How To Verify a Printed Electronically Signed Document

When a document is digitally signed as long as the document remains in an electronic format, it can be verified. So if you store it on a disk, a usb drive, or send it in email, everything is fine. For instance, if the document is an Adobe Acrobat file (PDF), then the Acrobat Reader can verify the signature and show you information about it. Here is a sample screenshot from a signed PDF:


But what happens when you print the document and pass around a printed copy? How can you be sure that it was actually signed by the correct person?

There was really no way to verify an digital signature on a printed document... until now. We've solved this problem by putting a unique URL for every document on each signature stamp. If you type the URL into your browser, you can see some high level document information along with who signed it and when. This is a screenshot of a document signed with Middlepost Docs:



So if you need to verify an electronic signature, but only have the printed copy, Middlepost has you covered.