How to sign a permission slip online, tonight
The slip arrived as an email attachment or through the class app, and it's due in the morning. Here is how to fill it in, sign it as parent or guardian and send it back from your phone or computer, and what to check before you sign.
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Check these before you sign
- The departure and return times: an early start or a late return changes pickup, so make sure they work for your family.
- A phone number you'll answer on the day, such as your mobile. Staff call it if something happens during the trip.
- What the trip costs and how and by when to pay, since the slip may only record that you paid.
- Allergies and medication, on the slip or on the school's health form, even if the nurse already knows.
- Every question on the slip, including photo permission or a chaperone offer, which are often tucked in at the bottom.
- Your signature on the parent or guardian line, not the student line, with the date beside it.
- Your child's full name on the reply part if it will be separated from the letter, so the office can match it.
- The signed copy, not the blank original, attached before you press send.
Choose the field trip slip or other school form your child brought home as a PDF, type in the details, tick the boxes and sign as parent or guardian. It opens on your device and is never uploaded.
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Updated 27 October 2026 · Written by Joe Farwick, who runs this site
Signing a slip that came by email
Open the teacher's email and save the PDF attachment. Choose it in the signer above. If the slip has typing boxes, they show up as a list of fields to fill in; if it's a flat PDF, tap Add Text and put your child's name, class and phone number on the right lines.
Next, draw your signature with your finger or mouse and drop it on the parent or guardian line. Most slips have a date line beside the signature: use Add Date so it's filled in neatly. Download the result. The signed copy keeps the original name with -signed added, which makes it easy to tell apart from the blank one.
To send it, use Reply rather than Forward so it lands in the teacher's thread, and attach the file ending in -signed. If the school uses a class app or parent portal instead of email, upload the signed PDF there.
If the slip came as a photo or on paper
Class apps sometimes share a picture of the slip rather than a PDF. The easiest fix is to ask the teacher for the PDF version; most have one. If all you have is the paper copy, scan it with the Notes app on an iPhone or the Google Drive app on Android, save it as a PDF, and sign that file here.
A scan of a creased page is fine as long as every line can be read. Flatten it under a book for a minute, scan in daylight, and check the edges weren't cut off.
Mistakes that send slips back
Signing on the wrong line is the classic one. Middle and high school slips often have a student line and a parent line; your child signs their own line, you sign yours. Next comes the missing date, then the tear-off: when a letter ends with a cut line, the school needs the bottom part, and that's where your signature goes.
Another easy slip-up is attaching the blank original instead of the signed copy. Open the file before you press send. And if the reply part will be separated from the letter, make sure your child's full name is on it, or the office can't match it to a student.
If you'd rather not sign
Saying no is allowed. Tick the no box if there is one, or tell the teacher, and ask what your child will do while the class is away; usually they join another class for the day. If a medical need or anxiety is the worry, talk to the teacher before deciding. Some trips welcome parent volunteers, and the school may ask volunteers to fill in its own paperwork first.
Changed your mind after sending the slip? Write to the teacher as soon as you can, in the same email thread, so there's a clear record of the change.
Will the teacher accept a signed PDF?
When a slip arrives by email and the teacher asks for it back the same way, a signed PDF is what they expect. U.S. federal law doesn't oblige anyone to accept electronic signatures, though, so if a slip says an original signature is required, print it, sign it by hand and send it in. Our guide to digital permission slips explains the rules in more detail.
Permission slip questions
- Can I sign a permission slip on my phone for free?
- Filling in and signing the slip here is free, and you see exactly how it looks. Saving the signed PDF needs a subscription, €2.99 a month or €24.99 a year; cancel anytime and it runs to the end of the paid period. If you sign one slip a year, your phone's built-in Markup may be all you need.
- Does my child need to sign too?
- Only if the slip has a student line. Older students are sometimes asked to sign a behavior or safety agreement alongside the parent.
- What if I missed the deadline?
- Send the signed slip anyway and email the teacher or call the office. Deadlines leave room for planning, and late slips are often still accepted if the trip hasn't left.
- Can a step-parent or grandparent sign it?
- It depends on the school and on who is listed as a parent or guardian. Our guide on who can sign a permission slip covers step-parents, grandparents and students who are 18.
- Does anyone else see my child's details?
- Not through this site. The slip is filled and signed inside your browser and never uploaded; only the teacher sees it when you send it.