I like the new Preview app that ships with Mac OS X Lion. It comes with a lot of new features, but one I find particularly useful is the feature you can use to sign PDFs digitally.
Preview is interesting about how it handles signatures since it works in a way people wouldn’t expect. Instead of using a mouse or track pad to grab your signature, the app uses the camera that came with your Mac notebook or iMac. You simply sign a piece of paper and hold it up to the camera. The app will detect it and take a photo.
That photo is added to your PDF document by opening the file you want to sign in Preview, clicking on Annotate in the apps toolbar, and then selecting Signature from the menu presented. You’ll have two options available to you.
The first one will capture a signature with the camera built into your Mac. The second one will let you manage signatures that you might have already captured.
If you are interested in a how-to about signing PDFs using Preview, then check out the one that I wrote after the Mac OS X Lion launch called How To Add PDF Signatures In OS X 10.7 Lion.
David W. Martin has more than 20 years of experience in the industry as a programmer, systems and business analyst, author, and consultant. David has written for CNET’s iPhoneatlas.com, MacLife.com, CultofMac.com, BYTE.com and recently for aNewDoman.net. He comes to Cult of Mac’s website with deep knowledge and passion for the all things Apple. Follow David on Twitter @david_w_martin or see what he’s up to now at davidwmartin.com.
8 responses to “Sign Your PDFs In Preview [OS X Tips]”
Does this also work on Snow Leopard or is there an update whereby Preview can also do this on Snow Leopard? Excellent tip!
Wow, this is a great tip David! Thanks for pointing this one out. Preview is getting more mature with this kind of features.
I have been using this feature in the Lion version of Preview for a while now, but I have a question maybe someone can help me with. I have modified the Color Menu button to make the signature appear as if it were signed in dark blue ink, and the signature does appear in dark blue until the file is saved. After the save, the signature reverts to the standard black color. Anyone have any ideas how I can keep the dark blue color for the signature? Thanks.
Another great use of this is a quick and dirty way to import and vectorize sketches. If you don’t have a scanner and need some type of sketch or path quicly vectorized, you can create a blank pdf, capture a “signature” with the FaceTime camera, save the PDf, and then open it in your favoirte vector editor, like Illustrator or Inkscape. It can be a little tough for Preview to get your entire sketch since it tries to match up whatever is on that line, but it’s a fun way to abuse the awesome tool!