Signature Line is lost after saving document to Word format using C#

Aspose.Words Product Family
1

I have a word document that acts like a template. In the template I have a Microsoft Office Digital Signature Line. When I open the document and save it as a different file to another location using C# code and the Aspose Words library the Microsoft Office Digital Signature Line is unintentionally converted to a an image by Aspose.Words. The original document is in Word 97-2003 format with the .doc extension. The new file is also in the same format. Is this a known issue? The version of the Aspose.Words library is 10.5.

2

Hi Gianluca,

Thanks for your query. The Digital Signatures are not preserved on open and save by using Aspose.Words. Please read following documentation link for your kind reference.

http://docs.aspose.com/display/wordsnet/Introduction+to+Digital+Signatures

3

I appreciate your feedback and I am aware of digital signatures. The document template I’m working with has a Digital Signature Line meaning the document is unsigned. If you have Word 2007 installed on your computer you can see that in the Insert tab there is a button called Signature Line. Clicking on this inserts a Digital Signature Line inside the document. It does not mean that the document is signed. it just provides a space on the document where you can add a digital signature. Once the Digital Signature Line is added to the document a user can then right click this control and “sign” the document.

When I attempt to open the template, populate it with data pulled from a database, and save as a new document using the Aspose.Words library that control is not carried over to the new document. It is replaced with an image. If I right click that area I no longer receive the “sign” option in the context menu.

If I open the same template manually in Word and perform a “Save As” to a new instance of the original document the Digital Signature Line is preserved. I can then right click the Digital Signature Line and click “sign”. Is this a known issue that is being worked on?

4

Hi Gianluca,

Thanks for your inquiry. Issue is already known. Your request has been linked to the appropriate issue. We will let you know once this issue is resolved.


5

Is there a timeline for this fix to be implemented? It’s a great product and this one issue is holding us back from using it in a U.S. Navy wide solution. We’ve already purchased a license but if the fix can not be implemented in order to meet our schedule we will have to look for an alternative solution. Please let us know if the projected fix is in weeks or months.

Thanks,
Gianluca

6

Hi Gianluca,


Thank you for inquiry. Unfortunately, your issue is pending for analysis. Once our developers analyse this issue, we will be able to provide you an estimate. You will be notify as soon as it is fixed. Sorry for inconvenience.

7

I created a work around for it that recreates the control programatically after it is broken. I have figured out the issue with your software.

8

Hi there,


Thanks for your inquiry. It’s great you were able to find a work around in the mean time. We will inform you as soon as the proper fix is available in Aspose.Words.

Thanks,
9

We noticed that you have several government contractors on your list of partners. Due to the nature of government work and the importance of the digital signature functionality we are willing to share our findings with you in exchange for an Aspose Total license. We like your product and incorporate it into several of our applications but this flaw in the Aspose.Words product has set us back a week. Please consider our offer as the programmers at General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman love the tools and would like to assist in the expedited fix of digital signature line feature.

Sincerely,
Gianluca Sirianni
Senior Software Engineer
Northrop Grumman

10

Hi Gianluca,

Thanks for your inquiry and kind words.

We will look into adding this feature to our road map and supporting it as soon as possible. If you are looking to further escalate this issue then we suggest you to look into purchasing the priority or enterprise support package. Please see the Support Options page for details.

11

I am experiencing the same issue, and would be very grateful if you could share the workaround. This is a show-stopper for using Aspose with digital signature documents.

12

Hi Shoshanah,


Thanks for your inquiry.

I have verified the status of this issue from our issue tracking system for you and regret to share that this issue is still unresolved. Currently it is in analysis phase. Also, at the moment I can’t provide you the ETA for this issue. We will inform you via this forum thread as soon as this feature is supported.

Sorry for your inconvenience.

Best Regards,
13

Are there any known workarounds?

I attempted inserting a digital signature line into a generated Word or PDF document with no success.

The end point is to provide either a PDF or Word document that can be emailed to someone for signature.

Can you recommend any alternatives?

14

Hi Shoshanah,

Thanks for your inquiry. Unfortunately, at the moment I can not suggest you any work around. However, good news is that this issue has progressed further into the development phase. You will be notified as soon as it is resolved. We apologize for your inconvenience.

Moreover, as suggested earlier by Tahir, please read the following article on Digital Signatures:

Working with Digital Signatures

15
Hi guys,

The feature of signature lines has been implemented in the current code base and will be included in the next release of Aspose.Words due out in a week or so.

Currently signature lines are supported in all flow formats except for DOC. Signature lines are not yet properly rendered to formats such as PDF, XPS or image etc. This is a separate issue which will be worked on shortly.

Thanks,
16

The issues you have found earlier (filed as WORDSNET-1748) have been fixed in this .NET update and this Java update.

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