Do you want to know how to make your own electronic signature in Word? You're not alone.
More than 1.2 billion people worldwide use Microsoft Office every day, and the chances are good that they use Microsoft Word to do it. The problem is, if you want to sign documents today, you'll probably end up printing them out, scanning them, sending them via email, or mailing them.
Why bother? It's so much easier to just type your name into a blank box and click "sign" before you send off your document.
If you're using Microsoft Word, there's a handy tool that lets you create and add an electronic signature to any document for free.
Even though word processing software has become quite popular, it lacks some of the features found in specialized document creation tools.
It means that Microsoft is becoming less relevant to organisations which would otherwise be better served by using more dedicated eSigning platforms.
Theres still quite a bit that can be achieved using Microsoft Word. In this article well show you how to use electronic signatures in Word, and how to e-sign a Word document.
What is an Electronic Signature?
An electronic (digital) signing system allows users to sign documents without having to print them out and then sign them manually.
Atypical example would be the ability to digitally sign contracts, agreements, and invoices. With such systems, it is possible to create a digital version of your own personal "signing" style. Such a digital "signing" tool may also allow you to store your "signatures" on your computer so that they can be easily accessed whenever needed.
Why Use Electronic Signatures?
Electronic signature technologies are essential up-gradations for any applicant tracking system because they simplify and improve the workflow.
Electronic signatures allow people to sign documents electronically, which makes them easier to use than handwritten ones.
Online signatures enable one to conduct business remotely without meeting personally. Electronic document storage makes them easier to store and access than paper copies.
If you haven't already adopted the eSignatures, it's now the right moment for you to start using their services.
By signing documents electronically, you will improve your company's processes.
Are e-signatures legal?
One of the most important questions people ask about electronic signatures (eSignatures) is whether they're legal.
Yes. By all means.
Electronic signatures are legally binding.
By the end of the 20th century, most countries had adopted electronic signatures (ESIGN) laws. These were similar to eSignature laws in the United States, which was enacted by the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN).
Contractors and freelancers no longer need to be limited to executing their contracts on paper.
What different types of eSignly alternatives are there?
There are several different types of software solutions for signing contracts online. Broadly, they fall into one of these three categories:
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eSignature Competitors: eSignatures are electronic signatures that allow people to sign documents electronically without having to print them out and send them back by post.
They're usually used online, but some companies offer desktop applications that let you use an eSign signature on paper too.
Some eSign services include emailing the document to someone else so they can review it before you sign it, which makes them good for signing contracts between two parties who don't know each other well.
- Contract Lifecycle Management: Contract Lifecycle Management includes enterprises-minded products from SAP, Aruba, and Oracle, which are aimed at large corporates with long implementation times, making them unsuitable for small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) looking to get immediate value out of their product. However, they may provide value for some SMBs.
- All-in-One: A solution that delivers the same electronic signatures as eSignly and other competitors, but also covers the entire contract lifecycle from building through negotiation and agreement.
When choosing between eSignly alternatives, we considered a wide variety of factors, including functionality, integrations, pricing, UX, and support.
Read on to learn which one would be the best choice for your company.
Top eSignature Software for 2023
There are plenty of exciting eSignly competitors out there, and some of them were designed specifically for specific types of companies and industry sectors.
Lets go through each step one at a time.
eversign
With eversign ToolBox, you can automate both signature creation and approval processes for clients and employees alike.
It makes signing documents simple and efficient regardless of the number of people involved.
It offers an integrated text editing tool that allows you to create, edit, sign, and send any document in just a few clicks.
Its REST API makes it easy to integrate its functionality into your own applications.
It has some similarities to what you've seen in previous business management software, such as templates, audits, in-person signatures, integration, and so forth.
For example, it uses 256-bit encryption for online transactions. However, its main feature is that it handles it carefully with a monitored infrastructure.
You can also set an expiration date for documents, permanently delete them, or export them elsewhere. You can add up 25 members to a team or manage several different business accounts at once.
eSignly
eSignly provides electronic signatures for free, satisfying its clients' needs by offering them electronic signatures across all industries, including financial, insurance, health care, government banking, real estate legal, etc.
