How can I digitally sign a PDF document?
 

Hi,
I am trying to figure out how to digitally sign a PDF document. I need to be able to create a document or spreadsheet, print it to PDF and then digitally sign the PDF document.

In windows I was able to do this with Adobe Acrobat. I could create the document, print to Adobe PDF and then open the document with Adobe and place a digital signature on the document.

The digital signature I was able to create with Adobe and it basically had my name, an expiration date, the date of the signature and a few other bits of information. It was a visible block of information placed on the PDF document so you could see it when you printed it.

Is there any way to do this in Linux? If not I may need to try to get Adobe Acrobat working with WINE.

Thanks in advanced,
SinGuy

Well, I'm not sure if there's a way for FREE, but there may be some things that do work under Linux, that'll do this. See if these help:

http://www.aspose.com/categories/fil...a/default.aspx

It's Java based, and it mentions Linux, but I've no idea if it's any good, works, or what...your mileage may vary. :) You can also use GPG to 'sign' a document. It'll put a certificate on it that's verifiable, but not what you get with Adobe, though....

And I'm sure you've already gone through OpenOffice, and explored the security tab under the "export as PDF" option.....

Now I'm wondering if there is a way for me to install Adobe Acrobat Standard 8 on my FC11 laptop. This is the full version not just the Reader. WINE does not support it. Is there any other way other than possibly installing a virtual machine and running Windows to get this program running?

Yep...as you said, running Windows in a VM is the only way to do it. Aside from the Reader, you're out of luck with most of Adobe's products. It does stink out loud, though....

Ghostscript can't do this? See my SuperUser post: http://superuser.com/q/796484/261550

It might be able to now...seeing as this post had been closed for FIVE YEARS...and why link to the same question on another site???

A quick Google search for "how to digitally sign a pdf file in linux", gives you plenty these days:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/14737...lly-sign-a-pdf
https://paulbradley.org/digitally-sign-pdf-files/
http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2013/04/...al-signatures/
http://wiki.cacert.org/PdfSigning

The PDF format does provide, today, for various kinds of digital-signing. However, in the greater scheme of things, the value of such technology has turned out to be questionable.

• A "digital signature" (attribute of a document ...) has not gained 'legal standing' to correspond to a scrawl on a piece of paper. And I'm not sure that ever-skeptical (and, "twice-burned") Courts will ever do so.
• Approvals are typically handled by systems, such as Microsoft SharePoint, which manage the documents as resources and which can provide an "auditable provenance" to the document, regardless of the document's individual binary content. (Basically, it doesn't matter much what a particular binary document-file contains, if you can't vouch for how it got that way.)
• "Ask your attorney." Really. Legal precedents change every day, in every country. This entire issue is not entirely technological in nature.
• This is an old thread, circa 2009. That's ancient (legal) history.

Indeed, things change quickly and the information contained in this "ancient" thread might be outdated. Please, post your question by starting a new thread. And please, post your question. Thank you in advance.

Let's this thread rest in peace, now.