A digital signature proves who signed a document and shows whether it has changed since. You need a certificate file (.p12 or .pfx) from your organisation or a certificate provider.
Steps
- In the rail, choose Protect, then Sign with Certificate in the Signatures group.
- Fill in Certificate password (leave empty if it has none), and if you like the optional Signed by (optional), Reason (optional), Location (optional) and Contact (optional) fields.
- In This signature says, choose I approve this document, or, if you are the author, one of the three choices that begin "I am the author", which also say what may still change.
- In Timestamp, choose No timestamp, DigiCert, GlobalSign or Sectigo.
- Choose Choose certificate and sign, and pick your certificate file.
Which signature do I need?
- Sign with Certificate (Protect): a digital signature from your certificate, with no mark on the page. Anyone who checks the file sees who signed it.
- Signature & Certificate (Protect): the same digital signature, and your signature shown on the page in a box you draw. See "Add a visible signature".
- Signature (Comment): only a picture of your signature on the page. It is not a digital signature; no certificate is used and nothing proves who signed. See "Add your signature".
Good to know
- Your certificate never leaves this computer, and its password is not kept.
- A timestamp proves when you signed. Only a fingerprint of the signature is sent to the timestamp service, never the document. These services are reached without encryption, so someone watching the network could see that a timestamp was requested.
- If the timestamp service cannot be reached or refuses, the document is not signed; try another service or sign without one.
- This signature is invisible on the page. To show one, see "Add a visible signature".
- Sign last: changes made after signing show up as changes when the signature is checked.
- Saving after you sign keeps the signature, and so does signing again: a second signature is added after the first, and both verify. A redaction, a flattened form, a new password or an edit to the text rewrites the whole file and breaks it; Monstera asks before making one of those, and offers to make it on a copy instead (see "Save your changes").
- A document protected with a password can be signed. The signature is added to the protected file, which keeps its password and permissions.
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