Electronic Signature Services help companies save time by reducing their paperwork and making it easy for them to sign important papers.
eSignly is an innovative company that provides businesses with all-digital signature solutions. We help companies achieve their goals of reducing paper costs and ensuring compliance with all laws.
With our software, business partners and clients can easily create signature-dependent processes that save them money and ensure they comply with all regulations. Electronic documents are easy to share over the internet and across geographical areas. They're also easier to check in one step.
This reduces the amount of work needed to complete a transaction. eSignly eliminates the tedious process of signing multiple files one after another.
Users simply pick the document they'd like signed, choose the people wholl be involved, and send it off. eSignly can handle any type of file.
eSignly has gained a reputation for being an easy-to-use platform that allows users to sign documents quickly and accurately.
Its also trusted by many industries around the globe. With clients ranging from small businesses to large corporations, eSignly offers a variety of features that allow users to complete transactions wherever they are, regardless of what type of devices they're working with.
SignNow
SignNow lets you create electronic signatures easily for different purposes. You can send documents to multiple people at once or sign your own files quickly and easily using their powerful API.
You can even sign your electronic contracts without having an online account!
With SignNow, you can easily add optional payment options to your forms, and set up customized email invitations to send out to your clients.
You can even notify them if they decide to opt out of receiving emails from you.
It is fully compliant with PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), GDPR (General Data Privacy Regulation), HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), SOC2 Type II (SOC 2 Compliance) and 21 CFR Part 11 (US Federal Law).
It has an amazing RESTful API that makes it easy to integrate into other tools.
PandaDoc
Use PandaDoc to seal your deals with legally binding eSignatures.
More than 20,000 businesses use PandaDoc to send proposals, quotes, contracts, payments and collections that need approvals.
Try it now!
With PandaDoc, you can use their electronic signature feature anywhere and at any time. It doesn't compromise on security and they've built their eSignature system with compliance to UETA and ESIG.
They also offer an electronic certificate with each document you sign.
Instead of guessing, which could be wrong, you should check if they opened your email. If they did, then you know they're interested in your product/service.
You can send them a follow up email after checking if they opened your email and see if they replied.
PandaDoc integrates with a huge number of integrations to help you speed up your workflow.
DocuSign
You can accelerate your workflow from contract negotiations, offers, and contract signings, to invoice generation by leveraging DocuSign for secure document signing.
Automate repetitive tasks and free up time by using their application for any platform - Android, iOS, and Windows.
Set up an automatic reminder each time you reach one of the steps in the contract approval process. You can include standard field types (such as dates) or create custom ones (and save them).
Use DocuSign to store documents that you frequently use. Reuse the recipient routing, custom field values, etc. from these documents when sending new ones.
Connect and integrate eSignatures with the software and services you use because DocuSign support 350+ integrations and leading APIs, including Salesforce, Google products and SAP, etc.
The resilient infrastructure of DocuSign allows them to deliver 99.9%uninterruptible service, which is essential for your business.
Don't be concerned about the safety of using DocuSign because it complies with regulatory agencies such as the EU and US, has strong and advanced technology for data encryption, stores and generates accurate records, and complies with regulatory requirements such as the UETA and US ESIGN Act.
It has a monthly subscription fee starting at $10.
How to Choose the Right Electronic Signature Software?
You want to automate your signing processes so that you can sign and request signatures electronically from anywhere at any time.
There are lots of choices when it comes to platforms.
When choosing an electronic signature platform, itll be helpful to understand which features youll use most often.
Considering the points mentioned below while choosing right electronic signature
Sign Documents on Mobile Devices
With 83 percent of business owners saying they use mobile technology for their company, having a mobile device allows you to be better prepared than your competition.
To meet this growing need, a digital signature platform must be able to provide mobile signatures for any device used by its stakeholder base.
Access to Real Time Analytics
Being able to view real-time data can allow you to understand how prospecting and lead generation opportunities are closing.
Do they open the proposal multiple times? Is there any delay before signing?
You can use an online service to send your proposal electronically. It's important to be able to track whether your prospect opens your email and signs your contract.
CRM Integrations
Most companies use some type of customer relationship software (CRM). One of the best features of CRMs is that they often integrate with other applications, systems, and technologies so that you can easily automate your business processes.
