How to Add a Digital Signature to Excel 2013 Workbooks
Excel 2013 enables you to add digital signatures to the workbook files that you send out for review. After checking the spreadsheet and verifying its accuracy and readiness for distribution, you can (assuming that you have the authority within your company) digitally sign the workbook:
To add a digital signature to your finalized workbook, you follow these steps:
1
Inspect the worksheet data, save all final changes in the workbook file, and then position the cell pointer in a blank cell in the vicinity where you want the signature line graphic object to appear.
Excel adds the signature line graphic object in the area containing the cell pointer. If you don’t move the cell cursor to a blank area, you may have to move the signature line graphic so that graphic’s box doesn’t obscure existing worksheet data or other graphics or embedded charts.
2
Choose Insert→Text→Signature Line→Microsoft Office Signature Line on the Ribbon.
Excel displays the Signature Setup dialog box.
3
Fill in the Signature Setup dialog box's text boxes.
Type the signer’s name into the Suggested Signer text box and then press Tab.
Type the signer’s title into the Suggested Signer’s Title text box and then press Tab.
Type the signer’s e-mail address into the Suggested Signer’s E-Mail Address text box.
(Optional) Select the Allow the Signer to Add Comments in the Sign Dialog check box if you want to add your own comments.
(Optional) Deselect the Show Sign Date in Signature Line check box if you don’t want the date displayed as part of the digital signature.
4
Click OK to close the Signature Setup dialog box.
Excel adds a signature line graphic object in the vicinity of the cell cursor with a big X that contains your name and title.
5
Double-click this signature line graphic object or right-click the object and then choose Sign from its shortcut menu.
If you don’t have a digital ID with one of the subscription services or aren’t a Windows Live subscriber, Excel opens a Get a Digital ID alert dialog box asking you if you want to get one now. Click Yes and then follow the links on the Available Digital IDs Web page to subscribe to one.
Otherwise, Excel opens the Sign dialog box.
6
Add your signature to the list box containing the insertion point.
To add your signature, click the Select Image link on the right, select a graphic file that contains a picture of your handwritten signature in the Select Signature Image dialog box, and then click Select. If you’re using a touchscreen device or your computer has a digital tablet connected to it, you add this signature by physically signing your signature with digital ink.
7
Click the Commitment Type drop-down list box and choose one of the options from its drop-down menu: Created and Approved This Document, Approved This Document, or Created This Document.
If you selected the Allow the Signer to Add Comments in the Sign Dialog check box, the Sign dialog box contains a Purpose for Signing This Document text box that you fill out in the next step.
8
Click the Purpose for Signing This Document text box and then type in the reason for digitally signing the workbook.
(Optional) Click the Details button to open the Additional Signing Information dialog box, where you can add the signer’s role and title as well as information on the place where the document was created.
(Optional) Click the Change command button to open the Windows Securities dialog box and then click the name of the person whose certificate you want to use in the list box and click OK.
By default, Excel issues a digital certificate for the person whose name is entered in the Suggested Signer text box.
9
Click the Sign button to close the Sign dialog box.
Excel closes the Sign dialog box. Immediately after closing the Sign dialog box, Excel adds your name to the digital signature graphic object and displays the MARKED AS FINAL alert at the top of worksheet
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A feature that alerts Excel 2007 to common typing errors and your own typing errors (that you specify) and tells the program how it should automatically fix them for you.
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AutoFill
An Excel 2007 feature that quickly creates a series of entries based on the data you enter in one or two cells. AutoFill works with days of the week, months of the year, yearly quarters; consecutive series of numbers; and formulas. You also can add your own custom AutoFill series.
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cell
The intersection of a column and row in the worksheet.
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cell address
The cell identifier, determined by its column letter(s) followed by the row number, as in cell A1, the very first cell of each worksheet at the intersection of column A and row 1.
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cell cursor
The black border that surrounds the active cell in a worksheet.
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clip art
Readymade drawings, illustrations, and photos offered by Microsoft for use in Microsoft Office applications.
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Compatibility Checker
A utility in Excel 2007 and 2010 that you use to find potential compatibility issues if you plan to save an Excel workbook file in the older Excel 97–2003 file format.
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current cell
The worksheet cell that contains the cell cursor. Each worksheet can have only one current cell.
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dialog box
A rectangular window with settings and commands that appears when you click a dialog box launcher or certain other commands on the Ribbon.
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dialog box launcher
A small icon in the lower-right corner of a group of command buttons on the Ribbon that you click to access a dialog box with additional related settings and commands.
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A drop-down list of thumbnail selections that appears when you click certain command buttons on the Ribbon.
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Specially formatted text that anyone can click to jump to Web sites, move to other cells or workbooks, or create an e-mail message.
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A combination of keys that you can press to execute certain commands, as opposed to finding and clicking the commands' buttons on the Ribbon or elsewhere.
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A feature in Excel 2007 that enables you to point to thumbnails on a drop-down gallery to see how a new font, font size, table style, or cell style would look on your selected data before you actually apply it.
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A series of commands or actions in Excel that are recorded and saved together in a file. You can run the macro whenever you need to perform the task.
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The left-most section of the Formula bar that displays the address or name of the current cell.
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Small tabs near the bottom of a worksheet that you click to move between the worksheets in a workbook. You can assign descriptive names to sheet tabs.
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New graphic objects in Excel 2010 that enable you to quickly filter the contents of a PivotTable on more than one field.
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A type of graphic object in Excel 2007 that gives you the ability to quickly and easily construct graphical lists and diagrams in the worksheet.
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A horizontal bar that appears at the bottom of the Excel 2007 window and keeps you informed of Excel's current mode. In addition, you can use the Status bar to select a new worksheet view and to zoom in and out on the worksheet.
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The various "pages" of Excel 2007's Ribbon interface that you click to display command buttons relating to the tab's name, such as Page Layout and Formulas.
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Stylized text objects that you use to add pizzazz and emphasis to headings and other text in Excel 2007 worksheets.
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The main document that you work in when you enter data into cells within Excel 2007. A worksheet is stored in a workbook file.
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The portion of an Excel 2007 worksheet in which you enter cell data and add objects such as charts and graphics.
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A file format developed by Microsoft that enables people to open and print documents in XPS Reader without access to the original programs with which the documents were created (such as Excel).
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An object on the Status bar in Excel 2007 that enables you to increase the magnification in a worksheet or shrink it down to get an overall picture of the worksheet data.
