Adobe ACROBAT 9 Extended, Manual

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Creating a Digital
iD profile
#
120
Acrobat—along with numerous document and process management
systems—uses a digital signature (also known as a digital ID or digital
profile) to secure content. A digital signature, like a handwritten signa-
ture, represents you.
A digital signature has two parts: a public key and a private key. For-
tunately, you don’t have to decide which key to use when. Here’s how it
works.
You use your private key to apply your digital signature to a file, which
encrypts the data using the public key. The public key is contained in a
certificate that you exchange with your colleagues and contacts to verify
your identity. Others use your public key to create encrypted information
to share with you. This two-way exchange of certificates and keys is the
basis for building trusted identities, the subject of the sidebar “Sharing
and Importing Digital IDs.”
The visual signature applied to a document, either a default or custom
signature, is referred to as an appearance . The appearance is composed
of combinations of information fields (such as dates or text), the Acrobat
logo, or imported graphics.
You can create both default and custom signatures. To create a new
signature, follow these steps:
1. Choose Advanced > Security Settings to open the Security Settings
dialog. Click Digital IDs in the left of the dialog to display your existing
ID files in the upper-right pane of the dialog (
Figure 120a
).
Figure 120a
Digital ID files, along with other types of security servers and IDs, are listed
in the Security Settings dialog.
#120: Creating a Digital ID Profile
(continuedonnextpage)
From the Library of Daniel Dadian