Choosing the right electronic signature software is perhaps even more important than electronic signature pads when implementing an e signature solution. There are many different electronic signature software solutions to choose from, as well as many development tools available to create custom applications. No matter what operating system or development environment you will be using, there is an electronic signature software system that will give you what you need to get your electronic signature solution off the ground.

The most basic electronic signature software you may need is a driver and support for widely-used consumer software applications. This solution is acceptable for a number of electronic signature users as it provides all the benefits of paperless documents and contracts without any custom programming or complex compatibility issues. If you need to sign common documents such as MS Word, Excel, or Adobe Acrobat PDF electronically, there are a number of software plug-in choices available. A web search for “electronic signature software” will provide you with a list of software vendors that you can purchase the plug-ins from, if you haven’t already bought them from your tablet supplier. One unique supplier is Topaz Systems, whose tablets are bundled with electronic signature software. With the purchase of a tablet, Topaz allows users to freely download any of its electronic signature software development tools and electronic signature applications, including Microsoft and Adobe plug-ins. These plug-ins allow you to place an electronic signature directly into the electronic document, encrypting it so that any change made to the document’s contents will automatically void the signature to prevent fraud or abuse.

If you are looking to integrate electronic signature technology into a larger, more complicated software application environment, you’ll need to use electronic signature software development tools. A number of development kits are available. Again, we recommend the Topaz electronic signature software, and not just because it’s free. The available tools run the gamut of compatibility, including their SigPlus ActiveX controls, shared C library, Java bean, UNIX driver, support for ASP and .NET, Delphi, etc, etc, etc (for a list of Topaz’s electronic signature specifications, click the link). It’s also very well documented and easy to use. Again, the link between the Topaz tablets and bundled software makes for a great starting point for an electronic signature capture system.