How to Create a Transparent Electronic Signature
Section 1: How to Scan and Save your signature
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Sign your signature on a blank piece of white paper
Scan the piece of paper
Open the file in Adobe Reader
Go to File>SaveAs>Image>TIFF
Select “TIFF”, and save in desired folder
Section 2: How to make your signature transparent
1. Start Word and create a new document
2. In Word 2003, Choose Insert>Picture>From File…
In Word 2010, click on the “Insert Ribbon”, then “Picture Button”
3. Find the TIFF image you scanned and saved earlier
4. Select the image by clicking on it once
5. The next step will vary depending on the version of Word you use:
In Word 2003, right click and choose “Show Picture Toolbar”
6. In Word 2010…
Double-click the picture to access the Format ribbon, then choose the Color group:
7. Click the “Set Transparent Color Tool”
Version dated November 2012
8. Click once anywhere in the white area of the signature picture
9. Save the work document
10. To use your electronic signature, simply open this document & copy and paste into
any document that requires your signature.
Section 3: Security for Electronic Signatures
All electronic signatures must be kept under strict security arrangements, and should only be
used by the person whose signature it is. To ensure your signature is NOT misused, you must
keep your Word document password protected. In addition to this, you should keep your
signature in a place that is accessible by you at all time, such as a folder in your email.
To save a password protected version of your Word document:
1. For Word 2003
a) Tools>Options
b) Select “Security” on dialogue box, enter password for “File encryption options for
this document”
2. For Word 2010
File>Info>Permissions>Encrypt with password
Version dated November 2012