Make Tech Easier» signatures

DocuSign Allows You to Sign Documents Electronically

Laura Tucker — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:58:14 +0000

Signing documents has just become that much easier. So often I’ll get a contract via email, either for insurance, a new loan, or a new job, and I’m asked to sign it and send it back through email. While it’s not a difficult process, it can be somewhat of a pain to go through all the steps to get it signed and emailed back. The new app DocuSign Ink has just eliminated all of the hassle. And the best part yet is that I can do it all with my iPad or iPhone.

Previously, when I was emailed a document and asked to sign it, I’d need to print it, sign it in black ink, scan it, then email it. It doesn’t sound like a big hassle, but it’s enough of one that I often put it off, because my printer/scanner is wireless and located in a different room, so it takes running back and forth to the printer. It was even more of a hassle before I had a wireless printer, as I had to go and hook the laptop up to the USB. Now there’s no moving to a different room, and no printing or scanning. It’s all done on my iPad, but I could just as easily do it on my iPhone.

DocuSign Ink is a free app available for iPhones 3GS and up, iPod Touches 3rd Generation and up, and all iPads. Using it requires you to either create a free account with DocuSign, or sign in with a social network such as Facebook or Google. After a quick verification email, you’re ready to sign documents and fill out forms.

If you’re emailed a document to sign, touch the attachment and choose to Open In DocuSign Ink. This takes you directly to the app and prepares the document for you to sign it and/or fill it out. Additionally, you can take a picture of a printed document and import it into the app.

For testing purposes of the app, it gives you a fake document that’s included that allows you to try it out as well as set up your default signature and initials.

There are several different ways to fill out a form and or sign it. Not only can you add your signature, but you can also add your initials, the date, your name, check a box, or input text. This testing document shows you how to do all of them, and after you do this, your signature and initials are saved in the app. Any time you want to sign something afterwards, it’s just a matter of dragging it in there.

The text field allows you to put in any text you want, and is also adjustable. You can resize the text box to fit the area or the type you are entering. Additionally, when it adds your name to a document, it uses the name you used when you signed up. I signed up as “Laura Tucker”, but when I sign documents, I use my middle initial. When I add my name to the document, it allows me to edit, so I add in the “J”.

When you’re done filling out and signing the document, clicking Finish inserts the completed document as a .pdf into an email, and allows you to choose a recipient and add any more text you want.

The only downside I found with this is documents that are sent to you sideways. There is no way to rotate a signature or a document 90 degrees. You would have to import the document into an editor that would allow you to rotate the form, and at that point, it might be easier just to sign the form the old-fashioned way. DocuSign Ink also works with photos and screencaps, so you can also take a screenshot of the form and rotate it in photos. It is something to remember, though, as you can also request that people sending you forms remember to send them oriented correctly.

With so many less steps, and no trips to the printer/scanner, the document is signed, filled out, and sent. Not only can you use DocuSign Ink with documents from Mail, but it works with many other apps that have the “Open In” function, including Safari and DropBox.

DocuSign Allows You to Sign Documents Electronically originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)
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iPhone Quick Tips: How to Save Phone Extension & Create HTML Email Signature

Harold — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 21:58:47 +0000

Let’s set aside some complicated tutorials as I have two really quick guides which, I think, would be very helpful for any iPhone user. The first tip will teach you how to save phone extension so that you can easily call anybody without having to dial the local extension every time. It is also applicable when you are calling customer support hotlines. The second tip would be about creating cool HTML email signature in your iPhone.

Save Phone Extension for Easily Dial

I believe everybody has tried calling any customer support hotlines and experienced the inconvenience of dialing corresponding numbers just to get a representative on the line. Fortunately, there is a way to skip all that using your iPhone.

Supposing you have a friend you want to call with a phone number 71234567 (just an example), local 7654. You can either dial the extension every time you call or you can save it a dial your friend in just a click of your keypad.

Saving a Phone Number with Extension

Step 1: Key in the real phone number (in this case, it’s 71234567) then press “+*#” button to display the “pause” button.

