digital ID

Hello @Lively_neighborsb9f7,

I hope you are doing well, and thanks for reaching out. Sorry for the trouble you had while using the service/tool.

Could you please share more details about the issue?

Are you getting this error message with all the PDFs, or is it specific to one? Are you using the Acrobat Pro trial or the freeware Acrobat Reader? To identify, go to Acrobat > Help> About Adobe Acrobat.

What type of digital ID is involved: A) Hardware token/smart card, B) USB cryptographic token?

That message means Acrobat cannot talk to your token's software at the moment it looks for the ID. On a Mac, a token-based digital ID is read through the token vendor's PKCS#11 module (a .dylib that the vendor's middleware installs), which Acrobat has to load. The fact that it works sometimes and fails most of the time is a useful clue: your setup is basically correct, so this is usually a dropped token session or a middleware/architecture issue rather than something permanently misconfigured. And to reassure you, the trial version does not limit token signing, so that is not the cause.

Suggestions:

Insert the token and open Keychain Access > View > Show Tokens, and also check your token vendor's own utility. If the certificate shows there, macOS can see the token, and the issue is on the Acrobat side. If it does not show there, the problem is the middleware/USB/OS, and Acrobat will never see it; fix that first.

1. Install or update the token vendor's Mac middleware for your exact macOS version and chip (Apple Silicon vs Intel). An outdated or wrong-architecture driver is the most common cause. Reboot afterwards.

2. Attach the PKCS#11 module in Acrobat: Acrobat menu > Preferences > Signatures > Identities & Trusted Certificates > More > PKCS#11 Modules and Tokens > Attach Module, then enter the .dylib path your vendor's middleware installed, select the token, Login, and enter the PIN. Only the token issuer can give you the exact path, so use theirs rather than guessing.

3. If "Attach Module" is greyed out or the module will not load, temporarily turn off Preferences > Security (Enhanced) > "Enable Protected Mode at startup," fully quit Acrobat (Cmd-Q) and relaunch, then try again (re-enable Protected Mode afterwards). On an Apple Silicon Mac, also try running Acrobat under Rosetta, which resolves a lot of token-load failures on M-series machines.

4. Insert the token before launching Acrobat, avoid USB hubs (plug straight into the Mac), and if it stops being recognised after the Mac has slept, restart Acrobat (or the Mac). Some middleware only detects the token at launch, and the session can drop after sleep.

Please refer to this article for more details: https://adobe.ly/4hYg0Bf

I hope this helps, and let us know how it goes. And reach out if you experience any issues, or need any assistance.

Regards,

Anand Sri.