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I need to add some digitally signed documents (pdf format) to a report I'm writing and, for some reason, when I import the document both the document's number and digital signature are gone. Documents signed through a web application and are numbered once they receive their final signature.

This is the command I'm using:

\includepdf[ pages={1,2},pagecommand={\subsection{AGG}}]{AGG.PDF}

This is an image of what the digital signature looks like and what is missing on the final document where this is imported. This is what the document looks like in Acrobat Reader

Is there a way to have digital signatures show on Latex? I'm using Overleaf if it makes any difference.

user1769106
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  • Pdfpages treat the pdf a graphics so any special types of metadata will be lost. Not sure if Adobe acrobat will do a better job, but it might. For example if you include a pdf with internal hyperlinks these are also lost – daleif Sep 17 '19 at 18:20

2 Answers2

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For future users, I solved this by first printing the signed PDF to PDF, and then the signature showed up in my Latex document using \includepdf.

vkehayas
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Michael
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  • Same answer to similar question at https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/359393/208474. – Packard CPW Sep 12 '20 at 15:28
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    This doesn't solve the also frequent need of keeping the validity of the digital/electronic signatures, as this method only shows the image (easy to fake, on the other hand). – Andrestand Jul 31 '22 at 10:20
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I am still looking for the method to do this without loosing the validity of the signature other way than using Adobe Acrobat Pro.

If this is not required but you want to keep the searchability and copy/pastability in your final result (without the after-latex step of performing OCR), even in the signature text, you can proceed as follows:

  1. Open your signed page with inkscape and ungroup it to just keep the signature area (which will be kept as vectorial object).
  2. Save that area as pdf.
  3. If the signed page was first generated with LaTeX, use the same code to produce it inside your main, merged document, but now placing the includegraphics with the signature in the right place.
  4. Else, you will need to includepdf/includegraphics the unsigned version of the page and manage to insert the signature in the right place. There are several ways: using the package background will work, as described at How to include image in background But other answers there might also be useful. And you can always search the SE for more possible ways of placing images on/behind other content (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2150513/in-latex-how-can-i-place-text-over-an-imported-graphics-object).
Andrestand
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