Setting up the PDF Signatures plugin

Checking the PDF Signatures plugin is installed

Before you can configure the PDF Signatures plugin, you need to check it is installed:

Display the homepage and choose > Manage Cognidox.

The Manage Cognidox page is displayed.
Display the Settings & Configuration tab.
Click on the Plugins link.

Note:
Click to see expanded image.

The Installed Plugins page is displayed.
Check the PDF Signatures plugin is listed.

Note:

PDF roles are not assigned to groups by default. Roles are created when the plugin is installed, but they are not assigned to anyone. Because signing is probably something rolled out to a subset of users, rather than the whole organisation, it makes sense to assign these roles individually.

Users must be assigned appropriate user roles so that they can sign approved versions of documents that have a PDF.

The PDF Signatures plugin provides the following rights:

Cancel PDF signature requests: Users with this role will be able to cancel signature requests that they have not created. Without this role, users will only be able to cancel requests they themselves have generated.

Generally, this role is for administrators and other high-privilege users.
Create PDF signature requests: Users with this role will be able to request signatures on documents from other users.

Generally, this role should be widely distributed.
Manage PDF signing certificates on users: Users with this role will be able to view which users have certificates installed and mark them as valid/invalid and lock them against use.

This role should only be granted to administrators.
Sign PDF documents: Users with this role will be able to sign approved versions of documents that have a PDF. Only users with this role will be able to upload their own certificates.

This role should be granted to users who must sign PDFs.

Administrators must set up the roles on the Cognidox role groups in a way that is appropriate for their organisation.

To set up roles:

Display the homepage and choose > Manage Cognidox.

The Manage Cognidox page is displayed.
Display the Users, Groups & Security tab.
Click on the User and Group Rights link.

The User Roles page is displayed.
In the User Names window, click the letter that corresponds to the first letter of the user’s first name.

The Users window will update, listing users who’s first name starts with the selected letter.
Click Roles & Group to the right of the desired user.

The Manage User page is displayed.
In the User Roles panel, tick the check boxes to the left of the required roles (a blue tick will be displayed).

Any roles the user acquires from their role group will appear with a tick mark graphic to the left of the role.
Click Update User Roles at the bottom of the User Roles window.
The Manage User page will refresh with a success message appearing in the User Roles panel.

Creating a template page

The signing sheet template is a single-page PDF document, stored in Cognidox, that will be appended to signed PDFs and contain the document details. Using a signing sheet template allows your organisation to apply its own branding to the signing sheet.

The signing sheet template must be a single page PDF that has an approved issue in Cognidox.

For instance, the document could be:

A Word file with an auto-generated PDF.
An Adobe Illustrator master .ai file with a manually uploaded PDF.
Just a PDF.

Using a signing sheet template is optional and if one is not configured, the signing sheet appended to PDFs will have no branding.

Because the latest approved version of the template is used in signing, if a signing sheet template is used, it is strongly recommended that access controls are placed on the document such that only authorised users can add new issues of the document and approve it. See Restricting access to a document.

To configure the signing sheet template:

Create an approved document with a PDF version in Cognidox.
Configure the part number in the PDF Signatures plugin configuration page (see the next section).

Enabling and configuring the PDF Signatures plugin

Note:

If a field contains the greyed-out text "Set in node configuration", the system administrator has made the field immutable for security or system stability reasons.

To enable the PDF Signatures plugin:

Display the homepage and choose > Manage Cognidox.
Display the Settings & Configuration tab.
Click the Plugins link.
Click the PDF Signatures plugin link.
On the Plugin Configuration form, set the plugin to Enabled.

Note:
When performing the following steps, hover the pointer over the next to an option in the Plugin Configuration form to see more information.
(Optional) Set up any user role mappings (e.g. user john, CEO).

Note:
If this is set then the signer's role will appear in square braces after their name in the visible signature.
(Optional) Set up your signing reasons.

Note:
If not set, the default signing reason is "signed". The signing reason appears in the visible signature as "<REASON> by <SIGNER-NAME>".
(Optional, recommended) Specify a template file if you chose to create one (see above).
(Optional, advanced) There are some advanced options for setting certificate bundles and timeservers that are dependent upon the source of the certificate.
(Optional, advanced) Tailor the signing sheet details (help is supplied on the Plugin Configuration form itself near the bottom, in the Signature Sheet section).
(Optional, advanced) Limit where people can sign from using the Signing netblocks option.

Note:
This could be used to ensure people only sign documents when they're on the corporate network.
Click Set Configuration (it's at the end of the options on the Plugin Configuration form, before the Plugin Scheduled Jobs portlet.