Ok all you technophiles, I am in need of some input on how to create a bitmap signature image to stamp my received faxes. I have paperport software, but have not found where they let me create my own signature to input on their annotation portion.
Any EASY options.... I am not very wizardly on the pc.... but slowly learning.
Thanks in advance
Sorry, can't help since I don't know Paperport... but you might try the Adobe software that came with your ScanSnap. I have no idea how they compare, but with the Adobe Standard I was able to create a signature stamp with trasparent backround.
Jennifer,
Are your files coming in as pdf or tiff?
Jennifer,
From my previous post on signature creation for Paperport:
"To make your signature stamp, use a heavy marker and write your signature on a blank paper and scan it into some image modifying software. I cannot remember if I used Paint or Adobe. I had to play with the sizing options several times until I got it right. It has to be saved as a bitmap...I have tried saving in other modes but I do not think Paperport will allow others. Unfortunately, I have not figured out how to make the background transparent...might be able to do it but I have not yet succeeded. Store the signature somewhere (I "hid" it on the server in a folder where most staffers would not have access). Then open up a document and right click on the stamp icon on the left. It should ask you if you want to prompt for file and, if I remember right, should allow you to browse for the signature file and select it. After selecting it, the next time you use the stamp function, you can turn off the prompt for file function and it should remember which file to use. (I hope this is correct. It has been awhile since I set this up)."
To stamp a bitmap on an item
From the Help function in Paperport:
Stamp annotations are annotations that contain a graphic Windows Bitmap (.bmp). PaperPort provides a set of stamps for you — or you can use any bitmap you create or already have on your computer. This feature is useful when you want to incorporate art, such as a company logo or a signature, on a page.
1. Display the item in the Page View window.
2. On the Annotation toolbar, click the Stamp button.
— or —
On the Annotation menu, click Stamp.
The pointer changes to a picture pointer.
3. Click the location where you want to place the bitmap.
4. In the Open dialog box, select one of the stamp bitmap files provided with PaperPort or navigate to the folder that contains the file you want, and then click Open.
To insert the same bitmap at another location, simply click the pointer at the new location.
To resize the stamp annotation, click the Select Annotation button and then click the annotation. A frame with handles appears around the annotation. Use the mouse to drag the handles and change the annotation size.
Tips
· Each time you open a .bmp file, PaperPort adds the file name to the Stamp shortcut menu. This makes it easy to select the bitmaps you use most often. To display the shortcut menu, on the Annotation toolbar, right-click the Stamp button. The shortcut menu can display up to five bitmap file names.
· If you do not want the Open dialog box to appear, on the Annotation toolbar, right-click the Stamp button, and uncheck the Prompt for File command. This is useful when you always want to use the same stamp for multiple images.
· You can create a bitmap file from all or part of an image item. To do so, select or crop the part of the item that you want, and save it as a .bmp file. You can then add the bitmap as a stamp annotation.
· Because stamped bitmaps are annotations, you can select the annotation and then move, copy, cut, paste, or resize it like any other type of annotation.
Related Topics
PaperPort SE Help Copyright © 1996-2003, ScanSoft, Inc.
You can use Paint to make a bitmap.
Leslie
Bert,
Files come in as tiff and I convert them to pdf
Leslie,
Thanks for the instructions.
To All,
Is a bitmap signature secure? I have read some articles about vector signatures being better? Thoughts on this?
Jen
Hi Jen,
You could say that Vector signatures are "more secure"...There is nothing "secure" about image signatures. They are essentially things that make people feel good about finishing off the document. In the age of scanners and image software, they are merely quaint. If you wnat "security" to be able to verify your signature in some way, there are several options:
1. Forget about the whole curisive writing thing. Believe the "electronic signature" bit when you see an electronic document from a verified source (preferably in an encrypted file to which you have a password), and know that any 10 year-old on your street can create a paper document with your signature on it.
2. Use a portable verification key. What this means is (using Adobe for an example) you create an electronic signature file in adobe, then attach your "signature" to the file by entering your password. You then send the PDF to someone else. They open it up, but they see your adobe signature and it says "signature not verified" on it. Well, they ask you again to send your verification key...a file that adobe will produce and you can keep on your desktop. You send them the file, and they can then see that your signature has been verified. The truth is, we all get festoons of papers from other places with illegible scrawls on the bottom. We really don't care who these people are or what their qualifications are. We also never really check on the their validity...do we?
Bitmap, jpeg,vector...doesn't matter. Having a bit of code attached to the document file that can be verified only by a crypto key sent by a person that knows your password and has your signature file. Problem is, I can register a vector signature name Dr. Jennifer L. Ney right now and have a "secure vector signature" that I can "verify". No court, no no-body can actually confim or deny any signature of any kind outside of the context of an integrated organization. Obviously, if someone uses a company ID to log in and do damage somewhere, the owner of that ID is either guilty, irresponsible, or simply a victim of identity theft by someone more clever or more resourceful than he.
A,
As far as medicine goes at this point, I would say "Forget the whole 128-bit AES encryption file and password," and worry about the whole cursive thing. While I agree with you about electronic signatures and verification, et. al., all I really care about is whether my radiology department, lab department and pharmacies accept my electronic documents. It is all very arcane, stupid and ironic.
You see, I can send a faxed script from my desktop with no signature unless it is some type of controlled script. Then I have to print it out, sign it, and fax it. Or, I can use a digital stamp. The pharmacy will want it to look like my signature. For x-rays, I do not need a signature, just a requistion with that says Electronic signature beneath it by name in block letters. Labs are the same way.
Now, the pharmacies that take my FAX to PC scripts (since January 1, 2008 when the stupid federal law about Medicaid scripts came out) require that it say, "Digitally signed by such and such..." They will not accept Electronic Signature.
Now, of course, while they will accept non controlled scripts by fax with no signature, I cannot print out a script and send it without a signature nor with a stamped signature. I guess they think fax is safer which it is, but then they will take voice scripts for Vicodin, which I find to be the least secure.
So, with Version 4, you can include a replica of your signature within AC and it will print out whether printed or faxed.
Sure, I know that anyone with Amazing Charts and my DEA number and license (which I don't always include with my scripts by the way), can basically forge or steal my bitmap or whatever, all I care about is the pharmacy perception.
For the pharmacy, they just want to see "what appears to be a signature," and they are happy. And, that makes me and my patients happy.
Sure eScripts will be the most secure, although I will go there kicking and screaming. And, email would be way better than fax.