Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Scanned Signatures

Yet another question before we go "Live" with AC.

How is everyone scanning their signature for use in AC?
(In the user account section)

Hi Marty_PA,
You can scan in your signature with any scanner. Write your signature on a blank piece of paper in the upper left hand corner, scan it in, then save the file to a location of your choosing. Amazing Charts will take a .BMP, .JPEG, or a .GIF file. You can also use MS Paint, to capture your signature as well. Once you are satisfied with that, go in to you account and browse to the image. Hope that helps!
-Darryl

Marty, Darryl is completely correct, and you can do it that way. However, making a transparent signature is much better than a plain signature with a white background. If the white background overlaps any of the writing on the document, it will be obvious to anyone viewing it that you are using a stamp. Some won't care. Some will. With my transparent signature, I purposely drag it over letters in the document to give the appearance of a real signature.

Making a transparent signature is a little harder than just scanning one in. You can use a lot of software for it, but Adobe Photoshop is probably the best. It costs a gazillion dollars, but you can download the trial:

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopel/

You can Google transparent signatures and get quite a few hits on how to do it. One, you will find is:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Adobe-Photoshop-1028/2009/2/Transparent-Signature.htm

I had to laugh, because the site is one where the question is from me and Scott was the one helping me. Scott's last name is Valentine, and it just happened to be Valentine's Day.

I have his email address, but, of course, I would have to ask him if I could give it out.

The following site is great because you can either 1) go through his instructions or 2) send him your signature, and he will make it for you for $30.00. Trust me, it's worth the money.

http://www.oksendme.info/transparentsignature.php?seed=Transparent%20GIF%20conversion

Thanks Bert,

I didn't even consider the transparent signature.

Bert, your link was for Photoshop Elements. Can you do this with elements or do you need "big" Photoshop?

Somewhat answering my own question, Adobe's website has a listing for a "background eraser tool" in Photoshop Elements (V8 no less, they are now on V9) using (?control) E.

I will try to play with this this weekend. While not everyone has big Photoshop, a lot more people (including myself) have Photoshop Express.

My personal favorites for FREE editing tools are Paint.NET, or Gimp. Did I mention they're both free?

For those sporting bifocals, just zoom in more - there is your tip for the day. Also, as you get part of it transparent, save the document in versions - so much faster than one bad "erase" that requires you to start over.

http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/design/

Wendell, sorry if I gave the wrong link. This may be the extended version as well. Hopefully, it will take you directly to the download. I have to say the download and install were a little difficult, but I think everyone on here are smart enough to figure it out.

Understand about the erase, but I never had an issue with it. I would give Indy's a shot, but there really is no better editing tool out there than Photoshop. And, I still may be able to get a hold of Scott who helped me. Googling Photoshop and transparent signatures should get you all you need for help. And, there is always the guy who will do it for free.

The nice thing about the transparent signature is it never gets questioned. The one big mistake I made is to write my signature more like what it should look like rather than my scribble I usually use.

It takes me about 5 minutes to make a transparent png that's the right size for Amazing Charts to use. I'd be happy to help by either stepping someone through the process with Photoshop Elements or just doing it for them. It's really very easy.

Wow! That's impressive. You must be using initials, lol. No really!

But, at least you are using photoshop.

So, they sign a piece of paper, then email it to you, you make the sig and send it back?

Barb,
It is kind of you to make that offer! Would you be willing to post a detailed step-by-step description of the process? That may take you a few minutes, but would save you from being inundated by those who want you to do it for them.

If you decide to create transparent sigs for others, you might follow the lead of the guys on "Car Talk" on NPR: "Please write your signature clearly...on the back of a $20 bill...and mail it to me".

Here's step by step instructions for making a signature that you can use in Amazing Charts.

It sounds and looks harder than it is, I promise!

If you want a word document that has some screen shots with these directions, just email me. Also, if you go through and get stuck and/or don't want to bother, you can email me a scan of your signature and I'll send you a png that's the right size for AC back to you as soon as possible. My email is in my profile.

1. Sign your name on a plain white piece of paper. Use a black felt marker for best results.

2. Scan your signature and save it as a .jpg file.

3. Open PSE (if you don't have it directions and a link are at the bottom of this post) and go to File/Open and pick your scanned signature file.

4. In the toolbar to the left of the PSE window, there's a little tool, 4th from the top that looks like a little stick with a star on the end. That's the magic wand tool. Click on that tool to use it.

5. So now you should have a big white image with a signature on it somewhere. If you can't see it, don't worry. If you can see your signature, you can skip the next sentence and go straight to cropping.

6. Press the <ctrl> key and then the - minus/dash key to shrink the image so you can see the whole image. Then click on the crop tool. That looks like a strange little square with a thin line slanting through it. It's usually between the capital T and the star. Click on that tool to use it, and then put it to the upper left of wherever your signature is. Hold the mouse button down and drag to make a square. You can adjust the edges of the square so your signature is inside the box. Click on the green check to crop the image.

7. Now we're going to make the background transparent. Click the magic wand tool and and check the settings, which will be above your image. Tolerance: 1, Anti-alias should be checked, Contiguous and All Layers should be unchecked.

