Signing Documents

Before creating any signature, please make sure that all the initial setup has been completed and that you have access to a PKI certificate with a private key and you know whether it is in a PKCS#12 file, a smart card, a USB token or in your local Windows certificate store. In the case of a smart card or a USB token, you still need the certificate imported into the Windows certificate store (it will not import the private key so it will remain safely in the hardware device).

SecureSign allows you to either drag and drop documents onto the document to sign panel or select them by clicking on the document selection icon.

Please select files you would like to sign either by dragging them from your desktop and dropping them onto the “Document to sign” panel or by clicking on the document selection icon in the “Document to sign” panel. Once you have added all the documents you want signed, you are ready to sign.

Please click on the “Sign” icon on the top toolbar. This will invoke additional GUI components as needed. You will see a signature image capture window or approval of file signature window if a signature image option was selected in the Advanced Options. If a PFX/P12 file or a default signer certificate was not selected in the advanced panel, you will see a certificate selection window where you must select a certificate before the signature creation will proceed. If your private key resides on a hardware device such as a smart card or a USB token, you may see additional GUI from their CSP layer components asking you to provide your password for accessing the private key.

After you have selected a certificate, SecureSign will verify its validity as per the options specified on the advanced panel. If the certificate passes this verification, a signature is created and then immediately verified. This signed document currently resides only in the computer’s memory and you must save it to the hard disk in order to access it at a later time or to send it to another person for cosigning.

Signing XML/HTML Forms

Before you can sign a SecureSign template based form, you need to add it to your system by selecting the Add/Delete Form Template menu item in the Forms menu as shown below:

Once you click on the Add/Delete Form Template menu item, you will see the following dialog box:

In order to add a form to your system, please click on the Add button and select the form template (.tss) file from your hard disk which you would like to use. Once added, the form will be available for use during all future sessions of SecureSign. After adding a form template, click OK and exit the dialog box.

Now click the “Create New Signature Using Form Template” button in the main panel. The following dialog box will appear:

Please go ahead and select your form template and click on OK button to proceed. SecureSign will launch your form in a separate window where you can fill it out and save it. The following is an example of what a template based form might look like. Please note your actual form may differ considerably from this illustration.