How to add invisible digital signatures in Microsoft Office?

A digital or electronic signature in Microsoft Office is an encrypted stamp of authentication on various documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. It vouches for the authenticity of the document’s content. When applied, the digital signatures are placed at the bottom of the document. However, you can also choose to keep these signatures invisible by following the instructions available in this article.

You can add invisible signatures to the Excel Spreadsheets, Word documents, and PowerPoint presentations that can be downloaded as a separate application or with the complete Office suite via office.com/setup. To view these invisible signatures, you need to see the Info section in the File tab in the ribbon.

Here is how you can add invisible digital signatureto a document, presentation or spreadsheet:

1. Open the File tab and then Info
2. Click Protect Document/Protect Presentation/Protect Workbook
3. Now, choose Add a Digital Signature
4. Go through the Word, Excel, or PowerPoint message
5. Now, hit OK
6. Enter the purpose in the Purpose for signing this document box, which is available under Sign dialog box
7. Hit Sign
8. This will add an invisible signature to your document

After your document, presentation or spreadsheet gets digitally signed, the Signature button will appear. Please note that the file you add a digital signature automatically becomes read-only. This restriction prevents further modifications or alterations to the content.

How to remove an invisible digital signature?

1. Open the document, worksheet or presentation you want to remove the signature from
2. Now, hit the File tab and open Info
3. Click View Signatures
4. You will see the signature pane in the file
5. Hit the arrow placed right next to the Signature name
6. Hit Remove Signature
7. Now, click Yes

For more information on Office products or how to create an Office account via office.com/myaccount, visit the support section on its official website.