Digital Signatures. To learn more about digital signatures view this White Paper by Adobe.

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1 Digital Signatures This tutorial was designed to help you learn to use digital signatures for signing PDF forms with Adobe Acrobat. This tutorial covers: how to create a digital signature, how to customize it, and how to digitally sign a PDF. To learn more about digital signatures view this White Paper by Adobe. Adobe Acrobat must be installed to complete this tutorial. Digital Signature Definition Digital Signature A digital signature, like a conventional handwritten signature, identifies the person signing a document. Unlike a handwritten signature, a digital signature is difficult to forge because it contains encrypted information that is unique to the signer and easily verified. 1 Creating a Digital Signature Setting preferences in Adobe Acrobat Before we begin, there are a few preferences that must be set in Adobe Acrobat. These preferences will allow your signature to yield more information when you sign the document. 1. Open Adobe Acrobat. For this tutorial, the example images will be taken from Adobe Acrobat X Pro. 2. Click on Edit->Preferences. These will be in the menus across the top of your Adobe Acrobat window. 3. Select Security. Security will be an option in the Categories list on the left hand side of the window. 4. Click on Advanced Preferences. You will find this button at the top-right hand corner of the window. 5. Click on Creation. This will be the second tab from the left in the window.

2 6. Check Show reasons when signing. 7. Click on OK. Creating an ID 1. Open Adobe Acrobat. You may skip this step if you still have Adobe Acrobat open. 2. Click on Tools. On the right hand side of the screen near the top of the page, there is a Tools button. After clicking this button, you should see the following on your screen: 3. Click on Sign & Certify. On the right hand side of the screen should be a navigation bar with links. Click on Sign & Certify. 4. Click on More Sign & Certify. A sub-menu will pop down. In this sub-menu, click on More Sign & Certify. It will be near the bottom of the list. 5. Click on Security Settings.... Another sub-menu will pop out. In this sub-menu, click on Security Settings.... After clicking, a Security Settings window will appear.

3 6. Click on Digital IDs. On the left hand side of the window, there will be a list of options. Select Digital IDs from the list. 7. Click on Add ID. 8. Select A new digital ID I want to create now. There will be a list of options, the target option will be at the bottom.

4 9. Click on Next. 10. Select New PKCS#12 digital ID file. There will be a list of options, the target option will be at the top. 11. Click on Next. 12. Fill in the form. There will be a form to fill out in this window. (a) Enter your name. This will be your name as it will appear on signed documents. (b) Enter your organizational unit. This will be your unit/department name. (c) Enter your organization name. This will be Mississippi State University. (d) Enter your address. (e) Verify the country/region is set to USA. (f) OPTIONAL: Select Unicode support. If you wish to use the & symbol in your unit/department name, then select this option. (g) Verify Key Algorithm is set to 1024-bit RSA. (h) Verify Use digital ID for is set to Digital Signatures and Data Encryption. 13. Click on Next. 14. Choose a file location and password. The file location will be the location used to store a backup of your digital ID file. Please take note of this location. It is recommended to store this file on a thumb drive or other removable media so that you can retrieve your ID in the case of a new computer or harddrive failure. The password will be used each time that you digitally sign a form. 15. Click on Finish. Once you type in your password a second time, click on Finish. Customizing an ID Once the ID is created, you can customize you signature to your look & feel. By default, your signature will be typed. You may find that your signature will be better accepted if it contains a facsimile of your actual signature. 1. Scan your signature. To be able to include your actual signature in your digital signature, you will need to scan a copy of your signature or initials in a jpeg, bitmap, or adobe format. Take note of where you save these files.

5 2. Open Adobe Acrobat. You may skip this step if you still have Adobe Acrobat open. 3. Click on Edit->Preferences. These will be in the menus across the top of your Adobe Acrobat window. 4. Select Security. Security will be an option in the Categories list on the left hand side of the window. 5. Click on New. 6. Fill in the options. There will be a list of options in this window. option is signature. (b) Select Imported graphic. This will being up a file browser window. Locate the scanned signature that you saved in a previous step. Please note that the files of type drop-down menu must be set to the filetype of your scanned image for it to find it. (c) Select all options under Configure Text. Verify that all the options under Configure Text are selected. (d) Select Auto under Text Properties. (e) Click on OK. 7. Repat step 5. If you wish to create variations of your signature (e.g., displaying just your signature, displaying your initials with the digitally signed text, or displaying just your initials), repeat step 5 with the following changes: Just Your Signature option is just signature. (b) Deselect all options under Configure Text. Deselecting these options will remove the text that appears with your signature in the first example. Initials with Text option is initials.

6 Just Your Initials option is just initials. (b) Deselect all options under Configure Text. Deselecting these options will remove the text that appears with your signature in the first example. Digitally Signing the Document Documents may or may not contain a predefined signature field. You can draw out an area within any document to place a signature if a signature field has not been previously created in the document. We will cover both options here. 1. Open Adobe Acrobat. You may skip this step if you still have Adobe Acrobat open. Signing a PDF with Predefined Signature Fields (a) Click on the signature field. (b) Select your signature appearance. The appearances you created in Customizing an ID above will apear in the drop-down menu labeled Appearance. Choose the option that you would like to use in the document you are signing. (c) Select the reason for signing the document. The reasons will be in a dropdown menu at the bottom of the screen. (d) Enter your password. (e) Click on Sign. (f) Select a save location. After clicking on Sign, you will be prompted with a file browser window. This is the location that you wish to save the signed version of your document. You may overwrite the original file or choose a new filename. Signing a PDF without a Predefined Signature Fields (a) Click on Tools. On the right hand side of the screen near the top of the page, there is a Tools button. After clicking this button, you should see the following on your screen:

7 (b) Click on Sign & Certify. On the right hand side of the screen should be a navigation bar with links. Click on Sign & Certify. (c) Click on Place Signature. (d) Draw a rectangle for your signature. Dragging your mouse, draw a rectangle where you wish your signature to be displayed. (e) Click on Sign Document. This button will be in the top-right hand corner of the window. (f) Enter your password. (g) Click on Sign. (h) Select a save location. After clicking on Sign, you will be prompted with a file browser window. This is the location that you wish to save the signed version of your document. You may overwrite the original file or choose a new filename. *Special thanks to the department of Plant & Soil Sciences for their assistance with this tutorial.