Creating a Digital ID and Sign Word Documents

This section provides a tutorial example on how to create a your own digital ID and use it to add a digital signature to a MS Word 2007 document.

Now let's use John Smith as an example to experiment MS Word 2007's digital signature function.

When John finishes writing a document, he wants to add a digital signature to the document.

1. John clicks "Office > Prepare > Add a Digital Signature". A message box shows up:

Microsoft Office digital signatures combine the familarity of a paper
signing experience with the convenience of a digital format. While
this feature provides users with the ability to verify a document's
integrity, evidentiary laws may vary by jurisdiction. Microsoft thus
cannot warrant a digital signature's legal enforceability. The third-
party digital signature service providers available from the Office
marketplace may offer other levels of digital signature assurance.

2. John clicks "OK" button on the message box. The "Get a Digital ID" dialog box shows up.

In order to sign a Microsoft Office document, you need a digital ID.
You have two options for getting a digital ID:

( ) Get a digital ID from a Microsoft partner - If you use a digital
ID from a Microsoft partner, other people will be able to verify the
authenticity of your signature.

(x) Create your own digital ID - If you create your own digital ID, 
other people will not be able to verify the authenticity of your 
signature. You will be able to verify the authenticity of your 
signature, but only on this computer.

3. John selects the "Create your own digital ID" option and clicks "OK" button. The "Create a Digital ID" dialog box shows up as shown below:
Create a Digital ID with MS Word 2007

4. Enter John's information and click the "Create" button. A new digital ID is created for John and the "Sign" dialog box shows up.

5. Click "Sign" button. A digital signature is added to the document. A special icon shows up in the Word status bar:
Digital Signature Icon in MS Word 2007

Done. John now has his Word document signed with his digital signature.

Last update: 2011.

Table of Contents

 About This Book

 Introduction of PKI (Public Key Infrastructure)

 Introduction of HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure)

 Using HTTPS with IE (Internet Explorer) 10

 Using HTTPS with Chrome 40

 Using HTTPS with Firefox 35

 Perl Scripts Communicating with HTTPS Servers

 PHP Scripts Communicating with HTTPS Servers

 Java Programs Communicating with HTTPS Servers

 Certificate Stores and Certificate Console

 .NET Programs Communicating with HTTPS Servers

 CAcert.org - Root CA Offering Free Certificates

 PKI CA Administration - Issuing Certificates

Digital Signature - Microsoft Word 2007

 What Is Digital Signature?

 PKI Digital Signature

 Applying Digital Signatures with MS Word 2007

Creating a Digital ID and Sign Word Documents

 View Digital Signatures in Word Documents

 Viewing Digital ID Created by MS Word

 Obtaining a Trial Digital ID from ARX CoSign

 Viewing Digital ID Obtained from ARX CoSign

 Digital Signature - OpenOffice.org 3

 S/MIME and Email Security

 PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) Terminology

 Outdated Tutorials

 References

 PDF Printing Version