Signing modes explained

Batch eSign PDF has two genuinely different signing modes. Knowing which one you actually need matters — they are not interchangeable.

Superimpose mode

Superimpose mode places an image — your drawn, typed, or uploaded signature — onto a PDF page, the same way a rubber stamp does. It is a visual mark, not a cryptographic guarantee. Anyone who can edit a PDF can add, move, or remove that image just as easily as you can. It’s the right tool for internal sign-offs, informal approvals, or documents where a recognisable mark is all that’s needed.

  • No certificate required.
  • Works fully offline.
  • A saved signature profile can be reused across many batches.
  • Placement (page + position) is fixed once and applied identically to every file in the batch, which is why it works best on a folder of similarly laid-out documents.

USB Token mode

USB Token mode applies a real digital signature using a certificate from your Windows certificate store — the same store a physical USB/DSC token’s driver registers its certificate into once connected. This produces a /ByteRange-based PKCS#7/CMS signature cryptographically tied to that certificate’s private key, which never leaves the token or the store.

  • Requires a certificate with an available private key.
  • The OS/CNG provider handles the PIN prompt directly — this app never sees or stores it.
  • One PIN entry covers the whole batch, not each file individually.
  • Produces a signature a compliant PDF viewer can validate against the certificate and its issuing chain.

A digital signature is only as trustworthy as the certificate behind it. Batch eSign PDF doesn’t vouch for who a certificate belongs to or whether it’s suitable for a particular legal purpose — that’s between you, your certificate authority, and whoever’s relying on the signed document.

Which one do I need?

If you’re not sure, ask: does this signature need to hold up cryptographically to someone who doesn’t trust me by default (a regulator, a counterparty, a court)? If yes, use USB Token mode with an appropriate certificate. If you just need your name or mark visibly on a batch of internal documents, Superimpose mode is faster and needs no certificate at all.

Verification

Every signed output is reopened after signing to confirm the page count is unchanged before it’s promoted from a temporary file to the final output. Files that fail that check are reported, not silently promoted as successful.