When you receive a PDF document by email that you must sign, the process of printing out the file, signing on the dotted line with a pen, scanning the signed document and sending it back can be a rather tedious task. Fortunately, Apple has added the ability to electronically sign a PDF document using Preview, a program that comes preinstalled on every Mac running OS X Lion or later. The steps involved to electronically sign a PDF using Preview on Mac are quite simple and will save you valuable time, especially if you have multiple documents, contracts, forms or other paperwork to sign. If you are worried that your virtual signature will look bad, rest assured that you can create your signature by using the trackpad or holding up your signature on paper to a Mac's built-in iSight camera.
Steps to Electronically Sign a PDF Using Trackpad. Open the PDF file you need to sign in Preview. Click on the Markup icon ( ) and then the signature ( ) icon. Click on Create Signature Click Here to Begin. Draw your signature on the trackpad. Click any key when finished.
Click on the signature created to insert it into the PDF document. The signature can be moved or resized like a regular image. Steps to Electronically Sign a PDF Using Camera. Open the PDF file you need to sign in Preview. Click on the Markup icon ( ) and then the signature ( ) icon. Click on Create Signature Camera. Sign your name on white paper and hold it to be visible to the camera.
However, Apple's Mac OS X includes user-friendly signature creation embedded in the native Preview app. An image of your handwritten signature is captured once and can be included with a click in.
Preview will draw a virtual signature. Click on the signature created to insert it into the PDF document. The signature can be moved or resized like a regular image.
Tips. If you are using the trackpad to create your electronic signature, it is recommended that you look at Preview and go slow and steady with your finger to achieve the best result.
For an even more precise signature, you can use an iPhone or iPad stylus, preferably one with a fine-tipped ending, to draw your signature on the trackpad. Signing a piece of white paper and holding it up to the camera is the easiest way of creating an electronic signature in Preview, although this method does not always yield the best results. The signature will appear inverted when you hold it up to your Mac's camera, but Preview will automatically ensure that it reads properly from left to right. You can create an electronic signature in Preview by following steps above even if you do not have a PDF document opened. By default, all electronic signatures that you create are automatically stored in a list on Preview so that you can insert them into future PDFs documents and other files without needing to repeat these steps. Preview can store multiple signatures at once. Apple also provides markup tools in the Mail app in macOS to create electronic signatures that can be directly inserted into your emails.
Just to be 'that guy'. While people often do refer to this as a 'digital signature', it really isn't anything of the sort. A digital signature is a cryptographic entity that at some level proves that you are indeed who you claim you are. It generally doesn't involve anything resembling your on-paper signature. Anyone can append a rasterized/digitized version of your written signature to a document - it doesn't have to be you. With a real digital signature, though, that can't happen unless you are sloppy with your private key(s). Just to be 'that guy'.
While people often do refer to this as a 'digital signature', it really isn't anything of the sort. A digital signature is a cryptographic entity that at some level proves that you are indeed who you claim you are. It generally doesn't involve anything resembling your on-paper signature.
Anyone can append a rasterized/digitized version of your written signature to a document - it doesn't have to be you. With a real digital signature, though, that can't happen unless you are sloppy with your private key(s). This is exactly what I was going to say. I thought this article would be about RSA. Nice awareness-raising article but I am not sure why this is a Macrumors post. I've been signing PDFs on my 2013 mba for a while now so it isn't a brand new thing.
Maybe new to Yoshemite though. I've never figured out how to do this if you don't have a camera or trackpad. A simple image import feature would be nice but there isnt one last time I tried Yes you can import images.
Just drag and drop the signature image file onto the PDF. You might need to be in signature mode first, I can't remember. No, a PDF in Preview will not allow you to import/drop an image into it. The PDF has to be converted to an image, then you drop the image into it and convert back to PDF. If you believe this to be wrong perhaps you could create some step by step instructions, because my own testing and a whole lot of googling and no one else has found out how to do this. Ah, I was wrong re drag & drop images onto PDF.
Turned out the PDF on which I did this, I saved as a JPEG or something, then dropped my signature file on it, and resaved as a PDF. Also been known to copy and paste text from a page of a PDF to a Word doc (it keeps most of the formatting) for altering / inserting something, then re-save as PDF, and re-insert the relevant page via Preview. Me three! This scanned signature is a joke, if I sent my invoices with such a signature, my clients would laugh (and obviously return it), this has no legal value whatsoever. I was hoping to view an easy way to sign with a certified signature (a cryptographic token) in Preview.app, I've been doing it with Acrobat until now.
I understand what you mean. However I'm frequently emailed files / contracts / agreements and asked to print, sign, scan and return them.
This saves all that printing and scanning hassle. I've never in my life been asked to cryptographically sign a document. I'm sure the day will come, it hasn't arrived yet.
The truth is that signing documents is just unnecessarily stressful even though it does not look like it. The reason is that you will have to print out the document, sign it, scan it and then send it to the recipient. If you put these processes in context of time value, you will find out that it is almost a waste of time when compared to the use of electronic signature app for mac in document signing. For those mac fans, there are top 5 signature app for Mac(macOS 10.14 Included) that you can use. Best 5 Signature App for Mac The first on the list of top 5 app for mac is PDFelement for Mac. This is one of the best digital signature apps for macOS 10.14 you can get for yourself or business due to the fact that it comes with a lot of benefits that may not be present in other apps. Signing documents is just easy on this platform as the complexity level on this platform is just very low.
This means no matter the level of your computer skills, you can comfortably sign documents using PDFelement for Mac. This signature app for Mac needs no introduction. It is one of the most popular electronic signature app for Mac that is well used by a lot of people all over the world. With this tool, you can easily sign full range of documents without having to install the software. DocuSign makes your work process flow better and eliminates the need for unnecessary paper systems that tend to drag down productivity.
It has different pricing plans and all users need to do is to find the pricing plan that best suits them. There is no doubt that DocuSign is one of the best electronic signature app for macOS 10.14.
For Mac users, eSignLive has proven to be one of the best signature app for Mac(macOS 10.14 included). Like PDFelement and DocuSign, eSignLive allows you to easily sign documents even when you do not have great computer skills. ESignLive is also very secured due to the fact that it offers some extra layer of authentication which will guarantee that you documents are safe. It is important to note that documents signed under this platform are considered authentic and legally binding and enforceable. For this reason, you can use it to sign legal documents like contract papers and this is why eSignLive is being used by quite a number of top companies. The not too good aspect of eSignLive is the fact that unlike PDFelement and DocuSign, it is not actually flexible when it comes to pricing. There is no doubt that the name Adobe needs no introduction.
As long as PDF and any other digital related thing is concerned, Adobe has been at the froe front of delivering quality service to users even though it might be expensive. With Adobe Sign, you can easily sign all kinds of document and improve workflow and productivity.
For instance, it has a feature that can allow you collect signatures of multiple signers and organize them in such a way that they are well placed on the document. The good thing about Adobe Sign is that it caters for a wide variety of electronics signature areas from business to legal no matter the size. Without doubt, it is easier and faster and is confidently one of the top signature app for Mac. This is another top signature app for Mac but may not be well known like the PDFelement and Adobe Sign. However, it can used to sign legally binding signatures on PDF and word documents. It is a secured platform and provides good value for money. However, one of the issues of tool is that it supports only the English language unlike some other top signature apps that support variety of languages.