In Bluebeam Revu, you can use digital signatures to validate authenticity. Digital signatures act like a stamped seal – they provide assurance that the document hasn’t been altered since creation. With digital signatures, you will be able to see the current status of the document. In the AEC industry, digital signatures can help decrease overhead costs and shorten project timelines.

When using digital signatures in Revu, users can provide additional information, such as their reason for signing. This information will be a part of the signature’s metadata, and can appear in the signature appearance as well. Revu provides 6 different common reasons that you can apply to your digital signature.

However, you may need to use a reason that is not currently available. Although there is not a way to add custom reasons in Revu, there are some workarounds. Utilizing other digital signature fields, you can have a custom reason display with your digital signature.

This article will outline the process of adding a custom “reason” to your digital signature in Bluebeam Revu. The following examples are from Bluebeam Revu 20 eXtreme edition. However, these tools are available within all versions of Revu.

Using the Digital Signature Tool

Before customizing your Digital Signature’s appearance, you will need to have a Digital ID within Revu. You can create an ID within Revu, or purchase one from a Third Party Certificate Authority. In this lesson, we are going to assume that you already have a digital ID created. If you don’t already have a digital ID within Bluebeam Revu, please refer to this article for guidance.

To place your digital signature on the page, select Tools > Signature > Sign Document. Define a digital signature field by clicking and dragging your cursor on the PDF. Then, click on the signature field to open the Sign window.

Once you’ve logged in to your Digital ID, a preview of the digital signature’s appearance will appear. Under Options, you can add further information to your digital signature. For example, you can select a Reason from the list, or type in your Location. If your Reason for signing is already available in the list, simply select it. If you need to use a Reason outside of these options, you can maneuver these fields to create a custom reason.

Adding a Custom Reason for Signing

As mentioned earlier, you can not add more reasons to the Reason dropdown. However, you can use the Location or Contact fields for this purpose. If you plan on doing this, you will need to adjust your signature’s appearance. Within the Appearance section, select Edit.

In the Signature Appearance window, you will first want to uncheck Labels. When checked on, the signature information will appear with a label. For example, the date within the signature will display as Date: followed by today’s date. Because we plan on using the Location or Contact box to display a reason, we’ll want to remove these labels from the signature.

Next, customize which fields appear on the signature using the options in the Text section. I recommend deselecting Reason, and instead checking Location or Contact Info. This will remove the Reason from the signature, as we’ll be using the Location or Contact field instead.

Once you have adjusted these settings, select OK to return to the Sign window.

Now, use either the Location or Contact Info text field to enter in your custom reason. Then, select OK to sign the document. Your signature will appear on the page with the custom reason you entered in. With Labels no longer displaying, this will appear the same as if you had chosen a reason from the Reasons list.

Summary

In Bluebeam Revu, digital signatures allow you to certify and validate document authenticity. In AEC, legal, and government spaces, digital signatures are often required to keep documents secure. When you sign a document in Revu, you can choose to enter in information about the signature. It’s often useful to give a Reason for signing so everyone knows what your signature is for. Revu offers a variety of default Reasons, but you may need to use a reason that’s not already available. For this purpose, you can use the Location or Contact Info fields. If you remove Labels from your digital signature appearance, you can enter a custom reason into either of these fields. This will allow your reason to display as if it were one of the preset reasons from the list. With this workaround, you can ensure that your digital signatures are sharing the exact information you need.

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Lauren Hecker is a Bluebeam Certified Instructor and teaches onsite and virtual Bluebeam Revu training courses. To schedule an onsite or custom course, please contact us!