FAQ - Using an Electronic Signature in Word

Using CoSign to digitally sign in Microsoft® Word is simple. After you install the CoSign application, a CoSign Digital Signature ribbon is added to the menu bar. To sign a document, just click “Sign with CoSign”. You can also create a digital signature field anywhere on the document by simply clicking on the desired area of the document, and then clicking the “Add Signature Field” button. Afterwards, digitally sign by simply right-clicking and selecting “Sign”.

For more information watch this video on how to digitally sign Word documents.

Note: CoSign allows multiple users to sign a single document, for example, in workflow processes.

In the United States, an estimated 30 billion paper documents are copied or printed every day. Taking into consideration the price of managing paper documents (i.e. copying, routing, and archiving, etc.), a single “wet” signature on a paper document is estimated to cost roughly $6.50. That means that for a single employee who signs 500 documents a year, the total cost of signing is $3,250. With a digital signature in Word, this price is eliminated for every signer in your organization.

In addition to cost savings, digital signatures enable you to cut process times, maintain compliance to regulations and legislation, and also go green.

Validation of a CoSign digital signature in Word couldn’t be easier. That’s because any receiving party can validate the signature with a simple click of the mouse, without the need for additional verification software.

To validate a digital signature, the user simply right-clicks on the signature and selects “Validate”. Validation guarantees that the signed document was not tampered with or modified, and enables authentication of the signer’s identity and intention.