Step 2: Press on “pause” button. This will add a space and a comma after the phone number you just entered. Virtually, it means that there will be a friendly pause after you’ve dialed the number.

Step 3: Now, you are ready to key the local extension, and that’s it. You can save the phone number in that format.

Saving a Customer Support Hotline

Now, when it comes to support hotlines, you have to follow the same principle in saving the number. For example, the hotline is 2222 0000 and you have to dial 1,2,3 just to get the representative to help you.

Step 1: Key in the hotline number (for example, 2222 0000) and press “+*#” button.

Step 2: Now, press “pause” button to put in a space and a comma.

Step 3: You have to key in the sequence of numbers that you have to press just to get to the correct department. But you have to put a pause in between those numbers.

So, what your iPhone will do is to dial the hotline number then pause for a while and dial the sequence of numbers with friendly pauses in between.

Create Cool iPhone HTML Email Signature

Email signatures are the best way to have your own personal brand. Signatures are often the one that make an impact to the recipients of your emails. Thus, if you think an email signature cannot do anything good for you, you’re wrong. Here is how to make professional HTML email signature;

Step 1: Point your browser to http://www.coolgeex.com/iPhoneSign/ and fill up fields as much information you want to appear at the end of your emails.

Step 2: If you have entered the information you want to appear with your emails, you may click on ‘Create Signature‘ button below. Make sure you have entered a Pin Number, you will be using it to authenticate your access later.

Step 3: Once you click on ‘Create Signature‘ you will be given a URL to access. To be able to use the signature you just created, you have to use the given URL every time you send email from your iPhone. Thus, it would be better to bookmark it or create a shortcut to it so that you can access the page without a hassle.

Step 4: Launch Safari from your iPhone and point it to the given URL. You will then be asked for the Pin Number you entered earlier; enter it and click on ‘Go‘ thereafter.

Step 5: You can now create an email with your cool, customized signature. If you want to send emails with your signature, you just have to launch the shortcut you created in step 3. That’s it.

I hope these tips can help you. Should you have questions to ask, don’t hesitate to leave comments below.

Image credit: vladocar

iPhone Quick Tips: How to Save Phone Extension & Create HTML Email Signature originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)
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Gmail: Create Custom Signature For Different Accounts

Damien — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 02:27:13 +0000

While Gmail allows you to set up and manage multiple email accounts within itself, the Gmail team seems to have overlooked the fact that each email account is meant for different purpose and you will need a different signature for each account. For sure, I don’t want to include all my business contacts when I send an email to my family members, and vice versa. Currently, Gmail allows you to set only one signature and expect you to stick with it for all your email accounts.

Luckily for Firefox users, there is a Firefox extension – Blank Canvas Gmail Signatures that enables you to insert custom html signature into your mails based on which email address you are sending form.

At the moment, Blank Canvas Gmail Signatures is still an experimental add-ons and is not yet available for the general use. However, if you sign up an account with Mozilla and log in to your account, you will be able to install it just like any other Firefox extensions.

Blank Canvas Gmail signatures allows you to create up to 4 different signatures for each email address.

When you compose a new message, or reply/forward a current message, you will find a new dropdown field beside the “From: ” field.

To create a new signature for a particular email address, first select the email adress on the From dropdown field. Next, click on the Edit Signature.

Two large text boxes will appear. You can now create your custom signature on the first text box and see the preview on the second box. It only accept html codes, which means if you want to insert a line break, you have to use the code

To insert an image signature, you have to first upload your signature image file to a Web server that can be accessed at any time with any computer. In the create signature field, place the following html image code to insert an image signature.

In the option field, you can configure whether the signature should appear before/after the quoted text. You can also change the label for each signature for easy identification.

I found this Blank Canvas Gmail Signatures extension to be extremely useful as it eases all my frustration of having to edit the signature everytime I compose a message. Hopefully, it can get out of the experimental stage and become available for the mass public. Do you find this extension useful? What other ways do you use to create custom signature on your Gmail?

Gmail: Create Custom Signature For Different Accounts originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)
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Make Tech Easier» signatures

DocuSign Allows You to Sign Documents Electronically

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