PKI Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples - v2.20, by Dr. Herong Yang
Outdated: Applying Digital Signatures with Word 2007
This section describes elements of applying digital signatures in Microsoft Office Word 2007. On Windows system, Word 2007 uses digital IDs (certificates linked with private keys) from in 'Personal' certificate store managed by Internet Options.
To add a digital signature to a document is usually a function of the document authoring tool. Let's use Microsoft Word 2007 as an example to see how we can do this.
Based on reading some related topics in the documentation, my understanding of Microsoft Word 2007 digital signature function can be summarized as:
1. Word 2007 finds digital ID from the "Personal" certificate store of the Windows system. Digital ID, also referred as digital certificate, is the PKI certificate with its corresponding private-public key pair. Of course, the certificate must be signed by trusted CA. The "Personal" certificate store can be managed by the "Internet Options" tool in "Control Panel" or by IE (Internet Explorer).
2. Word 2007 can generate one self-signed digital ID for you, if it can not find one. Word 2007 also suggest you to get a commercial digital ID from Microsoft partners like ARX CoSign Digital Signatures, Avoco secure2trust, GlobalSign PersonalSign, and ChosenSecurity Digital ID.
3. Word 2007's "Add a Digital Signature" function is offered in the "Prepare" menu under the "Office" button. See the picture below:
Table of Contents
Introduction of PKI (Public Key Infrastructure)
Introduction of HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure)
Using HTTPS with Google Chrome
Using HTTPS with Mozilla Firefox
HTTPS with IE (Internet Explorer)
Android and Server Certificate
Windows Certificate Stores and Console
RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) and Server Certificate
macOS Certificate Stores and Keychain Access
Perl Scripts Communicating with HTTPS Servers
PHP Scripts Communicating with HTTPS Servers
Java Programs Communicating with HTTPS Servers
.NET Programs Communicating with HTTPS Servers
CAcert.org - Root CA Offering Free Certificates
PKI CA Administration - Issuing Certificates
Comodo Free Personal Certificate
Digital Signature - Microsoft Word
Digital Signature - OpenOffice.org 3
PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) Terminology
Outdated: Viewing Server Certificate in Chrome 40
Outdated: Viewing Server Certificate in Firefox 35
Outdated: Viewing Pre-Installed Certificates in Firefox 35
Outdated: Firefox 35 Displaying Certificate Error Page
Outdated: Adding Security Exception in Firefox 35
Outdated: Windows XP Component "Update Root Certificates"
Outdated: Creating Certificates Console on Windows XP
►Outdated: Applying Digital Signatures with Word 2007
OutDated: Creating a Digital ID and Sign Word Documents
OUtdated: Viewing Digital ID Created by MS Word
Outdated: Obtaining a Trial Digital ID from ARX CoSign
Outdated: Viewing Digital ID Obtained from ARX CoSign
Outdated: Windows XP Component - Removing "Update Root Certificates"
Outdated: IE 8 Displaying Certificate Error Page
Outdated: IE 8 Displaying Certificate Error Icon
Outdated: Viewing Certificate Path Validation Error in IE 8