How to add multiple digital signatures to an Excel spreadsheet?
Andrew Henderson 
I have an Excel spreadsheet that lives on a shared folder, that everybody can access. On that spreadsheet, I have a worksheet with a list of tasks that have to be completed, but not necessarily by the same person and certainly not at the same time (it takes about 2 weeks to complete all the tasks on that list).
I would like each person to sign off each task on the spreadsheet after it's done so that we have a record of who did what and when. I have tried using the digital signature feature provided by Microsoft as detailed in , the only problem is that it appears to be designed to be used only once per document.
Even though I am able to add multiple signature lines to the same spreadsheet, once one is signed, I get the following message:
If I choose "Edit Anyway", the first signature disappears, even if I choose the level of commitment to "none", which kind of defeats the purpose of having multiple signatures. The whole point is that the spreadsheet keeps being edited with more and more data added as the tasks are being completed and I just need a form of signature of who completed which task when, while being able to keep editing the spreadsheet in the meantime.
Can anybody recommend an alternative solution of a way to make the Microsoft digital signatures work for that use case? I have done quite a bit of searching and it looks like even though many people have reported the same issue, there is no solution offered.
2 Answers
"Digital signatures" are not sign-offs; they are tamper-proof stamps/seals.
Making the document read-only is the whole point, as it indicates what exact contents have been signed. So no, you cannot make Excel allow free editing while preserving the signatures, as 1) it would invalidate the signature mathematically, and 2) it completely contradicts the purpose of the feature.
Most document formats work this way, although there are rarities such as PDF which can have multiple versions of a document in the same file, each version covered by separate set of signatures.
It sounds like you're looking for a specialized "project management" / "time tracking" system. There are apparently quite a few commercial products which do exactly that.
I was searching for an answer as well and was pretty frustrated until I saw this YouTube video. The video only shows you how to sign but does not show you how to set up multiple signature. So I got an idea and tested this trick out myself. It worked!!!! It turns out to be pretty simple. COPY and PASTE.
First, add the first signature box like you would normally do.
Don't sign anything yet.
Right click on the box, and click on Copy.
Paste that box below the original one.
Then you can right click on the 2nd signature box and select Signature Set Up.
There you can update Name, Title etc. for the next Signer in line.
Add as many signature boxes as you need just by Copy and Paste, then update the Name and Title etc.
Once completed, follow the instructions on a video that I found on YouTube on how to Sign in the appropriate box.
(I am not allowed to post the link here so just google for "Add multiple signatures to excel document"). You would see one or mostly likely can figure it out yourself.
Good luck!
