Insert Signature in PDF

Ever wanted to insert a signature into your PDF? Why would you want to do this? Let's say, for example, you are a business traveler. Your company wants weekly timesheets, worklogs, status reports, whatever ... in PDF format. If you are like me, timesheets are generated directly into PDF and then I must sign these before handing them in. That's fine and dandy if you are working in your office. So what do you do on the road and can't print and sign but you still have to submit the PDF? I have a quick and dirty solution for you! After digging quite a bit trying to figure out how to do this myself, the solution is fairly simple. I use Adobe Acrobat 8 on a regular basis. I've seen many suggestions on the internets on how to insert a signature using the stamp tool. While this approach is OK, I found the results to be sub-par at best. My signature looked awful! However that stamp gets rendered, it looks like crap. So here is my suggestion. Follow these steps and you should get pretty good results.

1. You first need an image file of your signature available on your computer. Make sure that it is a good scan. I would suggest looking up how to do this on google or something if you are unsure how to do it. A couple tips on this ... don't use a fine point pen. Try and use either a felt tip or one of those gel ink roller type pens.
   
2. Open the PDF that you need to modify with your signature with Adobe Acrobat 8
   
3. Once the file has opened, navigate to the 'Tools->Advanced Editing->TouchUp Object Tool' menu item.
   
   
   
4. Once you select the TouchUp Object Tool, you will get a black arrow. Right click where you would like your signature to appear and select 'Place Image'.
   
   
   
5. You will get an open dialog box where you can select the signature image you created earlier.
   
6. When you select your file, the image will be inserted ... probably quite large. The image that I used wasn't particularly good. I didn't scan it ... good ol' GIS.
   
   
   
7. You will want to shrink the size down by grabbing one of the corners of the box and dragging the corner towards the inside of the image. You will know if you are doing it right as the mouse pointer will turn into a double headed arrow.
   
   
   
8. Now that you have the image sized, you will want to move the image to the spot where you would like it. In my case, right above the signature line. Now keep in mind that the image will block the line itself if you have placed the image over the line, so make sure that the image is above the signature line.
   
   
   
9. Save the updated file. All done. You now have a PDF with your signature on it.
   
   
   

You should be able to use a variety of image formats. It is your preference. I don't know if transparent gif files can be used. I honestly haven't tried or have needed them. If they do work, please let me know. There are also some vector image creation tools on the internets that you could use that may make your signature look more crisp. A tool like VectorMagic comes in handy.

A few things to mention, these instructions are for Adobe Acrobat 8 only. I haven't tried this in any other version of Adobe Acrobat or another PDF creation application. If you have tips or hints for other applications, please feel free to leave them in a comment.