now assume the first reading.
Either layout tells the recipient someone signed for your boss. Two things matter more than which one you use. Oxford and Cambridge both mark this use as British, so in a US office "for" says the same thing in plain English. And whichever you pick, make both names readable: type your own name under the signature, so a reply reaches the right person. If your company has a house style, use it and stay with it.
A signature image or an e-signature your boss approved#
These sound alike and are not.
A signature image is a scan of your boss's ink signature, saved as a file and placed on letters they have approved. Assistants use one for routine letters in volume; one "sent a pdf of my employer's signature for holiday cards to a service". Agree the categories with your boss in writing (an email you keep is enough): "thank-you letters and meeting confirmations, yes; anything with a dollar figure, no." Keep the file in one place only you can reach, not as an attachment that gets forwarded around.
Personal notes are the exception. "My handwriting does not match his," wrote one executive assistant whose boss writes about 100 notes a quarter. Etiquette writers are blunt that a personal signature "should always be hand written", and recipients notice when it isn't. Do not imitate your boss's handwriting. Batch the notes for one signing session, or send a typed letter and let it be a letter.
Another workflow is to have your boss apply their own e-signature to the PDF, on a phone or through the signing service your company uses. Here your boss performs the signing step themselves, rather than asking you to place their approved image. These are different workflows, not a rule about an image's legal effect; permission and the recipient's requirements still matter. The federal E-SIGN Act (opens in new tab) says a signature or contract in a transaction affecting interstate commerce cannot be denied legal effect solely because it is electronic. Its exceptions (opens in new tab) include wills, family-law matters, court documents and certain cancellation and foreclosure notices. A printout of an e-signed PDF is a copy, not an ink original. If a recipient asked for an original, check with them before sending anything else.
When not to sign for your boss#
A standing yes ("sign the thank-you letters") covers the letters it names and nothing else. Some letters need your boss's own yes every time.
Stop and ask before you sign any of these, every time:
- Contracts, leases, engagement letters, purchase orders, or anything else that commits money or an obligation
- Legal letters: demand letters, settlement offers, replies to a lawyer, anything going to a court
- Tax, government and regulatory forms, especially anything signed under penalty of perjury
- Anything that needs a notary or a witness. A notary needs the signer present, in person or by remote online notarization where state law allows it; you cannot stand in
- Anything in your boss's personal capacity: their bank, their doctor, their family
- Anything they have not read
If you're often asked to sign legal or financial documents for your boss, raise it with them; whether that calls for a power of attorney is a question for their lawyer.
When your boss is away: getting their own signature on the PDF#
The old loop: print the letters, "have my guy sign them", as one assistant put it, then scan them back. With a remote boss, or a remote you, there is no printer between the two of you, and you do not need one.
- Send the final PDF, not a draft. One file per letter, named so you can tell them apart.
- They sign on a phone or tablet, following the iPhone and Android steps in our phone guide, or through your company's e-signature service if it has one.
- Ask for the PDF back, not a screenshot or a photo of the screen.
- Check it before it goes anywhere. Signature on the right page and line, nothing else changed, the date still right, the signature where a signature belongs rather than down in the bottom margin. Save it as the signed version.
Getting the signed letter in the mail#
Once the PDF is signed, mailing it is the easy part. You can print it, fold it, address an envelope, add a stamp and drop it in a mailbox (our guide to sending a letter walks through it). Or you can upload the PDF to a service that prints and mails it, and hand it off tonight, printer or no printer.
Whose return address goes on the envelope, who keeps the copy and how your boss sees that it went are covered in sending a letter on behalf of someone. For everything else you mail on your executive's behalf, start with our page for executive assistants.
Where Postmarkr fits
Postmarkr never signs anything for anyone. The PDF arrives signed, by your boss or by you with their say-so, and we print exactly that file, so the signature on the letter is printed, not ink. If the recipient needs a wet-ink original, your boss signs paper and you mail that one yourself.
What happens: upload the signed PDF, pick the recipient and return address, check the preview, pay. We print it, add an address page, put it in a window envelope and mail it USPS First-Class. A one-page black-and-white letter is $2.05 all in; two pages, $2.26. Printed the next business day; USPS estimates 1–5 days for First-Class delivery.
What you keep: the production PDF once it is available, and a status timeline with processing milestones plus USPS scan updates when available. You get a "payment received" email and a notice when the letter is sent to print; there is no "it's been mailed" email.
Not offered: handwriting, cards or card stock, Certified Mail, a Certificate of Mailing or a USPS-confirmed mailing date. If a signed document needs proof of when it was mailed, read alternatives to Certified Mail and how to mail a signed contract first. US addresses only.
Lost in the mail: if USPS confirms a letter was lost, we resend it for free.
Questions about signing for your boss#
Is it p.p. or pp?#
Either. The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary lists it as "pp (also p.p.)". What matters more is that both names are readable.
Can I sign my boss's name in my own handwriting?#
With their permission, and with your initials below it; the Canadian government's writing guide puts them just below the end of the signature. The initials are the point: they tell the reader it is not your boss's hand, so do not try to make it look like it is.
Does Postmarkr add a signature to my letter?#
No. You upload a PDF that is already signed, and we print exactly what you upload: $2.05 for a one-page black-and-white letter. Our cost-to-mail guide compares that with the other ways to send it.