So I use the Preview Tools->Annotate->Signature option regularly. As far as I can tell, the only way to create a new signature file is with the camera. Writing the signature on a piece of paper, and holding it up to the camera. Geez Louise, is there no way to just point the thing to a jpeg of the signature? I have to print it out and hold it up to the camera? Really???
iMac 24″, macOS 14.3
In my case using a MacBook Pro, I see two options in addition to the camera: using a trackpad and using an iPhone screen. Capturing my signature using the iPhone and a stylus pen was very easy and precise.
My wife and I often have to co-sign documents. Would be easier if she could just give me a jpeg of her signature, and I put it on my Preview. But no, Apple wants to protect our privacy by not allowing that. Of course, we can still do it. It just involves a sheet of paper. So Apple hasn't protected anything, really. If you don't want to share your signature, just don't send it to anyone, in either jpeg form, or written on a piece of paper.
Apple's Preview signatures are not saveable to a file. You can create the signature and apply it to a blank area of a PDF. Then perform a screen capture of just the signature and now you have a shareable signature image. The downside is that the signature captured in this manner is not very professional looking. And then there is the security issue of having a legal signature being shared…
Better looking signatures are not done with Preview but with a proper USB connected digitizer tablet designed for signature capture to an image.
If you're uncomfortable having your legal signature shared, then you don't send out jpegs of it. But Preview signature resolution is fine, in that when embossed on a document, they're generally very small. Yes, if John Hancock was signing the Declaration of Independence, he wouldn't have wanted to use Preview.
It is not a comfort thing. I never share my signature with anyone. I have tried capturing my signature from a sheet of paper, from a trackpad, and from my connected iPhone 15 Pro Max and it still remains inferior to a digitizer signature capture.
But that's not my point. If you want to SHARE a signature, by far the best way to do it is with an image file. Trackpad, camera, and iPhone don't allow signature sharing.
adding signature to Preview with a jpeg
