Comments on: How to Create a Scanned Digital Signature

By: MikeG

MikeG — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:06:39 +0000

Great info – this is going to save me tons of time with quickbooks and the hundreds of checks i print out. I like many of the ideas here like putting”digital” in small letters. I am sure i will also use PGP to encrypt the original file so if the computer is compromised the file will be safe.

That said, are there any other things that one could do that would improve the security of the .png file on the computer?

By: Using a Digital Signature? : Productivity501

Using a Digital Signature? : Productivity501 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:05:04 +0000

[...] curious how many readers are using digital signatures. If you use a digital signature, please take a moment to leave a comment letting me know what you [...]

By: Dealing with Signatures and Email : Productivity501

Dealing with Signatures and Email : Productivity501 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:50:42 +0000

[...] an insurance company needed my signature, they sent me a TIFF file. I used my scanned signature, added it to the TIFF and sent it back. They said they couldn’t accept that because it came [...]

By: Mark Shead

Mark Shead — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:27:26 +0000

@Mark – I use RingCentral, but there are quite a few others out there.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:15:38 +0000

You said: “I can receive a fax, sign it and fax it back without ever printing the document out.”
What online fax service do you recommend?

By: Mark Shead

Mark Shead — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:19:36 +0000

@PrBenoit - I am not familiar with that program, but I have some instructions on how to do it with Acrobat Professional. Maybe that will give you an idea of what to look for in ScanSoft PDF. Does ayone else have any suggestions for using ScanSoft?

By: prbenoit

prbenoit — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:10:12 +0000

Please bear with me, I’m not too tech savy…but I need your help.

I was able to get a friend to convert my scanned signature into a .png file.
I have ScanSoft PDF Professional, 4.0.

I can’t seem to figure out how to get the .png signature on the .pdf form. Can sonone help me out? Many thanks!

By: Scanned Signatures and Handwriting : Productivity501

Scanned Signatures and Handwriting : Productivity501 — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 17:25:40 +0000

[...] we’ve looked at how to create a scanned signature that you can use to sign documents without printing them out. Today we are going to look at how to [...]

By: Paperless Signing and Faxing : Productivity501

Paperless Signing and Faxing : Productivity501 — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:01:08 +0000

[...] it comes to dealing with faxes my two biggest timesavers are using a scanned signature and the ability to sign documents from Acrobat. These two things make a huge difference in my [...]

By: Mark Shead

Mark Shead — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:12:40 +0000

@LiverBot – I don’t think you can do a transparent background in Paint, but it might work if you can scan it in with a completely white background. Interesting about Obama’s signature. That is even an SVG so it is higher quality than just about anything else you could have. It is basically a mathematical representation of his signature’s geometry.

By: LiverBot

LiverBot — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 17:58:31 +0000

Oh and I would like to add that those concerned about having your signature online, well I would not worry too much, President Obama has his, with a transparent background on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Barack_Obama_signature.svg

If someone tries to steal your identity, chances are that they’ll get your social insurance number or any other document they will find in your wallet, in your recycle bin, or in a store/ATM. Courts are well aware of the electronic signature, and this alone has no legal value.

By: LiverBot

LiverBot — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 17:48:26 +0000

I’ve had success with believe it or not, MS Paint. The scanner at work wasn’t working and I needed a signature on a letter to be sent as a PDF.

I created a new document, expanded the size and used a large paint brush. Then, through trial and error, I managed to get a signature that looks like a paper version, but it looked “blocky”.

Then, I saved it and imported it in MS-Word, then reduced the size so much (to look like a normal signature) that the pixels and blocks from the large file are now invisible, and when it prints, it actually looks like a gel-point signature.

Now this really depends on how complex your signature is though, but it worked for me.

By: Mark Shead

Mark Shead — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:14:43 +0000

@Ricky – Thanks for the tip.

By: Ricky Buchanan

Ricky Buchanan — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 06:49:40 +0000

You can do this sans Photoshop or other expensive software now using Preview’s “Instant Alpha” functions which is handy and MUCH cheaper for those of us who don’t have Photoshop!

To reduce any jagginess I scanned the signature at an enormous DPI (the same I usually use for photo negatives, actually) so I had a huge signature, converted the background to transparent with Preview’s Instant Alpha, then shrunk the resulting image back to a reasonable size. Works like a charm!

By: Henry

Henry — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:06:17 +0000

Thanks guys this have been a very useful tip for me as I was able to add my e-signature to my outlook.