An efficient and helpful electronic signature solution will be able to connect to your chosen CRM system, making it much easier for sales representatives to monitor whats going on across their entire sales pipeline.
Compliance with Security and Privacy Regulations
Users, clients, or document signers must feel confident that their communications are secure.
Because of that, your chosen electronic signing solution must comply with (and even surpass) privacy laws in the countries where you operate.
For example, in Europe, the European Union (EU), and the United Kingdom (UK), legal documentation and the processes surrounding them need to comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
There are also specific rules for electronic signatures.
- The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which governs electronic communications privacy laws in the United States, and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UEA), which governs electronic transactions in the United States.
- Electronic identification and authentication services in the European Union.
To ensure legal validity, electronic signatures must comply with governing laws and regulations.
So, be careful when reading through the terms and conditions and look out for specific details regarding authentication, records, and encryption.
Scalability
Once you've experienced some successes within the sales department, it's likely that others will want to use e-signatures too.
You might find that HR departments are interested in using them internally, or that they improve the sign-in/sign-out experiences when hiring remote workers.
A good electronic signing solution will allow you to grow as your business expands by adding new users and expanding licenses for multiple teams.
Automation Capability
Automation helps to speed up business operations by saving people time and streamlining the way they operate. Sales professionals often spend less than half of their time doing actual sales activities.
Automating certain administrative and repetitive tasks can help save time. E?signatures are one example of an application that can automate some processes.
Automated messages or reminders allow salespeople to spend more time talking to prospects than writing emails.
Benefits of Using Electronic Signatures for Signing Documents
Electronic signatures provide authentication, tracking and storage of signature information throughout the life cycle of contracts.
Just like handwritten signatures, electronic signatures are unique to each signatory.
To help businesses comply with electronic signature best practice, make sure you provide training sessions on how electronic signatures work and how they can benefit your customers.
Your customers may also enjoy brief instruction sheets if they are new to electronic signatures. Try out different solutions before settling on one that works for you. Make sure the chosen software is compliant with local and international regulations and requirements.
Saves Time
Electronic signatures are one of the most obvious advantages for using them. You don't need to waste any extra effort arranging in-person meetings or sending documents through snail-paced postal services.
Instead, you can simply email a digital copy of the signed document to the recipient.
Lost paper documents require re-starting the signature process from scratch, which increases the likelihood of legal liabilities.
Electronic signatures can be added to contracts or proposals and returned within seconds. This gives your business greater flexibility in forecasting projects completion dates.
Accuracy
Documents that are shared between people in an organization or company are legally binding and so everything needs to be accurate.
Everything has to be compiled, approved, and submitted within the given deadline. The quality of the documents is very important. If following the old ways, a singer misses out on their signature on a couple pages, they should ask for those pages to be corrected.
Electronic signatures can help you save time by making it easy to identify which documents need your signature. For example, if you use an online form, you can set up mandatory fields so that any document submitted without your signature won't be accepted.
Create a Paperless Signing Process
Electronic signatures (eSignatures) provide organizations with a streamlined way to sign contracts and agreements electronically.
E-signatures' ease of use makes them an ideal tool for companies across different sectors and geographies.
The streamlined electronic signature process will increase collaboration as the speedy collection and verification of signatures will keep projects moving forward, and ensure they don't stall.
Ensures Compliance
You must follow regulatory requirements in all business transactions. Tracking paper records to comply with regulations can prove difficult if youre audited.
Ensuring that files aren't tampered with is important in avoiding lawsuit and penalties. Electronic signature technology ensures that your documents are safe and compliant with state and federal law. Now let us move to our major question, how to sign in word doc:
How to Create an Electronic Signature in Microsoft Word Document?
To add a digital signature to an existing word file, follow these simple instructions:
- Write a handwritten signature
- You need a scanner for this.
- Write your name on a sheet of paper.
- Use the "Scan" button to capture an image of the page. You can then use any image editing software to crop out the background and add text to create a new document.
- Open the image file.
- If you want to crop an existing picture, click it to display the Picture Tools Format tab and then click Crop.
- Clicking the right mouse button (or Ctrl+S) saves the current page as an individual file.
- Clicking "Insert" > "Pictures" will let you insert an image into a Word doc.
