There are several steps involved to set up your digital signature in WinTOTAL.

1. Create your digital signature file.
2. Load your digital signature file into WinTOTAL.
3. Sign your reports and/or fine tune the signature file

		Note: Since many appraisers already have a suitable digital signature file, we discuss the process of loading the file into WinTOTAL and fine tuning it first. If you need assistance creating a digital signature file, see the end of this document.

Loading Your Signature into WinTOTAL

Signatures are based on each user’s profile. This is a one time setup. After this, it’s just a couple of clicks to sign a report.

1. Open any report in WinTOTAL.
2. Once in the report, click the Tools menu and select Configure.
3. Click the User tab. You will be able to see the Current User, which indicates which profile is being used. If this is the profile for which you want to configure a digital signature, continue to the next step. If not, select the appropriate name, and click the Set User button before continuing.
4. Once the correct profile is selected, click the Signature tab.
5. To assign your signature to this profile, click Select File.
   
   
   
   
6. A standard Windows Open screen displays. Browse to the drive and folder in which the signature file you wish to use is stored. Select the correct drive letter or folder using the Look in drop-down menu.
7. Highlight the appropriate file from the display window, and click Open. WinTOTAL will save a copy of the file to an internal directory, ensuring that it is always available. You will then be taken back to the Signature for….window.
8. Your signature should now display on the Signature line. If your signature does not line up properly here, click it and drag it to a more appropriate position relative to the signature line. For more precision, you can use the X and Y offset values to fine tune the position as well.
9. After you have positioned your signature, you should assign a password to prevent others from using it. To set your password, click Password. (For security, the Password is never shown on your screen.) Enter your password into the Password field, and then enter it again in the Verify password field. Click OK.

Signing Your Reports

In just a couple of clicks, you can have every page in your report signed.

• Click Sign. Select Sign as Appraiser or Sign as Supervisor, and click OK.
  
• Click the name in the Select User list which you wish to sign the report. The actual digital signature will display in the Signature window. You can set the signature to display in red, blue, or black, or the default color by clicking the appropriate button. (The default is the actual color in which it was created.) Click OK.
  
  
  
  
• If you have a password associated with your signature, you will be prompted to enter the password. Enter your password and click OK.

After making your selections, WinTOTAL automatically saves your data when you sign the report. Your reports are “locked” from additional changes while they are signed.
Clicking Sign in the toolbar a second time will give you two options. You can either Sign as Supervisor or Remove Appraiser Signature.

• If you choose Sign as Supervisor, simply follow the steps outlined above. It’s no different than signing as the appraiser.
• A password is not required to “unsign” a report, since a report without a signature is worthless.

If you click Sign a third time, you will be given the option to either Remove Both Signatures from the report or to just Remove Supervisor Signature.

If the Signature is Too Large, Small, or Distorted

When scanning a digital signature to use with WinTOTAL, the resolution chosen for the scan determines the actual printed size of the signature. WinTOTAL is expecting 300dpi.

• If you scan the signature at 600dpi, it prints at twice the original size through WinTOTAL.
• If you scan the signature at 300dpi, it prints at the original size through WinTOTAL.
• If you scan the signature at 150dpi, it prints at half of the original size through WinTOTAL.

For this reason, it is important that you scan your signature at 300dpi and 100%. If you scanned your signature at a resolution other than 300dpi, you will need to re-scan the signature at this resolution to use it properly in WinTOTAL.

Since WinTOTAL employs its own encryption scheme, you can use any image of your signature – GIF, BMP, PCX, or JPG format. All you need to do is sign a piece of paper and scan it.

• Use a medium tipped pen. Black works best: WinTOTAL can change it to blue or red when you use it.
• Use 300-dpi because that is what WinTOTAL expects. Using the wrong dpi will cause your signature to print the wrong size.
• Make sure the background is white and crop any extra white space around the image.
• Save the image as a GIF (CompuServe Graphics Interchange) file for best results.

Creating Your Digital Signature

If you have a scanner, you can use it to scan your signature and edit it with WinTOTAL. These instructions assume you are familiar with your scanner software.

1. Using a blank sheet of paper and a black or blue pen with at least a medium point, sign your name. (Make sure the signature is the normal size you would use to sign a check or a report.)
2. Place the signed paper on your scanner.
3. Start WinTOTAL, open a report, and go to the Photos PowerView.
4. Click the Scanner/TWAIN device option. (The first time you use TWAIN with WinTOTAL, you’ll also need to click Select Source to select your TWAIN device.)
5. Click Acquire.
6. WinTOTAL will then load the “TWAIN” driver for your scanner. At that point, use that program as directed by the manufacturer to scan or acquire the image. Make sure you use 300 dpi @ 100% size.
   
   Usually, you click OK, Close, Save or Send to in order to send the image to the “host” application – in this case, WinTOTAL. If you’re scanning software has no such option, click the Save As… button on the lower-left side of the Photos PowerView. Save the scanned signature file with a name and in a location that is easy for you to find, such as your desktop.
   
   
   
   
7. Click the option for File.
8. Click Browse to locate the folder where the image is stored. For example, on your desktop.
9. Once the signature image displays, click Optimize Photo.
10. Click the Enhance tab, and use the arrows to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, and sharpness.  You want to make sure you make the background as white as possible.
11. Click Crop to crop the white space from the signature. Just click in the upper left corner of the section of the image you want to keep and drag a rectangle around the part you want to keep. When you let go of the mouse button, WinTOTAL will crop everything around the outside of your selected area out of the photo.
12. When you are pleased with how the signature looks, click Finished to save your changes.
    
    

If You Need to Replace Your Signature File...

If you do ever need to re-scan your signature, be sure to go through all the setup steps again and reselect the file so that WinTOTAL can re-record its dimensions. If you must replace the original image, it may look misshaped and distorted when printed. If this is the case, simply go through the setup steps again and browse to the file again.