Signing with certificates and qualified signatures in Signi

• Before you sign with the certificate
• Signing a document with a certificate
  • Selecting a signature application 
  • Signing in the Signi app
  • Signing in Adobe Acrobat or other programs
• What does the resulting document look like when signed with a certificate?

If the proposer of a document in Signi has prescribed the signers to sign with a certificate, they can sign the document sent to them via Signi with that certificate. Certificates of different levels are issued by different issuers, see What you should know about signing with certificates and qualified signatures.

If you want to sign with your certificate a document sent to you for signing via Signi:

1. First, prepare everything you need on your computer.

2. You will receive the document to be signed via Signi and you will sign the document via Signi's certificate signing application or you can sign via any other application, e.g. Adobe Reader,

3. Signi then takes care of the further processing of the document - sending it to others for signature or approval or, if you are the last signer, Signi will deliver a closing message to all parties with the option to download their original electronically signed document.

Before you sign with the certificate

In order to sign with a certificate on your computer, you need to prepare the following.

1. If you don't have certificates stored directly on your computer, you must have a so-called qualified means connected to your computer - an ID card, card or token where the certificate is stored. For lower levels of signing, you may also have the relevant certificate loaded in your computer's certificate store. Typically, it is uploaded there during the certificate acquisition process.

2. For certificates stored on a qualified resource - ID card, card or token - you need to have an application installed for the qualified resource to communicate with your computer. You received installation instructions from the certification authority that issued it to you. Sometimes you also need to register individual certificates in this application for use on your computer.

3. To actually sign PDF documents with a certificate, you need to have the certificate signing application installed on your computer. This can be the Signi certificate signing application, alternatively any other application such as Adobe Reader.

Register a certificate from a qualified resource to a Microsoft Windows computer in the I.CA Secure Store application from the 1st Certification Authority.

Signing a document with a certificate

Selecting a signature application 

If the proposer has prescribed the parties to sign with a certificate when preparing the document, the signatories will see the Signature Application Selection window when they click Sign on the document.

• If you select Sign in Signi, you will sign the document in Signi's certificate signing application, which you can install by following these instructions.

• If you choose Sign outside Signi, you download the signature file to your computer, sign it there, e.g. in Adobe Reader, and then upload it and your signature back to the signature page in your web browser that opened from the email or SMS with the signature prompt.

Choosing a certificate signing application for those who have set up a Signi account.

Selecting a certificate signing application for a counterparty without a Signi account.

Signing in the Signi app

If you choose Signi as your signature application and it is the first time, you need to agree by launching the application in your web browser. Once approved, the Signi app is ready to sign the document.

Consent to run Signi from a web browser.

The Signi certificate signing app will first show you the document to sign, then you can select the appropriate certificate and sign the document with it.

Selecting a certificate to sign in the Signi certificate signing application.

After pressing "Send to Signi", the document is sent for further processing, i.e. either to the next signatories for signing or, if you are the last signatory, Signi delivers a message to all signatories about the closing of the document with the possibility to download their original electronically signed document.

Signing in Adobe Acrobat or other programs

If Signi is not available on your computer and you cannot install it, you can use another certificate signing program, such as Adobe Reader.

1. In the application selection window, in the Sign outside Signi section, download the document to your computer for signing.

2. You can then open the document in Adobe Acrobat , for example, where under the certificates tab you will again find the certificate you need in the list and insert it into the document.

3. You then upload the signed document back into Signi and click on Send.

4. This will send the document for further processing i.e. either to the next signatories for signing or, if you are the last signatory, Signi will deliver a message to all signatories to close the document with the option to download their original electronically signed document.

What does the resulting document look like when signed with a certificate?

The resulting signature in the document will then look like this.

If you open the resulting PDF document in Adobe Reader, for example, you will see more details about the embedded certificates in the Signature Panel.

For a document signed via Signi, you will typically see 3 certificates:

1. the signature of the proposer,

2. the signature of the counterparty,

3. the so-called electronic seal, which is not a legal act, an expression of anyone's will, but only information about the authorship of the document. By default the seal of Digital factory s.r.o. as the author of the document is inserted, optionally the seal of the claimant can be inserted. More on the topic of e-seals can be found here.

Three certificates in a Signi-signed document. Two are signatures of the petitioner and the counterparty, the third belongs to the electronic seal.