You are not always supposed to sign a document in as a hard copy by going through the struggle of printing it, signing it, and then mailing it back. We live in a digital world influenced hugely by technology. In addition, there are many ways to sign a document the moment it reaches you, to share it back it immediately from immediately. PDFs being the finest available document formats today will be discussed about along with the ways to add signature to PDF. Apart from that, you will come across various important tips in between which are suggested to be carefully taken into consideration.
Print-less document signing is quite in trend these days and apart from being an advanced provision by Adobe, it is an interesting one too. When using Adobe Acrobat (preferably, version XI), you can add signature to your portable document in three different ways. Yes, you heard it right, and one of the methods gives you the option to use a hand-drawn signature for signing your documents.
Here is how you can do it:
Beginning: Starting to add a signature to your PDF
(A) Type My Signature
(B) Draw My Signature
NOTE: Here you will need to use your mouse or a stylus.
TIP: In case you go wrong at some point, click on Clear Signature to begin again.
(C) Use an Image
NOTE: A scanner will be required for this option.
TIP: The OCR technique using Acrobat is be applicable here.
Optional: You will be provided with an option for sending the document with signature to others using Adobe EchoSign. In order to proceed, click on Upload and follow the rest of the procedure. However, you can also click on Not Now to disagree using Adobe EchoSign.
According to various studies conducted regarding the ongoing rate of cybercrime, using a hand-drawn signature or image-based signature is quite risky. It is considered as a huge risk to security of the user. It can easily lead to identity theft issues as anybody could get access to your document (hacking or any other illegitimate means) and pick your signature for performing unlawful acts using it.
In such cases, signing the document either just with your name or with preferring to use a watermark instead to own its authority is a better option to go with.
Applying Watermark: You can add image/text based watermark using the Acrobat Pro. It is from the Adobe itself.
Conclusion
Assuring the authority of your PDF document is the most important task these days due to the rise of illegitimate acts being carried out on digital data. The guide above suggests the way to sign your document and other alternatives to overcome the risks involved with certain types of signatures.