After you have your digital certificate with private keys installed, you can digitally sign your office applications, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Office 2007 allows for two types of digital signatures to be applied to documents, spreadsheets and presentations:
1. Transparent or Invisible Digital Signatures: No visible signature lines are present within the document, but the document is digitally signed to provide assurance as to authenticity, integrity and origin of the document.
2. Digital Signature Lines: One or more visible signature lines are inserted within the document which allows for a visible signature to be tied to a digital signature.
1. To add an Invisible Digital Signature, follow these steps:
a. Click the Office button, Prepare, and then choose Add a Digital Signature.
b. You will see a Microsoft Office dialogue box. If you already have your digital certificate from PGP TrustCenter, just click OK. You may also check the box to “Don’t show this message again”.
c. If the document has not already been saved to the Office 2007 format, a message will ask you to save it first. Click Yes to save the document as a new format.
d. A Sign dialogue box will appear that defaults to use an appropriate signing certificate. If you have multiple certificates installed, and this is not the one that you wish to use, click on the Change button to select the correct certificate. In the Purpose for signing this document text box, you can enter a reason for signing or leave it blank. Click the Sign button when all values are correct.
e. The Signature Confirmation dialogue box appears. Click OK to proceed.
f. If there are no problems with the certificate, the document will now be signed. Note that if the certificate you are using was not issued from a trusted Certificate Authority, such as PGP TrustCenter’s TC TrustCenter, a Signatures task pane will be displayed where you will need to correct any problems identified.
g. The digital signature is now apparent in the lower left-hand corner of the document where a red ribbon is displayed. You can click on the ribbon to display information about the signing certificate and purpose for signing the document.
g. The digital signature is now apparent in the lower left-hand corner of the document where a red ribbon is displayed. You can click on the ribbon to display information about the signing certificate and purpose for signing the document.
2. To add one or more Visible Digital Signature Lines, follow these steps:
a. Click the Insert tab and then click the Signature Line button.
b. The Signature Setup dialogue box appears. Enter information about the Suggested signer, Suggested signer’s title, and Suggested signer’s e-mail address. Put a checkmark in the Allow the signer to add comments to the Sign dialogue if you want the signer to add additional information into the signature line, and put a checkmark in the Show sign date in signature line checkbox to add the date the document was signed in the text box.
Click OK.
a. Click the Insert tab and then click the Signature Line button.
b. The Signature Setup dialogue box appears. Enter information about the Suggested signer, Suggested signer’s title, and Suggested signer’s e-mail address. Put a checkmark in the Allow the signer to add comments to the Sign dialogue if you want the signer to add additional information into the signature line, and put a checkmark in the Show sign date in signature line checkbox to add the date the document was signed in the text box.
Click OK.
c. A digital signature line now appears in the document. Double click the signature line to provide more information.
d. In the Sign dialogue box you can type your name, or if you have a tablet PC, you can write your name into the text box. If you don’t have a tablet PC, but would like an image of your actual signature to be included in the signature line, you can click the Select Image link and insert a graphic file containing your handwritten signature.
e. In the Select Signature Image dialogue box, select the image of your signature and click the Select button.
f. The image now appears in the Sign dialogue box. Before signing the document, you can enter a reason for signing the document in the Purpose for signing this document text box. Click Sign to digitally sign the document.
g. If there are no problems with the certificate, the document will now be signed. Note that if the certificate you are using was not issued from a trusted Certificate Authority, such as PGP TrustCenter’s TC TrustCenter, a Signatures task pane will be displayed where you will need to correct any problems identified.
e. In the Select Signature Image dialogue box, select the image of your signature and click the Select button.
f. The image now appears in the Sign dialogue box. Before signing the document, you can enter a reason for signing the document in the Purpose for signing this document text box. Click Sign to digitally sign the document.
g. If there are no problems with the certificate, the document will now be signed. Note that if the certificate you are using was not issued from a trusted Certificate Authority, such as PGP TrustCenter’s TC TrustCenter, a Signatures task pane will be displayed where you will need to correct any problems identified.
8. The digital signature is apparent in the lower left-hand corner of the document where a red ribbon is displayed. You can now click on the ribbon to display information about the signing certificate and purpose for signing the document.
PGP TrustCenter Configuration Guide for Microsoft Office 2007
Verifying a Digitally Signed Document
When you open a digitally signed document, a red ribbon is displayed in the lower left-hand corner of the document.
A digitally signed document can be verified by clicking on the red certificate icon at the bottom of the document and then selecting the signature from the pane on the right-hand side of the document. This will display information about the signing certificate, the certificate’s validity and the reason why the document was signed:
PGP TrustCenter Configuration Guide for Microsoft Office 2007
Verifying a Digitally Signed Document
When you open a digitally signed document, a red ribbon is displayed in the lower left-hand corner of the document.
A digitally signed document can be verified by clicking on the red certificate icon at the bottom of the document and then selecting the signature from the pane on the right-hand side of the document. This will display information about the signing certificate, the certificate’s validity and the reason why the document was signed:
Clicking on the View button will display the signing certificate.
A digitally signed document cannot be modified in anyway, and if it is, the signature will be invalidated.
A digitally signed document cannot be modified in anyway, and if it is, the signature will be invalidated.