Add handwritten signatures to your business cards and letterheads
You can save any text you type into an AutoText entry so you can use it later.
- Enter the words you'd like to appear beneath each image.
- Choose between the pictures and the typed texts.
- Click Insert > Quick Parts.
- Click "Save selection" to open the Create New Building Block box.
- Enter a name in the "Name" box.
- Select AutoText from the gallery box.
- Click OK.
- Select Insert > Quick Parts > Text Box, and then click the Name field next to the text box where you want your signature to appear.
Insert a signature line
- Insert a signature line using the Signature Line option.
- Click where you want the line to go.
- Click Insert > Signature Line.
- Click Microsoft Office Signature Line.
- You can type a name in Signatures Setup and then select one from the suggested names. You can also add an optional signature description in the Suggested signers' titles section.
- You click OK. A signature appears at the bottom of your document.
Why add an Electronic Signature to your Microsoft Word documents?
If you want to learn how to insert signature in Word, here are some benefits.
- Authenticity: Confirms who the signer is
- Integrity: The signatures confirm that the document hasn't been modified since it was signed.
- Non repudiation: The signature ensures that the document comes from its author.
- It saves you time.
Why Add an Electronic Signature from eSignly?
eSignly for Word makes signing documents easy, efficient, and digitally from almost any device. It s just as secure and valid as using pen and paper, but it s faster and easier than ever before.
You can even use it remotely!
If you want to sign an email, document, or any other file, you don't need to leave Microsoft Word or another Microsoft product like Outlook or SharePoint; instead, you can use eSignature from eSignly.
It verifies the sender's identity so you know for sure that they're who they say they are.
ISO 27001 certification means that eSignly has been audited for compliance with international standards for information security management systems (ISMS).
eSignlys certificate of completion (COC) is admissible in courts and has an audit trail of the signers email addresses and time stamps.
Cons of Creating Your Own Digital Signature
It may be better for some companies to use third party digital signatures instead of creating their own.
Personalized digital certificates may not be used for digital signature purposes. A digital signature is meant to provide another level of security by encrypting the message so that only the intended recipient can read it.
With personal digital certificates, verification is difficult because they are personalized.
Personal digital certificates aren't automatically trusted by others. To share digitally-certified files, other users must manually trust the personal certificate.
Even though CA-based digital certificates go through a vetting process with different verification layers, self-generated digital signatures lack these layers of security, making the owner vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
Digital signatures are used to verify the authenticity of electronic documents. They can be considered an extension of the public key infrastructure (PKI) concept.
PKI was originally developed to protect government communications during World War II. Since then, it has grown into one of the most important security technologies. However, PKI does not provide any assurance about the identity of the signer.
For example, if someone signs a document with his own name, he may be anyone else. To ensure the integrity of the system, we must rely on trusted third parties such as CAs.
What are the Drawbacks of Creating e-Signatures on MS Word?
While it may appear straightforward to use eSignature software in Microsoft Word, there are several limitations to consider before using this tool.
- When signing documents, recipients must first download the document, then open it using Microsoft Word, and finally follow the steps outlined above to complete their digital signature.
- If the author creates, signs, and sends out documents to dozens of people, each person will need to open the files, determine whether they want to sign them, add their signatures, then return them to the original sender.
- If you don't have active notifications, your sales team won't know whether someone has signed off on the document or not. They might get anxious about whether they're missing out on a sale because they can't tell if anyone has added their signature yet.
- Imagine the drudgery of creating electronic signatures for each one of your clients' contracts when you're already busy doing so many other things?
- For many customers who use Microsoft Office exclusively, there is no need for an easy way to add autographs to business documents. However, if they want to sign off on important documents quickly, a convenient tool to help them do so would be useful.
The Key Takeaway
If you're looking for an easy way to eSign documents online, then Microsoft Word might be the right choice.
However, if you want something that offers better security and privacy features, then you need to look at another option.
Nowadays there exist an enormous number of software applications designed to help improve the document signing process.
ESignly alternatives don't just simplify the eSigning process - they also include a lot of other features that can help you become more efficient when creating, sending, signing and tracking important business docs.
What stops you from hopping onto the eSignly train and making a brilliant document signing experience?
