Digital Signatures

A digital signature is a metadata type in Laserfiche. It provides a method for indicating that a document is authentic, has been signed by a particular person, and has not been modified since the signature was applied.

Digital signatures can be used in a variety of ways. For instance, a manager might use a digital signature to indicate that they have approved a document; validating the digital signature would verify that it is indeed that person who approved the document, and that the document has not been further modified since its approval. Alternately, a user might sign documents after importing them to indicate that the import process is complete and all relevant information has been included, and that signature could be validated to see whether changes have been made to the document since its import.

Note: A digital signature in Laserfiche signs the document's electronic document content, page images, signature comments, and signing images.  It does not sign page text, metadata, or annotations. Page text, metadata and annotations can be modified without invalidating the signature; electronic document contents, page images, and signature details cannot.

There are several possible steps in working with digital signatures. A user can sign a document, which uses their certificate to both mark the document as signed by that user and to make a record of the contents of the document so that it can be checked for modifications later. Optionally, another user can countersign their signature, adding their own certificate information to the signature. The signature (and any existing countersignatures) can be validated, to determine whether the document has been modified since it was signed and whether the certificate chain is intact and has not been revoked.

Important:  The digital signatures feature will only be available if your Laserfiche Server is licensed for it. In addition, the Laserfiche web client only supports adding a new signature to a document through Microsoft Internet Explorer. All supported browsers can view a document's signatures.

Note: To sign documents, you must have a valid personal signing certificate on your computer. If you do not have a signing certificate available, contact your administrator.

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