How to convert a PDF file to Word: Open a file in Acrobat. Click on the Export PDF tool in the right pane. Choose Microsoft Word as your export format, and then choose Word Document. Click Export. If your PDF contains scanned text, Acrobat will run text recognition automatically. Name the Word file and save it in a desired location.
Attorneys and other legal professionals have discovered that they can scan their scan their signature and easily turn it into an Acrobat stamp.
The resulting stamp, however, has a white background.
When stamped on top of documents, the results are not visually pleasing:
To create a transparent stamp, you must “feed” Acrobat a file with transparency capabilities such as a GIF or Photoshop PDF.
Read on to learn how . . .
Only certain graphic file formats offer transparency as an option. One example is the GIF format.
Although some scanning software can produce a GIF, none that I know of automatically remove the white background to produce transparency.
In other words, just because you have a GIF file doesn’t mean it has transparency.
You’ll need to use a tool to remove the background to produce the transparent effect.
Most image editors—including Adobe Photoshop—offer tools to remove backgrounds. In Photoshop, the Magic Wand tool may be used to remove backgrounds. After removing the background, choose Save As and save the file as a Photoshop PDF which preserves transparency.
If you use a different image editor, use the appropriate tool and save your file as a GIF.
If you have Photoshop, you can get very good results with this method. You can add all sorts of tweaks and flourishes to your signature like a little heart above the lowercase “I”. That will make your court filings really special. Just kidding!
If you want the best possible results with a color signature, I recommend using an image editor which allows the finest possible adjustments. In the heights musical pdf.
Not many legal professionals are Photoshop users, but most have Microsoft Word.
Using Word, you can get decent results and a transparent background with black and white scans.
Here’s how:
For Word 2003 . . .
Right-click and choose Show Picture Toolbar
In Word 2010…
Double-click the picture to access the Format ribbon, then choose the Color group:
For complete step-by-step instructions, consult my article Creating a Custom Stamp.
Below are abbreviated instructions.
One thing to consider is the use of your signature in the digital realm.
The Digital Signature Act does not specify what constitutes a valid, digital signature. They leave that up to the courts. From what I understand, signature validity and repudiation issues only occasionally come up in contract disputes. Disagreement on terms and performance is far more likely.
If you normally use a signature stamp in your practice, and are comfortable with that, then an Acrobat signature stamp can be used in the same way.
Some parties may not accept a signature stamp, but my experience has been that most receiving parties either never check or don’t know how to check.
Last week, while traveling, I received a $5000 banquet contract from a hotel in Word format. I converted the file to PDF and stamped it with my signature. It was without any questions.
When sending a PDF with a signature stamp, I usually “flatten” the PDF by printing it to the Adobe PDF print driver.
I also add simple usage restriction security to prevent copying the signature from the document.
These methods aren’t foolproof, but I do feel better using them.
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File extension | .psd |
Category | Image File |
Description | A PSD file is known as a Photoshop document and was developed by Adobe in order for Graphic Designers to create layered images. PSD is the propiertry format that Adobe uses to allow these files to be saved in, they can then be either opened in various versions of Adobe Photoshop or if a user wants to send them to others they can be flattened to PNG, JPG or other more standard image formats. You can't however re-convert a JPG/PNG file that has been converted from a PSD back to a PSD file - it loses it's layers. |
Actions | PSD to PDF - Convert file now View other image file formats |
Technical Details | Photoshop files have the .PSD file extension, this PSD stores an image with support for a lot of imaging options such as Masks, transparency, clipping paths and duotone settings. Sometimes Photoshop files have the extension .PSB which essentially stands for Photoshop Big, this allows images to support up to a maximum height and width of 300,000 pixels and a length limit of 4 Exabytes. |
Associated programs | Adobe Illustrator CS6 Adobe InDesign CS6 Adobe Photoshop GIMP |
Developed by | Adobe Systems |
MIME type | application/psd |
Useful links | More detail on Photoshop and the PSD format Editing a PSD file without Photoshop Convert PSD file |