Extracting digital signature files

In order to create a digital signature file in Content Manager, you will need to extract its rendition.

See Extracting document revisions and renditions.

  1. Search for the record which has the electronic document attached whose digital signature you want to extract
  2. Right-click the record and select Properties
  3. Select the Renditions tab
  4. Right-click the digital signature rendition and select Extract. Ensure you give the extracted file an .sgn extension.
  5. Enter the Location to want to save the rendition in
  6. Click OK

Once a digital signature file has been created, you can send it and the extracted electronic document from which it came to another user.

The recipient of these files can then check in the electronic document to Content Manager.

If the digital signature is in the same folder as the electronic document and has a .sgn extension, and the file type is set up in system options, then the document will be automatically signed as it is checked in to Content Manager.

Otherwise, once the electronic document is checked in to Content Manager, the user must manually attach the digital signature.

See Attaching digital signatures to electronic documents.

The electronic document will now be signed digitally as the original was.

  1. Right-click the record and select Properties
  2. Select the Renditions tab.
  3. Right-click the digital signature rendition and select Properties. The signature details will appear.

    Another method of extracting a digital signature file from Content Manager is to extract the electronic document.

    Firstly though, you will need to ensure that the file type you are extracting is set to use a digital signature file.

  1. Open the Content Manager Enterprise Studio - General - Properties - File Types tab
  2. If your file type is not listed - for example, doc - select Add. If it is listed, select it and then select Properties
  3. Once you have your desired file type listed by its extension - for example, .doc or .txt - in the General tab, select the Renditions tab
  4. Ensure that Extract this rendition when extracting a main document of this type is selected to enable the creation of a digital signature file for use in a Content Manager dataset.

    When this is done, a digital signature file will be created in the same folder as the electronic document you extract

  5. Click OK

NOTE:

  • Content Manager can create a digital signature file when you extract an electronic document or by extracting the digital signature itself. This is the digital signature file you need to use when you attach a digital signature file to an electronic document. If you have configured the file types in Content Manager Enterprise Studio, then whenever you extract the electronic document a file with an sgn extension will be created in the extract folder with your electronic document. This sgn file can be used with the electronic document it came from to sign it once it is placed back into Content Manager. It cannot be used with other documents.
  • Digital signature renditions - you will need to check in a digital signature file with any rendition other than .sgn before you can extract the digital signature file - i.e. extract a record with an attached digital signature - with an extension other than .sgn. For example,
    1. In Content Manager Enterprise Studio - General - File Types tab, select a file type for the type of file being extracted
    2. Select Properties - Renditions tab
    3. Change the When cataloguing a document of this file type, look for an associated file of type extension to ppp
    4. Change the extension of the Signature file to ppp
    5. Then drag and drop the electronic record - not the signature file it is associated with - into Content Manager and the signature file will be automatically attached to the electronic record. Any extractions of signed documents of this type will extract a digital signature with ppp as the extension.
  • An sgn digital signature file is created in the same place the original record was extracted to.
  • Digital signatures - when you check in an electronic document that has a digital signature attached - that is, a digitally signed electronic document that has been extracted from another Content Manager database - the digital signature file must have an .sgn extension in order to be signed correctly.