Verify digital signature question

A digital signature is an electronic, encrypted stamp of authentication used on digital information such as electronic documents, emails, or macros. A signature confirms that the information originated from the signer and has not been altered. Use a Verify digital signature question to authenticate digital information such as documents, emails, and macros. Digital signatures help establish authenticity, integrity, and non-repudiation. FlowForma currently supports two formats of digital signature: Microsoft Office digital signatures and CoSign by ARX digital signatures.

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Digital signature assurances

A digital signature must comply with the following:

• Authenticity: the signer is confirmed as the signer.
• Integrity: the content has not been changed or tampered with since it was digitally signed.
• Non-repudiation: prove to all parties the origin of the signed content. Repudiation refers to the act of a signer denying any association with the signed content.
• Notarisation: signatures in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files are time-stamped by a secure time-stamp server, and under certain circumstances have the validity of a notarisation.

To make these assurances, the content creator must digitally sign the content by using a signature that satisfies the following criteria:

• The digital signature is valid.
• The certificate associated with the digital signature is current (not expired).
• The signing person or organisation, known as the publisher, is trusted.
• The certificate associated with the digital signature is issued to the signing publisher by a reputable certificate authority.

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Microsoft Office digital signature

There are two ways to use digital signatures to sign Office documents. You can either add visible signature lines to a document to capture one or more digital signatures, or you can add an invisible digital signature to a document. If you use CoSign digital signatures, tutorials that explain how to create and use signatures are available at http://www.arx.com/digital-signature/. A signature line resembles a typical signature placeholder that might appear in a printed document. However, it works differently. When a signature line is inserted into an Office file, the author can specify information about the intended signer and instructions for the signer. When an electronic copy of the file is sent to the intended signer, this person sees the signature line and a notification to sign the document. The signer can:

• Type a signature.
• Select a signature digital image.
• Write a signature by using the inking feature of the Tablet PC.

When the signer adds a visible representation of a signature to the document, a digital signature is added at the same time to authenticate the signer’s identity.

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Add or remove a Microsoft Office digital signature

Digital signatures (also known as digital ID), can be used in Microsoft Office programs: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. FlowForma currently supports the use of digital signatures in Word 2010 and above.

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Create a signature line in Word or Excel

1. In the document or worksheet, place your pointer where you want to create a signature line.
2. On the insert tab, in the text group, click the signature line list, and then click Microsoft Office signature line.
3. In the signature setup dialog box, type information that will appear beneath the signature line:
   • Suggested signer: the signer’s full name.
   • Suggested signer’s title: the signer’s title, if any.
   • Suggested signer’s email address: the signer’s email address, if needed.
   • Instructions to the signer: add instructions for the signer.
4. Select one or both of the following checkboxes:
   • Allow the signer to add comments in the sign dialog box: lets the signer type a purpose for signing.
   • Show sign date in signature line: the signature date appears with the signature.

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Sign the signature line in Word or Excel

When you sign a signature line, you add a visible representation of your signature and a digital signature.

1. In the file, right-click the signature line.
   If the file opens in protected view, click edit anyway, assuming the file is from a reliable source.
2. From the menu, select sign.
   • To add a printed version of your signature, type your name in the box next to the X.
   • To select an image of your written signature, click select image. In the select signature image dialog box, find your signature image file, select it, and click select.

• You can also sign a signature line by double-clicking it and typing your name next to the X, or by clicking the arrow next to the signature in the requested signatures section of the signature pane and selecting sign from the menu.
• To add a handwritten signature (Tablet PC users only), sign your name in the box next to the X using the inking feature.
• Click sign.
• The red signatures button appears at the bottom of the document or worksheet.

When you open a signed document, the following message shows: If you click view signatures, the signature panel opens on the right side of the screen:

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Remove digital signatures from Word or Excel

1. Open the document or worksheet that contains the visible signature you want to remove.
2. Right-click the signature line.
3. Click remove signature.
4. Click yes to confirm.

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Add invisible digital signatures in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint

To protect the authenticity of a document’s content, you can add an invisible digital signature. Signed documents have the signatures button at the bottom of the document.

1. Go to file and select info.
2. Select add a digital signature from the protect document drop-down menu.
3. Read the Word, Excel, or PowerPoint message, and then click OK.
4. In the sign dialog box, in the purpose for signing this document box, type the purpose.
5. Click sign.

Once a file is digitally signed, the signatures button appears, and the file becomes read-only to prevent modifications.

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Remove invisible digital signatures from Word, Excel, or PowerPoint

1. Open the document, worksheet, or presentation that contains the invisible signature you want to remove.
2. Go to file and select info.
3. Click view signatures.
4. The document, worksheet, or presentation view returns, and the signatures pane appears.
5. Select remove signature from the drop-down menu beside the relevant signature.
6. Click yes to confirm that you want to remove the signature.

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Why use digital signatures

Digital signatures provide a record of exactly what was signed and can be verified in the future. When the signer adds a visible signature to the document, a digital signature is added at the same time to authenticate identity. After a document is digitally signed, it becomes read-only to prevent modifications. Like a visible digital signature line, an invisible digital signature assures the authenticity, integrity, and origin of a document. You can add invisible digital signatures to Word documents, Excel workbooks, and PowerPoint presentations.

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Using the “Verify digital signature” question

Depending on your flow design, you can have one question that verifies all the signatures, or one question for each signature that has to be verified in different steps. In both cases, type the email address of the person who has to sign the document into the signer ID and signer email fields: Question title: each question must have a title. It’s a required field and appears on the form as a label when the user fills in the question. Question code: each question needs a unique code. One is generated by default when you start creating a new question, but you can overwrite this and give it a different code if you prefer. The question code doesn’t appear on the form itself, but you can use it to search and filter questions when adding them. Question type: verify digital signature. Required: specify whether the question is required or not. If you set a question as required, the user must answer it on the form to be able to submit the form. However, the user can save as draft without answering all required questions. If you try to submit a form without answering all required questions, an error message appears showing a list of unanswered questions. Question description: entering a description is optional. The description is used as a tooltip on the form and adds an exclamation point beside the question. If the user clicks the exclamation point, the description (tooltip) appears. Publish question as list field: check this box to save the question to the SharePoint forms list. This allows you to report on the question from there. SharePoint document url: choose how to define where the signed document to be verified is located. You can either use a file upload question or type in the document URL. If you use a file upload question, create it in the step where you want to verify the signature. If you use the document URL, make sure you enter the exact URL of the latest version of the document. You can use tokens, as indicated below the entry box. Minimum number of valid signatures required: enter a number here. The step can’t be completed until the required number of verified signers have signed the document. Expected signers: check this option if you want to define the expected signers. For each person signing, enter the signer ID, signer email, and provider. When the person signs, these criteria are matched against the person’s digital signature. Show question title on form: check this option to display the question’s title to the left of the input field. If you uncheck this option, the input field moves left and appears right under the other questions/question titles. Place title on top: check this option to display the question’s title above the input field. If you uncheck this option, the title appears to the left of the input field, as normal. Render, but hide question on form: if you check this option, the question behaves as shown by default (default value, publishing, and calculation still apply), but it isn’t displayed on the form. Once you’ve entered all relevant information, click save. If you don’t want to save the question or the changes you’ve made, click close.