Enable or disable digital signatures
When designing a form, you can specify whether or not users are able to use digital signatures when they fill out the form. Once signed, the form or part of the form that was signed cannot be altered without invalidating the signature.
Note If a form was designed based on an XML Schema, you can enable digital signatures for the form only if the XML Schema has a digital signature namespace.
Enable digital signatures for the entire form
- In design mode, click Form Options on the Tools menu.
- In the Form Options dialog box, click the Digital Signatures tab, and then click Enable digital signatures for the entire form.
- If the form that was designed based on a database, a Web service, or an XML Schema that contains a digital signature namespace, click Select XPath
to specify the group in the data source where the signature should be stored. The group must be part of a digital signature namespace. - If you want users to sign the form before they submit it, select the Prompt users to sign the form if it is submitted without a signature check box.
Note If you have not already enabled form submission for the form, you must do so after you select this check box.
Enable digital signatures for part of the form
- In design mode, click Form Options on the Tools menu.
- In the Form Options dialog box, click the Digital Signatures tab, and then click Enable digital signatures for specific data in the form.
- Click Add.
- In the Set of Signable Data dialog box, type a name for the part of the form for which you want to enable digital signatures.
- Click Select XPath after the Fields and Groups to be signed box.
- In the Select a Field or Group dialog box, click the field or group for which you want to enable digital signatures, and then click OK.
- Under Signature options in the Set of Signable Data dialog box, do one of the following:
- To allow only one signature for this part of the form, click Allow only one signature.
- To allow multiple signatures that are independent of each other, and can be added or removed without affecting the other signatures, click All the signatures are independent (co-sign).
- To allow multiple signatures that sign preceding signatures, click Each signature signs the preceding signatures (counter-sign).
- In the Signature confirmation message box, type the text you want to show the user when they sign this part of the form, and then click OK.
- In the form, associate the part of the form for which you enabled digital signatures with a section.
- In design mode, place your insertion point where you want to insert the section.
- If the Data Source task pane is not visible, click Data Source on the View menu.
- In the Data Source task pane, right-click the field or group for which you enabled digital signatures, and then click Section with Controls.
Note If the field or group you specified repeats, you must select a non-repeating group that contains that field or group.
- In the form, double-click the Section label below the section you just inserted.
- In the Section Properties dialog box, click the Digital Signatures tab, and then select the Allow users to digitally sign this section check box.
- In the Sign the following data in the form when this section is signed box, click the name of the part of the form you created a digital signature for in step 4.
- If you want to display signatures in the section as they are added, select the Show signatures in the section check box.
- If you want to make the controls in the section read-only once they are signed, select the When signed, make controls read-only check box.
- In design mode, click Form Options on the Tools menu.
- In the Form Options dialog box, click the Digital Signatures tab, and then do one of the following:
- To disable digital signatures for the entire form, click Do not enable digital signatures.
- To disable digital signatures for a specific part of the form, click Enable digital signatures for specific data in the form, click the part of the form in the Data in the form that can be signed list that you want to disable digital signatures for, and then click Remove.
Note The information in this topic may not apply if you are working with a form designed using Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 without the service pack installed. Learn more