A follow on to this question about extracting the signature image. Is it possible to just copy the plist file containing the signature from one Mac to another? Is there a recommended method for exporting and import signatures from one Mac to another I should follow instead?

I could “sign” a blank PDF and take a screen shot of it but but I really want the same password to go along with the image so it’s 100% the same signature on the other Mac as the one I’m using on this Mac.

1

This was covered by Aussie Bloke’s blog when Lion arrived. Here are the steps to get both the file where the signature is stored as well as the associated keychain entry to a second Mac.

On the source Mac:

  • Open the ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview/Data/Library/Preferences folder.
    • In Finder, click the Go menu and hold option to show the Library folder.
    • Alternatively, press ⇧⌘G whilst Finder is active and enter the path above to directly navigate.
  • On OS X Mavericks 10.9 and earlier, copy the com.apple.Preview.signatures.plist file.
  • On OS X Yosemite 10.10 and later, copy the com.apple.PreviewLegacySignaturesConversion.plist file.
  • Launch Keychain Access
  • Ensure the login keychain is selected and choose the Passwords category.
  • On OS X Mavericks 10.9 and earlier, right-click the Preview Signature Privacy password and select Copy Password to Clipboard. This is the password used to encrypt the signature images.
  • On OS X Yosemite 10.10 and later, right-click the Signature Annotation Privacy password and select Copy Password to Clipboard.
  • Paste it into a text editor and save the file. You’ll need to transfer this to your other computer(s).

On the destination Mac(s):

  • Launch Preview, open Preferences, and select the Signatures tab to ensure the default configuration files and folders have been created.
  • Exit Preview. Ensure that the process is terminated.
  • Open the ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview/Data/Library/Preferences folder.
  • On OS X Mavericks 10.9 and earlier, copy the com.apple.Preview.signatures.plist file to the folder, overwriting any existing file.
  • On OS X Yosemite 10.10 and later, copy the com.apple.PreviewLegacySignaturesConversion.plist file to the folder, overwriting any existing file.
  • Launch Keychain Access
  • On OS X Mavericks 10.9 and earlier, locate the Preview Signature Privacy password in the login keychain and double-click to edit.
  • On OS X Yosemite 10.10 and later, locate the Signature Annotation Privacy password in the login keychain and double-click to edit.
  • Click the Show password checkbox and paste the password you copied from your original machine.
  • Click Save Changes and you’re done!

In situations where the target machine has no existing Preview Signature Privacy or Signature Annotation Privacy record in Keychain Access, you must create a new record. This is necessary when the target machine (like a Mac Pro with an older or third-party display attached) has no camera which means no Signature file can be created from within Preview. Open Keychain Access as above and do the following:

  • Click on the + icon to create a new entry
  • On OS X Mavericks 10.9 and earlier, enter Preview Signature Privacy in the Keychain Item Name field.
  • On OS X Yosemite 10.10 and later, enter Signature Annotation Privacy in the Keychain Item Name field.
  • Enter Preview in the Account Name field.
  • Paste the password copied from your original machine, per above procedure.
  • Click Add
  • In the newly created entry, click Access Control
  • Add Preview to applications allowed access
  • Click Save Changes and you’re done!

9

Actually you don’t need all this long process to solve the problem. You just have to sync your Keychain with iCloud in both your Macs and then you’ll have your signatures on both. It works, I’ve tried it right now on MacOS Mojave.

1

On Monterey, this solution worked for me. From this thread on discussions.apple.com:

On the Source Mac:

  1. Open Keychain Access
  2. In Local Items find the “Signature Annotation Privacy”
  3. Right-click the item and select “Copy password to Clipboard”
  4. Open TextEdit and paste the password (note the password is long) and save the file as text
  5. Transfer this file to the Destination Mac.

On the Destination Mac:

  1. Open any PDF in the Preview
  2. Create a dummy signature using your trackpad and save it
  3. Close Preview
  4. Open Keychain Access
  5. In Local Items find the “Signature Annotation Privacy” and double-click to open the item
  6. Click on “Show password”
  7. In the password field paste the text from the text file you created on the source Mac
  8. Click on Save changes
  9. Close Keychain Access

The signature will show up in place of the dummy signature in Preview.

0

MISSING KEYCHAIN ITEMS?

If the Preview Signature Privacy or Signature Annotation Privacy keychain item is missing from your destination Mac’s Keychain Access, an easy way to add it is as follows:

  • Open your Preview app, and create a new signature which will later be replaced by your imported signature(s) from your source Mac. You can create multiple signatures here if you are planning to import multiple signatures from your source Mac.
  • Quit Preview app.
    This should automatically create the missing Preview Signature Privacy or Signature Annotation Privacy keychain item(s) that you need to have in your Keychain Access.

NOTE: If you are planning to migrate MULTIPLE signatures from your source Mac to your destination Mac(s), make sure to create a new signature for each signature that you plan to migrate. In other words, if you have 3 signatures you want to migrate, make sure you have created 3 Preview Signature Privacy or Signature Annotation Privacy keychain items in your Keychain Access.

I had an issue on High Sierra where Preview would not save a new signature, and I was unable to restore signatures from another Mac. It turned out to be a corrupt Local Items keychain, which is where Preview stores the Signature Annotation Privacy password item. Since the Local Items keychain was not accepting new entries, Preview could not save new signatures.

Solution: see this SO answer to resolve that problem. After doing that was able to add new keychain entries.


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