If you have Adobe's Acrobat programs (full version, not just the reader) eventually you are going to want a "signature stamp" so you can put a facsimile of your signature on documents you create. You can also use such a stamp as the image part of a digital signature. This technique works for graphics other than signatures as well. (If you create a stamp with a graphics program, use vector graphics if you can.) Here's how you do it.
This process requires Adobe Photoshop Elements, full Photoshop, or another graphics program that can save PDF files, but it has the great advantage that the stamp backgrounds are transparent, and so descenders can cross signature lines on forms instead of obliterating them. You can use this process with other graphics programs by "printing" the signature images to PDF, but the background will be white instead of transparent.
On white paper, sign your name in each form you might want on a stamp, e.g. Robert L. Brown and Bob Brown. I used blue ink on purpose; it is easier to take color out than to put it in.
Scan your signature(s) at fairly high resolution. I used TIFF output.
Using a graphics editor, clean up the scans. Be especially careful to remove extraneous dots and blobs.
Use the cropping tool to isolate each signature into its own small file.
Use "Magic eraser" to erase the background to transparent. Don't forget to erase enclosed spaces, like the inside of O's.
Use "save as" to save each signature file as "Photoshop PDF." In the "PDF Options" screen, select the following:Combine all the signatures into one PDF file by opening one of them, then using Document -> Insert.
Rename your combined file "Signatures.pdf" or something equally creative.
Put the file in c:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\Acrobat\Plug_ins\Annotations\Stamps (or the appropriate "version number" directory for your version of Acrobat.
Open the file with Acrobat and open File -> Document Properties -> Summary. Put the "main" part of the file name (e.g. "Signatures") in the title block.
With the file open to the first page, choose Tools -> Forms -> Page Templates. In the typing box, type the title name, a stamp name, an equal sign, and a local name, e.g. "SignaturesRobertLBrown=Robert L Brown". Click Add, then click Yes.
Note that in the "stamp" file these will be ordered by local name.
Navigate to succeeding pages, if any, and give them template names as above.
Piff! You have one or more signature stamps. (I had to close and reopen Acrobat to make it notice that these were available, though.)
You can now use the "stamp tool" to attach a facsimile of your signature to PDF documents. Use the stamp tool's properties to select your "Signatures" stamp file and the particular stamp within it that you want to use. You will use the stamp tool to apply a default stamp, then right-click to change properties. Delete the default stamp and use the stamp tool again to place your signature on the document. You can drag it to adjust its location.
Have fun.
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