Signatures & Stamps

Signatures & Stamps

Signatures

Place a visual signature stamp on any page of the PDF. Signatures are stored locally in the SQLite database and can be reused across documents.

Creating a Signature

Go to Tools → Add Signature… or click the Signature button in the Markup toolbar. The Signature dialog opens with three tabs:

• Draw: Use the mouse or stylus to draw your signature on the canvas. The drawing surface is rendered at full device resolution so strokes stay crisp on HiDPI monitors. Click Clear to start over.
• Type: Type your name; it renders in a serif cursive style.
• Upload: Import an existing signature image (PNG or JPG, between 50 and 2000 pixels on each side). Use this for scanned wet-ink signatures or vendor-supplied signature files. The filename (without extension) auto-seeds the Signer name field.

Enter your full name in the "Signer name" field (used for the audit trail). Click Save & Place.

Placing a Signature

After confirming, click on the PDF canvas where you want the signature to appear. It is placed as a resizable image stamp.

Signature Library

Go to Tools → Signature Library… to view, use, or delete previously saved signatures. Each entry shows a thumbnail preview and the signer name.

Stamp Library

For Architecture & Engineering professionals, custom stamps are essential for sealing drawings and marking document status. LocusBIM includes a full stamp library system for creating and managing professional seals.

Understanding A&E Stamping Requirements

In Canada, all provinces and territories require licensed architects and professional engineers to seal construction documents. A professional seal typically includes:

• Licensed professional's full name
• License number and province/territory of registration
• Discipline (Registered Architect, Professional Engineer, etc.)
• Date of sealing (often added at placement time)

Using Built-in Stamps

Click the Stamp tool [P] on the Markup toolbar. The stamp picker dropdown appears with 8 standard stamps:

Select a stamp, then click on the PDF canvas to place it. The stamp appears as a bordered text box that can be moved and resized.

Creating Custom Professional Seals

Go to Tools → Stamp Library… to create and manage custom stamps. Four categories are supported:

Creating a Text-Based Seal

1. In Stamp Library, select the Professional category.
2. Click "+ Create Text Stamp".
3. Enter a name (e.g., "Jane Smith, OAA" or "John Doe, P.Eng.").
4. Enter the seal text with line breaks. Example:

   JANE SMITH, OAA
   Ontario Association of Architects
   Certificate #12345
   Province of Ontario

5. Choose font (Times New Roman recommended for formal seals).
6. Set border style: Solid (standard), Dashed (preliminary), or Double (final/certified).
7. Adjust colors to match your provincial association's requirements.
8. Check "Set as default professional stamp" if this is your primary seal.
9. Click Create Stamp.

Dynamic Fields (Insert Field)

Text-based stamps can include placeholder tokens that resolve at placement time — the date you see is the date the stamp was clicked onto the page, not the date the stamp was created. Click any chip under the Stamp Text textarea to insert a token at the cursor, or type the token literally:

Example seal text using tokens:

JANE SMITH, OAA
Certificate #12345
Sealed <<date>> — Page <<page>> of <<file>>

Importing Image or PDF Stamps

For scanned seals, firm logos, or a stamp authored in another tool:

1. Go to Stamp Library and select the Custom category.
2. Click "+ Import Image or PDF Stamp".
3. Select a PNG, JPG, or PDF file. For PDFs, the first page is imported as the stamp.
4. (Optional) Before importing, enable Remove white background and set the tolerance — see the next subsection.
5. The stamp is saved and immediately available in the stamp picker.

Remove White Background (Transparency)

Many scanned seals and vendor-supplied stamps come on an opaque white background that hides what's under the stamp on the drawing. The Stamp Library's Remove white background checkbox runs the import through a transparency pass before saving:

• Enable the checkbox before clicking Import (the pass runs on the bytes the dialog receives, not on already-saved stamps).
• The Tolerance slider (0–50) controls how close to pure white a pixel must be before it becomes transparent. Anti-aliased edges feather progressively so a seal on white paper drops out cleanly without leaving a halo.
• Leave the checkbox off when the white is intentional (e.g. a firm-logo card on white stock that's meant to cover the sheet).

Opacity & Watermark Mode

Every custom stamp has an Opacity slider in the create form (0.1 – 1.0, in 5% steps). Full opacity (100%) matches the standard stamp appearance. Lower the slider to create a watermark — the underlying drawing reads through the stamp. Typical values:

• 100% (default): Standard seal — fully opaque.
• 30–50%: Watermark — "DRAFT", "PRELIMINARY", "NOT FOR CONSTRUCTION" across the sheet without hiding the drawing.
• 10–25%: Faint background mark — copy-control or confidentiality wash.

Using Custom Stamps

Once created, custom stamps appear in the stamp picker under the "Your Stamps" section. Click any stamp to activate the tool, then click on the PDF canvas to place it. Custom stamps work exactly like built-in stamps.

Managing Your Stamp Library

In the Stamp Library dialog, you can:

• Set Default: Mark a stamp as the default for its category (appears first in picker).
• Delete: Remove stamps you no longer need.
• Preview: See exactly how each stamp will appear on drawings.
• Filter by Category: Organize stamps by type.

Security Model

For internal A&E review workflows, the current signature model provides sufficient traceability. For legally binding signatures on government contract documents, use a certified PDF signing service until Stage 7 is complete.