[clayandres]

I keep forgetting this procedure so it was nice to be reminded of it with this well-made and straightforward video. However, there is one caveat worth adding, which is that you can't annotate a locked PDF in Preview and lots of PDFs requiring signatures are locked (at least, this is my experience).

The work around in such instances is to open the PDF in an image-editing program. Illustrator, Pixelmator, Acorn, and any number of other tools will work. You can paste your signature as a new layer over the PDF and save the document as a TIFF, PNG, or whatever you like. To eMail the signed document as a PDF, just choose Print, select the PDF drop down in the Print dialog, and choose Mail As PDF from the drop down menu. Not as straightforward as signing a PDF in Preview, but it gets the job done.

[rwexelblat]

This is nice for esthetics but useless for validation/verification as anyone can snip your sig and attached to any pdf they feel like attributing to you.

[Berengaria]

I'm using OSX 10.7.4

I see no Signature button, Capital S on a line.

I have the Annotation menu open.

Any suggestions please?

[geedavey]

this is not secure at all, and is an abuse of the term "Electronic Signature". A true electronic signature is a lengthy secure code tied to your computer and is considered a legal signature. This is just an image in the PDF and has NO LEGAL STANDING--much like a signature on a faxed contract. While the PDF can be secured using Adobe's security options, they are not foolproof and third-party PDF tools can blow right through them.

MmnW, on 21 June 2012 - 10:28 PM, said:

While this is a nice feature, I have to points that bother me.
First, how secure is that? If I sign a PDF and send it as an E-Mail. Can't the recipient extract the signature from the document and forge other documents? I've extracted images in perfect quality from PDF's with Illustrator in the past. So, I'm really worried about that.
Second, this only works if no one requests a hardcopy. I recently ran into several cases, where recipients requested a signed document per E-Mail or Fax (yes, people still use fax). But then insisted on mailing the signed document via snail mail afterwards.

[geedavey]

This signature image has no legal standing whatsoever. A true "digital signature" with legal standing is a completely different thing.

[Pjones]

I have Snow leopard like about 60-65% of Mac Users. My reason is lack of proper Bandwidth to download. And nearest store is 1 hr to south in another state. and 3hours to Nort East in my own state.

Plus I don't like the dropping of SaveAS... and its replacement

SaveAS did some compacting of files because it removed all appened change and put them in the proper place before making the new copy, reducing the chances for data Corruption.

Duplicate does exactly what it says it does nothing to reduce file size and if there is any corruption it does nothing to remove the corruption.

Plus many of the new Stuff gets in the way and hinders the use of my computer, they way I want. I already have an iPad and I don't need my computer to be a big iPad. a Computer is supposed to act like a computer!

[gpadgett]

My annotate menu is greyed out even after I add a signature to preview. I cannot access the editing tools. I am using the latest OS software. Any ideas?

[cynicalmike]

Dan Frakes, on 21 June 2012 - 08:29 AM, said:

thubsch, on 21 June 2012 - 07:53 AM, said:

Is there any way to make the signatures appear in colored ink? (Although I've used blue ink in my signature, Preview digitizes it as black ink.)

Unfortunately, not that I'm aware of.

Yes...I think. After you have imported your signature using annotate, click on it, then go to the colour menu - click on the button, scroll down and choose your colour - release and it should be the colour you have chosen. Worked for me.

[cynicalmike]

cynicalmike, on 25 June 2012 - 01:58 PM, said:

Dan Frakes, on 21 June 2012 - 08:29 AM, said:

thubsch, on 21 June 2012 - 07:53 AM, said:

Is there any way to make the signatures appear in colored ink? (Although I've used blue ink in my signature, Preview digitizes it as black ink.)

Unfortunately, not that I'm aware of.

Yes...I think. After you have imported your signature using annotate, click on it, then go to the colour menu - click on the button, scroll down and choose your colour - release and it should be the colour you have chosen. Worked for me.

Or - click on colour menu and choose colour, then choose signature and place it in document. Works as well.

[StanPL]

I have preview 5.0.3 and using OS 10.6.8. I do not see the signatures button in Preferences.
Do I need to update Preview?

[PolarIceCap]

Coming originally from a Windows world, I have a slight variation on this technique which I think is more secure. I do this all on my MacBook Air and use Adobe Acrobat X and Corel Photopaint. I suspect that any image editing software would work.

1st, I take the pdf file and using Adobe Acrobat, I save the document as a tiff image.
Then I use Corel Photo Paint and open the new tiff file.
Next I open a scanned tiff image of my signature from my hard drive and paste it into the tiff document file. Once I size and position my signature, then I print it as a pdf file.
The end result is a pdf file with my imbedded signature that was created from an image and so the signature cannot be copied, edited, etc.

[MRwoods100]

This is great, is there a way to do this on an iPad?

[JafuBumbalini]

geedavey, on 25 June 2012 - 07:04 AM, said:

this is not secure at all, and is an abuse of the term "Electronic Signature". A true electronic signature is a lengthy secure code tied to your computer and is considered a legal signature. This is just an image in the PDF and has NO LEGAL STANDING--much like a signature on a faxed contract. While the PDF can be secured using Adobe's security options, they are not foolproof and third-party PDF tools can blow right through them.

MmnW, on 21 June 2012 - 10:28 PM, said:

While this is a nice feature, I have to points that bother me.
First, how secure is that? If I sign a PDF and send it as an E-Mail. Can't the recipient extract the signature from the document and forge other documents? I've extracted images in perfect quality from PDF's with Illustrator in the past. So, I'm really worried about that.
Second, this only works if no one requests a hardcopy. I recently ran into several cases, where recipients requested a signed document per E-Mail or Fax (yes, people still use fax). But then insisted on mailing the signed document via snail mail afterwards.

I agree that electronic signatures are easy to steal and paste in other documents, but how safe is a real signature on paper? Couldn't someone just scan the document and crop out your signature and do the same things with it? Now that we have all these electronic tools at our disposal we're not as safe as we used to be.

[pixter]

NOTE: In Adobe Acrobat Pro 10.1.3, use Tools > Sign & Certify