Download a completed e-signed form suitable for offline validation
Level: advanced
Objective:
We’ll explain how you can download an e-signed form and validate it offline using Adobe Acrobat. We’ll also walk you through the steps of validating any attachments.
Validating an e-signature offline
The signatures you collect on your web forms are as legally binding as handwritten ones. There may be situations, when presenting an e-signed form in court, for example, that you’ll need to validate that the signature is authentic.
Download the ZIP file
All signed form submissions can be downloaded as a ZIP file. The ZIP file will contain the completed form, form activity PDF, and any additional attachments to the form.
- Go to your Forms page in webmail and select Download from the options to the right of the form you want to authenticate
Download from your Forms page
- You can also download the ZIP file by selecting the email with your form submission in your Inbox and selecting Download all attachments at the top of your email
Download from webmail
Validate the e-signature with Adobe Acrobat
You will need to use Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, which you can download for free, to validate the signature.
1. Open the signed form with Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
2. The form signature might already be validated (depending on your Adobe settings)
Signature already validated
3. If the signature was not automatically validated, select the Signature Panel at the top right of the window
4. Select Validate All to validate the signatures
Signature needs to be manually validated
How the form will look once the signature has been validated
NOTE: When you validate a form’s signature in Adobe, it will note that the form was Signed by Hush Communications Canada Inc. It does not mean that Hush Communications signed the document but that we are verifying that all signatures are accurate and that it is an accurate record.
Validate your attachments
To validate any attachments associated with the signed form, you need to be able to show that the attachments were present when the form was signed. A hash representing the attachment is included on the Form Activity PDF below the file name to show that the attachment was present. A hash is a numeric value of a fixed length that uniquely identifies data. A hash might look like this:
Example of a hash
Finding the hash
At the bottom of the Form Activity PDF, there is a Files section. If a signed form comes with an attachment, the hash of the attachment will be generated along with the hash of the form PDF that was signed.
NOTE: Attachments must be attached through the form’s attachment field. Files attached to the email used to send the form will not be included in the Form Activity PDF and aren’t considered to be covered by the form’s signature.
Signed form and attachment hashes in the Form Activity PDF
Matching hashes
Here’s how you can verify that the file you have is the correct file:
- Download the entire e-signed file, including the Form Activity PDF
If you’re using a Mac:
1. Right-click on the file and select New Terminal at Folder
2. Type in ls -1 to list the files from your form submission folder (optional)
3. Select and copy the filename of the attachment you wish to check
4. In Terminal, type shasum -a 256 and a space
5. Paste the filename enclosed in quotation marks
6. Compare the File ID on the Form Activity PDF and the one generated in Terminal. If the value displayed in Terminal is the same as the text after File ID (and before -sha256) on the Form Activity PDF, then you’ve got the same file that was uploaded to the signed form.
If you’re using a PC:
1. In the start menu search field, type powershell and click open. Or press the Shift key and right-click on the folder to open a PowerShell window directly to that folder.
2. Type in Get-FileHash
3. Drag and drop the file you want validated into Windows Powershell to generate the file path and file name
4. Click enter
5. Compare the File ID on the Form Activity PDF to the one generated in Powershell. If the value displayed is the same as the text after File ID (and before -sha256), then you’ve got the same file that was uploaded to the signed form.
NOTE: You can find tips on opening your Terminal or PowerShell window here.
Next steps:
Be sure to keep all of the files included in the ZIP file: Form PDF, Form Activity PDF, and attachments. You will want to export them to your EHR and have them on hand in case of an audit.
If you need extra help with validating your signatures and/or attachments, Customer Care is always happy to assist.