An electronic signature is any legally recognized electronic means that indicates that a person adopts the contents of an electronic message. There are a number of way in which we can add electronic signature to Adobe PDF document.

Signature Stamp

Stamp  signature is a very basic electronic signature. Stamp signatures can be manipulated, duplicated or deleted unless the document is ‘flattened,’ but it’s one way to get started. Stamp signature is not going to lock the document nor notify the recipient if something has been changed in the document. These signature can be printed or emailed. Stamp signature is somewhat like the plain ink signature. Acrobat 9 can be used to add handwriting like signature in PDF documents.

A dedicated signature pad or software can be used to capture and add your signature into the PDF document. This can lock the documents and notify the recipient if something has been changed in the document.

Digital Signature

Digital signatures are more secure as compare to other electronic signature. A document signed with proper digital signature gives the receiver reason to believe the message was sent by the claimed sender. Acrobat’s self-signed’ digital IDs feature can be used to create digital signature. How ever these signature do not offer the recipient any proof of the signer’s identity…the signer is vouching for his or her self but self signed digital signatures are good for personal use.

“Certificate Authorities” also provide digital ID’s but these id’s are not free. Authorize digital ID offers many other benefits also like automatic trust in Acrobat and Reader, and embedding of secure time and validation information. Third party “Certificate Authorities” validate your identity and provide better assurance as to your digital signature.