Regional University Computing Center Kaiserslautern-Landau

Signing with MasterPDF

Nowadays, the security and integrity of documents is becoming increasingly important. Digitally signing PDF documents is an efficient method of proving the authenticity of the document by the person signing it and demonstrating that the document has not been tampered with or altered. In this guide, we will explain step by step how you can use MasterPDF to digitally sign your PDF documents using your personal certificate.

 

Prerequisites:

Need help?

The joint IT support team is at your disposal at:

rz-support(at)rptu.de

 

Kaiserslautern:
+49 631 205 - 3170

Landau:
+49 6341 280 - 31184

1. adding the certificate

1. double-click on your certificate. The "Certificate Import Wizard" (see images) should open.

2. select your"current user" as the storage location. This means that the certificate is not available to other users of the same device.

3. click on"Next" and select your downloaded certificate.

4 In the next step, enter the password that you specified when applying for the certificate.

5 ) Make sure that the checkbox"Include all extended properties" is checked.

6. select the automatic certificate store in the next step.

7. in the last step you can confirm the settings you have made.

 

Your personal certificate should now be integrated on the system. You can now use it to sign PDFs or e.g. to sign e-mails.

Please continue to save your personal certificate and certificate password in a safe place. You will need this data again if you change your end device!

2. activate strong verification

Note:
This step also applies to the initial setup of MasterPDF

1. open MasterPDF and select the "Tools" menu item

2. click on "Certificates" in the settings window

3. check the box for the strong verification of signatures

3rd intermediate step: Create new document

1. open MasterPDF and create a new, empty document

2. confirm the default settings with "OK"

4. insert signature

Note:
This step symbolically shows the signing of a document. This document can be a new (self-created) document or an existing document.

 

8. select the"Signature" field in the overview (see image).

9. drag and drop the field that now appears to the correct position.

10. to change the signature settings, right-click in the signature field.

11. select"Signature settings".

12. first select the relevant certificate under"Sign as" (1) .
Please ensure that you select the current certificate (Géant TCS).

13. in the right-hand area (2) you will find various setting options for the display settings of the certificate.

Important:
Please change the date format to the format"dd.MM.yyyy" that we are familiar with.

Optionally, you can also include your signature in the signature, you can find instructions here:
[COMING SOON]

Tip:
Save your settings after making the desired changes!

14. confirm your signature by clicking on "sign"!

 

The signature is now embedded in the document.

Note


Please note that the signed document is usually saved as a new file.
Make sure that you always select the correct version when forwarding.