How to Sign Electronic Cover Letters
Download the editing software GIMP., Take out a blank piece of printer paper., Scan the piece of paper you've used to write all your signatures into your computer., Your image will probably be a bitmap file., You may have to maximize the GIMP...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Download the editing software GIMP.
It's free, and found at http://www.gimp.org -
Step 2: Take out a blank piece of printer paper.
Write out your signature as many times as you feel like, until you have a signature you like or are comfortable with.
Be sure not to write the signatures too close together, as we will need to crop the image later. , Color, black and white, or greyscale are all acceptable settings.
A resolution of 300 or 400 dpi is good.
You're going to want to scan to an image. , At this point you CAN use paint successfully to crop the image, save it, and stick it in your cover letter, and then adjust its size and proportion, etc.
I find this to be an unreliable method, depending on what you save the file as, and "flaws" in the paper (such as the paper grain).
Open your bitmap file with GIMP. , Find the signature you like among the signatures on your paper, and click the Crop tool on the "Toolbox" window.
It looks like the end of a X-Acto Knife.
Alternatively you can go to Tools
-> Transformation Tools
-> Crop, or you can also type SHIFT C. , Make sure to stretch the rectangle only around your signature, excluding marks from other signatures you don't want.
Once you've made your rectangle, click again in the middle of the box, and this should execute the crop.
You should now only have the one signature you want. , Click Colors
-> Color to Alpha. *NOTE*:
If you cannot click Color to Alpha, Click Image
-> Mode
-> and change it to RGB.
What Color to Alpha does is makes the background, which may already be white, into an invisible background.
When you put it onto your document then, you are ensuring that the background of the cover letter and the background of your signature image are the same color. , Click the + to expand the filetypes in the GIMP save window, and select "PNG Image." Under no circumstance should you save as a JPEG, as much as we all love the filetype.
For one thing, JPEG does not support the alpha we just made, but PNG does.
Second, JPEG tends to compress the image and distort your white background into grey sometimes. , If you're in Microsoft Word 2007 or 2010, Click the Insert tab, click Picture, select your picture.
It will be inserted in the document. you can now click and drag it around, and re-size it to your heart's content.
If you're on a mac, The insertion area is on the home tab near the far right.
It's a button that looks like a painting, or a portrait.
Same deal, just find the file, move it around etc.
You are done! -
Step 3: Scan the piece of paper you've used to write all your signatures into your computer.
-
Step 4: Your image will probably be a bitmap file.
-
Step 5: You may have to maximize the GIMP window
-
Step 6: so do so if you have to.
-
Step 7: Click and drag your mouse to create a rectangle around your signature.
-
Step 8: This is the fun part!
-
Step 9: Click Save as
-
Step 10: and save your new image as something other than the original scanned image.
-
Step 11: Open your cover letter.
Detailed Guide
It's free, and found at http://www.gimp.org
Write out your signature as many times as you feel like, until you have a signature you like or are comfortable with.
Be sure not to write the signatures too close together, as we will need to crop the image later. , Color, black and white, or greyscale are all acceptable settings.
A resolution of 300 or 400 dpi is good.
You're going to want to scan to an image. , At this point you CAN use paint successfully to crop the image, save it, and stick it in your cover letter, and then adjust its size and proportion, etc.
I find this to be an unreliable method, depending on what you save the file as, and "flaws" in the paper (such as the paper grain).
Open your bitmap file with GIMP. , Find the signature you like among the signatures on your paper, and click the Crop tool on the "Toolbox" window.
It looks like the end of a X-Acto Knife.
Alternatively you can go to Tools
-> Transformation Tools
-> Crop, or you can also type SHIFT C. , Make sure to stretch the rectangle only around your signature, excluding marks from other signatures you don't want.
Once you've made your rectangle, click again in the middle of the box, and this should execute the crop.
You should now only have the one signature you want. , Click Colors
-> Color to Alpha. *NOTE*:
If you cannot click Color to Alpha, Click Image
-> Mode
-> and change it to RGB.
What Color to Alpha does is makes the background, which may already be white, into an invisible background.
When you put it onto your document then, you are ensuring that the background of the cover letter and the background of your signature image are the same color. , Click the + to expand the filetypes in the GIMP save window, and select "PNG Image." Under no circumstance should you save as a JPEG, as much as we all love the filetype.
For one thing, JPEG does not support the alpha we just made, but PNG does.
Second, JPEG tends to compress the image and distort your white background into grey sometimes. , If you're in Microsoft Word 2007 or 2010, Click the Insert tab, click Picture, select your picture.
It will be inserted in the document. you can now click and drag it around, and re-size it to your heart's content.
If you're on a mac, The insertion area is on the home tab near the far right.
It's a button that looks like a painting, or a portrait.
Same deal, just find the file, move it around etc.
You are done!
About the Author
Mary Thompson
Experienced content creator specializing in creative arts guides and tutorials.
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