Knowledge Base › PDF Signing › Setting Up Signing Profiles

Setting Up Signing Profiles

Apr 5, 2026 · 461 views

A signing profile tells OneSigner how to sign automatically: which certificate to use, where the signature goes on the page, and how it looks. Once a profile is enabled, everything that reaches its source folder — via folder watch, API upload, or the portal — is signed without human interaction.

A PDF signing profile in the SigningEngine tab: certificate, PIN, find-by-text position, box size and appearance

Creating a Profile

  1. Open OneSigner Configuration → SigningEngine tab and make sure the engine is Enabled.
  2. Click + to add a profile and fill in:

Basic Settings

  • ID / Name: a short id (used in API calls as profileId) and a descriptive name.
  • Tenant: which tenant the profile belongs to — API uploads from that tenant auto-match this profile.
  • Type: PDF Signing (this guide), Code Signing, or AKV Proxy.
  • Source folder / Signed folder: the watch folder and the output folder. Keep them separate to avoid re-signing loops.

Signature Config

  • Certificate: pick from the certificates detected in the Windows store / USB token.
  • Token PIN: stored encrypted with Windows DPAPI; allows fully unattended signing with no PIN dialog.

Position — Two Methods

1. Find by text (recommended)

OneSigner searches the PDF for a text pattern and anchors the signature to it:

  • Search text: e.g. "Authorized Signature" or your company name printed above the signature line.
  • Match page: first, last, or all occurrences.
  • Sign at: below / above the match, with optional X/Y offsets in points.

This adapts automatically to documents whose layout shifts from page to page.

2. Fixed position

  • Page: a page number (or last page).
  • X / Y: coordinates in PDF points (1 pt = 1/72 inch), measured from the bottom-left corner of the page.

Tip: you can also override the position per request through the API — see Positional Signing API — or place it interactively in the browser with visual signing.

Box Size and Appearance

  • Box size: width × height in points (e.g. 180 × 70).
  • Appearance: signing reason, location, signer name, email, organisation, date format, and an optional graphic/logo. See Customizing Signature Appearance.

Test Before You Trust

Load a sample PDF in the right-hand panel and click Test Sign. OneSigner renders the signed page so you can check position and appearance before enabling the profile in production.

Multiple Signatures per Profile

A profile can contain several signature configurations, each with its own certificate and position — e.g. "Prepared by" and "Approved by" on the same document. Signatures are applied incrementally so each remains valid. See Multi-Signature Workflows.

How Profiles Are Matched

When a file arrives via POST /api/upload, OneSigner picks the profile whose tenant matches the API token (or whose source folder matches the upload target). Manual signing via POST /api/signing/sign selects a profile explicitly by profileId.