Digital Signature Creation/Setup
(Aurora Only)
Document 5056
Revised 1/23/2008 LD1


WinTOTAL makes it easy to incorporate a digital signature into your reports. All you need to do is scan it in as JPG, GIF or BMP and follow the instructions here to set it up.

For more detailed information about using a signature in WinTOTAL, see the WinTOTAL User Guide or see the signature setup in action in our Video Library.

  
 

 

The overall process for setting up a digital signature is like this:

  1. Using your scanner, create an image of your signature in BMP, JPG or GIF format.
  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 Digital 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. In WinTOTAL, click Options, Configure WinTOTAL Settings from the menus.
  2. In the screen that appears, click Select a User in the General pane on the left.
  3. In the list of available user profiles, find and click the desired profile. Then, click Edit to open the profile for editing. If you're adding a new profile, click Add instead.
  4. To add your digital signature, click Browse in the Signature box on the right.
  5. Navigate through your hard drive to find the JPG, GIF or BMP image that contains your signature. (If you scanned as a PDF, you'll need to redo it and save as a JPG, GIF or BMP.) When you find the image, select it and click Open.
  6. Your signature is displayed in the sample signature field. Now, click and drag the image to position it properly on the signature line. 


  7. Once your signature is placed, click the Password protect my signature link. Adding a password to your signature ensures that nobody can place your signature on a report without your permission.
  8. Type a password, and then type it again in the Verify field and click OK. Then, click OK to close out user configuration screen.

You're now ready to digitally sign reports. For details on how to do it, skip down later in this document.

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 scanned at 600dpi, it prints at twice the original size through WinTOTAL.
  • If scanned at 300dpi, it prints at the original size through WinTOTAL.
  • If scanned 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. Many scanners default to saving their output as a PDF. Since a PDF isn't an image format, that won't work. Be sure to change the output to one of the formats noted above.

  • 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.
  • Save the image as a GIF (CompuServe Graphics Interchange) file for best results.

If Your Signature is Upside-Down, Backwards, or Misplaced

There are only two causes of these problems. Either your signature has some horizontal or vertical offset pushing it elsewhere in the page OR you need to crop your signature.

  • To change the offsets for your signature, open your WinTOTAL user profile using the instructions in this document (for loading your signature) and set the X and Y offsets to 0.
  • Make sure the background is white and crop any extra white space around the image.

Signing Your Reports

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

  • Click Sign in the WinTOTAL toolbar to sign the report. 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 then displays 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're 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 gives 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're given the option to either Remove Both Signatures from the report or to just Remove Supervisor Signature.

Creating a 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 Images PowerView.
  4. Click the Scan Images in the Images pane on the left. 


  5. If you've never used WinTOTAL to scan an image before, click Source when the Scan Images screen appears, select your scanner device from the list and click Select.
  6. Next, click Acquire.
  7. WinTOTAL then loads the “TWAIN” driver for your scanner. At that point, your scanner program takes over so use that program as directed by the manufacturer to scan or acquire the image. Make sure you use 300 dpi @ 100% size for your scanner settings.

    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, it should send the image to WinTOTAL and the image should appear in the preview pane in WinTOTAL.
  8. Typically, WinTOTAL's Image Optimizer automatically opens, inviting you to adjust the image.  If it doesn't, simply double-click the image in the preview pane or click it once and then click the Optimize button in the toolbar.
  9. Click the Enhance tab, and use the slider bars to adjust the brightness, contrast, saturation, and sharpness of your signature image.  Make sure you make the background as white as possible.
  10. Next, click Crop to crop the white space from the signature.  To crop out the white space, simply place your in the upper left corner of the section you'd like to keep.
  11. Click and hold the mouse button as you drag the cursor down and to the right to draw a box around the area you'd like to keep.  When you release the mouse button, the image is automatically cropped for you.

  12. When you are pleased with how the signature looks, click OK to save your changes.
  13. Click the Save As… button in the toolbar at the top of the Images PowerView and save the scanned signature file with a name and in a location that is easy for you to find, such as your Desktop. 
  14. When you're ready, complete the steps in the next section of this document to insert your signature into WinTOTAL.

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.