Digital Signatures
Using Digital IDs to Sign Documents Digitally

Many of the forms used in day-to-day business at University Facilities must be signed by multiple parties, typically a customer, a Building Security Coordinator, a Project Manager, and so on. Printing a document, signing it and scanning it to email to the next required signatory can lead to delays in construction and renovation, so our organization has for some time asked its customers to use a digital signature to sign PDF versions of our forms.

If you have any issues with creating a digital ID to sign Facilities forms, please contact Facilities Information & Technology Services.

The information below provides step-by-step instructions on how to create a digital ID within Adobe Acrobat DC, and how to use it as a digital signature to sign a form. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat DC, you can obtain the software from your local IT consultant or TSP, and alternatively you can use the free viewer Adobe Acrobat Reader available from Adobe.com.

Creating a Digital ID

1. Open a document that contains digital signature fields. Our Renovation Permit form, for example.
2. Click on the digital signature field.
3. When prompted, choose Configure Digital ID.
4. In the Configure a Digital ID for signing dialog, select Create a new Digital ID and click Continue.
5. In the Select the destination of the new Digital ID window, choose Save to Windows Certificate Store and click Continue.
   
   
   Mac Users: The Windows Certificate Store option will not be available. Instead, you should be prompted to create a password for your digital ID. This password will be required any time you sign a document, so please carefully choose a memorable one.
6. In the Create a self-signed Digital ID dialog, type in your information such as Name, Organizational Unit (department or college), Organization Name (Clemson University) and Email Address. Leave the remaining fields as they are and click Save.

Using a Digital ID to Place a Digital Signature

At this point you should see a window titled Sign with a Digital ID, with your newly created Digital ID listed beneath Choose the Digital ID that you want to use for signing.

1. With the new Digital ID selected, click Continue to sign the document.
2. The next window provides a sample of how your signature will appear when applied to the digital signature field. Click Sign.
3. A Save As window should appear. Choose where you'd like to save the signed document and click Save. Overwriting the existing document is fine.
4. Notice that the digital signature field now displays your digital signature based on the digital ID you created.

With the document signed (read: saved), it can now be attached to an email and sent to the next party responsible for signing.

A printable PDF of this information is also available.