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[ Go to June 1997 Table of Contents ]
WinLab Reviews
-- by Cheryl Dominianni
The need for signed documents dampens the prospects for the paperless office. Government, engineering, insurance and medical offices, to name a few, all require signatures. Silanis Technology's ApproveIT for Office 3.0 provides security for password-protected signatures and lets you manage documents containing electronic signatures. ApproveIT installs easily and works with a signature-digitizing device (we used the $210 Topaz Signature Gem). You record approval signatures in a Signature Manager and save them as password-protected files. When you insert a signature, a small gray box pops up with the name and approval date. The actual signature appears only in the printed document, preventing a cut and paste of signatures. ApproveIT has three types of approvals. Standard handles single documents; Batch allows multiple approvals in one operation; and Form Letter uses Word's merge technology to automatically enter signature, name and date in proper locations on forms. This process would be easier with a tutorial. Security options will please even the most cautious individuals. You can set controls for modification and reapproval, choose not to permit further signatures and prohibit printing if a document changes even slightly. Logs trace the approval history of any document and ApproveIT's Intelligent Signature technology detects changes made to a signed document. While ApproveIT is out front with this solution, other companies are sure to follow. But for now, if you're still chasing the dream of a paperless office, ApproveIT for Office 3.0 can help you catch it.
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