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Need to sign and return a PDF?

By BY GEORGE GORDON/Computer Guru - | Apr 30, 2021

Sleep or turn off? In my last article, I mentioned that updates occur during the night, so it’s best to never shut off your computer.

Now the next question is to put it to sleep or let it go into screen saving mode? Well, putting your Mac to sleep will turn off the display, which also increases the life of the display. It uses more energy while awake than asleep. When your Mac is sleeping, it will still do some maintenance, checks and upgrades, but in a “low power” mode most of the time.

Heat is another factor, too, You’ll be generating less heat since you’ll be using less energy.

Sometimes a company or lawyer sends out a document to sign and return. Most are PDF documents. So people will print out the document, sign it, scan the document, start an e-mail, paste it in the e-mail, then send it out. Wow! That takes a long time.

But there is a much easier way to do this using the Preview App on your Mac. First thing is to double-click on the PDF file, and it instantly opens up in Preview. At the top right is the markup tool that looks like a small circle with an “A” in it. Once it opens up, look for the TEXT tool — a square box with a “T” in it. Click on it, and you can change color and text size by clicking on the “Aa.”

After you’re satisfied with the text size and color, you’re ready to put your “John Henry” in the Name Box. Ready? In the box that has “TEXT” already typed in it, you need to click in it; the “TEXT” disappears. So go ahead and type your name in it. After you filled in your name, click outside the box. That means you successfully completed typing in your name, and you get a gold star. With your mouse, you can now drag the box with your name in it to anywhere on the screen, but you want to drag it to the line that says NAME and the click your mouse. That permanently places your name there. Wasn’t that easy?

The fun part is coming up next, so don’t fall asleep! We need to put your signature in the signature box. So here’s how you do that. Get out a blank white piece of paper, sign your name on it and set it off to the side. Remember on the top of the Preview App, that there is a bunch of icons? Again, make sure you clicked on the Mark Up icon. Now look for a funny-looking icon that looks like a line with a signature on it. Click on it, choose “create signature,” then “CAMERA.” Don’t freak out looking at your mug shot staring back at ya!

Once you get over the initial shock, place the piece of paper you wrote your signature on up to the web camera on the top of your computer screen. Line it up under the blue line, and press on DONE, then CREATE SIGNATURE. Click on DONE. A small box appears on the top left that has your tiny signature in it. Click on it, and it appears much bigger. Now you can move it around the screen and place the box with your newly created signature next to the line that says Signature. Click your mouse. You just filled in your name and signature in the document, and you’re ready to send the PDF file out. And the best part is that you have a permanent signature you can use in any document.

Send your computer-related questions to MauiMist@aol.com.