8. Click anywhere in the white part of your image and hit the delete key. Now your signature should appear on a gray and white checkerboard pattern. This indicates that the background is now transparent. You can zoom in to check and be sure that everything looks good. Hold down the <ctrl> and then the + plus key to zoom in. <ctrl> and - will shrink things back down.
Almost done.

9. Make a new document that is exactly right for Amazing Charts by going to File/New/Blank File and use the following settings: Width: 264 pixels, Height: 30 pixels, Resolution: 100 Color Mode: Grayscale Background Contents: Transparent

10. Next we need to drag and drop your signature onto the new document. Select the move tool, which is the gray arrow at the very top of the toolbar, above the magnifying glass.

11. Drag and drop your signature. It won't fit so click on one of the corners to resize it. Make sure you get your whole signature to show. You don't want the bottom of your j or to get chopped off.

12. Finally, go to File/Save As and select png.

I don't see the PSE link.

Thanks Barb, I have tried a number of times to no avail to delete the background. Your directions works. I had to tweak a few things. I needed a larger new document (264 by 100). I could not delete the background on the old document, but when I transferred it to the new one, I deleted the background.

I am still playing with it. I had 3 sizes of signatures for Paperport depending on what I am signing. I will convert all of them.

Bert, here is the link

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=photoshop_elements&loc=en_us

Thanks Wendell.

Thank you for the info, Barb. One more question, though. Once I have created a transparent signature, how do I add it to my Amazing Charts notes, letters, and imported items?
Thank you.

I probably shouldn't be answering this as I don't know if the signature will show up in the three above, but I do know it will show up in scripts using the following method. I think it will do all.

Anyway, go to Administrative Options (CTRL + A) from the main screen and select yourself in the User Account window. Once your name is selected, click on the Browse button in the middle right. You can then browse to your transparent signature. Once the signature is saved to the chart, it will be stored in the ___Data001 folder in the AC folder. Getting it to size correctly can be a bit tricky.

HTH.

I had a lot of trouble adding a signature and must of had a mental block for using photo shop but I found it much easier with paint.net which like Indy said is free. The following is the process:

1. Scan your signature and save it as a jpg file.
2. Open the document in paint.net
3. Click on the ?magic wand? tool found in the tool window on the upper left side then set the tolerance to 25% by sliding the bar to the left and click anywhere on your document except your signature.
4. Go to ?Edit? in the menu bar and select Cut
5. Click the ?rectangular select? tool, top right in the tool window and click it at the top left as close to the signature as possible and go to the right bottom of your signature in about a 9:1 ratio of length to height.
6. Click the ?Crop tool? in the tool bar under the menu bar.
7. Click ?Image? in the menu bare and select Resize. Resize to width of 264 and a height of 30 with a resolution of 100.
8. Then under ?File? go to Save As and save it as a jpg document. The next screen will show your document and then click the OK button on the bottom.
9. Now in AC just open Administrative view, select the provider and then click browse and select your new signature document and open it and it should be there an the right size.

Thanks Karl,

That was very well said and easy to follow.

Agreed!

I have tried to create a signature for years and have finally been successful. Thanks Karl!

Now, do you have any re-size suggestions for say adding your signature to Word documents?

Hi
Sorry about that, Barb is correct with the 264 x 30 pixels and 100 resolution. It looks like you might be able to make some changes but I didn't try.

I have done a hi-res scan of my signature into JPG, and it still appears pixilated on the scripts. The pharm recognizes this as from an EMR because of the pixilation, not from the overlapping. Does your method eliminate this so it looks like a real sig? or any idea on how to fix this?

What type of pen are you using? I think there are certain ones that work better. And, it should be done on bright white paper. At least that is what I was told to do.

love car talk

Bridget,

Where did that come from?

Bert and Karl,

Thank you for the info. I was able to creat a signature. But it is too small in the scripts to look real. How do you make it larger? I tried to do it 264 X30, but when I typed in "264" it will auto. changed to "47", could not get it to exactly "30". Is "264, 30" that important?

Thanks,

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Adobe-Photoshop-1028/2009/2/Transparent-Signature.htm

I actually emailed Scott, and he walked me through it. Would have to find his email again.

While I don't want to put down Paint, (if it works and is easier), that's great.

But Adobe Photoshop CS4 is still the standard. A little more complicated, but the above site and other sites can give you the directions.

Oh, you should be able to download a full trial version.

Thanks, Bert. I think the sig. is fine. The problem is that the space for the sig. is too small, at least for the scripts. i.e.: I could see that my sig. is as big as the box for sig. is allowed on the script, but since the box is too small itself, this limits the size of the sig. I wonder how to make the sig. box bigger on the script?

Cindy,

If you sign the size that you want the finished signature, scan it, and then make it transparent, it will remain the size you want.

With that in mind, I wouldn't tinker with the size if the image field once you start the process of making it transparent, rather, just do your thing, then save the finished one.

I will add that it helps to makes saves along the way so that it easier to overcome individual goofs.

264x47 is actually larger than 264X30. The reason why it changed is most likely the aspect ratio is locked. You can uncheck the box that says maintain aspect ratio or something similar. The downside is that it will vertically shrink your image making it appear distorted. What is the max size allowed by AC?

Max size allowed/needed is the real question.

It would be nice if they would publish the size allowed to simplify the process.

Greg