Handwritten Declaration & Thumb Impression Upload Guide

Most online applications ask for a photo and a signature. Some recruitment forms — bank recruitment applications are the best-known example — also ask for two more images: a left thumb impression and a handwritten declaration. Both are handwritten or inked on paper, so they behave much more like a signature than a photo when you resize them. This guide explains how to prepare each one so it passes the upload check and stays readable. The exact wording, pixel size and KB range always come from the notice for your form.

What Each Document Is

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Notices give each one its own pixel size and KB range. A declaration is usually allowed a larger file than a signature, because it contains several lines of writing. For example, a form might ask for a declaration of around 800×400 px and a thumb impression of around 240×240 px — but use the numbers in your own notice, not these examples.

Writing the Handwritten Declaration

1. Copy the exact text from your notice. The declaration wording is printed in the instructions. Write it word for word, with your name where the notice shows a blank.
2. Use your own handwriting. The declaration is meant to be a handwriting sample. Do not type it, print it, or ask someone else to write it.
3. Write in normal running handwriting. Many notices say a declaration written in capital letters will not be accepted.
4. Use black or blue ink on plain white paper, as the notice asks. Avoid lined notebook paper; the lines show up in the image and make the text harder to read.
5. Leave space around the text. Write in the middle of the page with a margin on all sides, so cropping does not cut letters off.
6. Keep it to a neat block. Large, even writing across 3–5 lines resizes far better than small writing squeezed into one corner.

Making the Left Thumb Impression

1. Use a stamp-pad with blue or black ink, as the notice asks.
2. Press your left thumb lightly onto the pad so it is evenly covered, not soaked.
3. Press it onto plain white paper with steady pressure and lift it straight up. Do not slide it; a smudged print may be rejected.
4. Make two or three prints on the same sheet and choose the clearest one, where the ridge lines are visible.
5. If you cannot give a left thumb impression, follow the notice — forms usually explain what to do instead. Do not substitute another finger on your own.

Photographing or Scanning Them

• Light: use daylight from a window or a bright, even lamp. A shadow across the paper turns the background grey and hides faint strokes.
• Angle: hold the phone flat above the paper, not at an angle, so the lines of text stay straight.
• Distance: fill most of the frame with the declaration or the thumb print. Zooming in later loses detail.
• Scanning apps: a phone's built-in document scanner (in Google Drive, Files or the iPhone Notes app) flattens and straightens the page well.

If the image comes out as HEIC on an iPhone, convert it first with HEIC to JPG or change the camera format; our HEIC guide shows how.

Resizing to the Pixel Size and KB Range

Because both documents are dark ink on white paper, the Signature Resizer is the best fit for them: its background cleanup turns grey paper white and makes the ink darker, which is exactly what a verifier needs to read.

1. Open the Signature Resizer and upload the declaration (or the thumb impression).
2. Enter the width and height in pixels from your notice. For a thumb impression, use a square size if the notice gives one.
3. Enter the maximum KB as the target.
4. Crop around the text or the print, keeping a small white margin.
5. Process and check the final pixels and KB on the result screen.

If the file comes out below the minimum KB: cleaned-up handwriting compresses very well, so a declaration can come out too small. Increase the pixel size towards the largest the form allows, or untick background cleanup so some paper texture stays, or use Resize Image to KB. Never add a big blank border just to make the file heavier.

If it comes out above the maximum: reduce the pixel size towards the smallest allowed, or lower the KB target.

Common Reasons These Uploads Are Rejected

• The declaration is typed, printed or written by someone else.
• The declaration is written in capital letters when the notice asks for normal handwriting.
• The wording differs from the text in the notice, or your name is missing.
• The thumb impression is smudged, too faint or too heavily inked to show ridges.
• The right thumb (or a finger) was used without the notice allowing it.
• The image is sideways, upside down or cropped through the text.
• The file is outside the pixel size or the KB range, including a file that is too small.
• The four images were uploaded in the wrong boxes — for example the signature in the declaration slot.

Before You Submit

Open each downloaded file once more and read it at the size the portal will show. Check the pixel size and KB with the Photo Size Checker, and keep the original photos so you can make a new copy if the portal asks you to upload again. For the photo and signature themselves, see signature sizes in pixels, cm and KB and common photo rejection reasons.