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Don25148838qte6
Participant
April 21, 2025
Answered

esignature does not allow placement of field

  • April 21, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 587 views

I am running Adobe ACrobat Pro version 2025.001.20438 on Mac OS Sequoia 15.3.2.  When I try to add eSignatures ai M aable to fill out the receipents, including their names but when I go to place the fields the cursor remains a cross.  I am able to successfully add signatures to other files withoput problems.  I tried saving the file using Save As Other to a reduced size just to see if making some filel change would change the way eSignature was working, but no luck.  Suggestions?

Correct answer AnandSri

Hello Don!

 

I hope you are doing well. Thanks for sharing the steps that worked for you. We are glad that you were able to add the signature to the PDF.

 

As our community product expert correctly highlighted in the above response, this often happens with scanned or image-based PDFs, where the document is essentially treated as a flat image without recognisable form or text elements. Adobe Sign requires an underlying structure (like text layers or editable objects) to properly place signature fields. That’s why you’re able to place fields on some files but not on certain scanned ones. 

Root Cause: Scanned documents often lack the necessary layer metadata that Acrobat’s eSignature tool uses to anchor fields. These files can appear editable, but don't directly support interactive form field placement.

 

If you prefer to keep everything on one page, you can: Use “Scan & OCR” > Recognize Text to convert the image-based content into a searchable layer. Save the file and try again with “Request eSignatures.” For more information, please see these articles: E-signature fields

https://adobe.ly/4cFsg4W

 

I hope this helps, and feel free to reach out if you need any assistance.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

2 replies

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Don25148838qte6Author
Participant
April 22, 2025

I have just had a second document with this problem. It seems that some scanned documents will not allow the signature function to work. My final solution was to edit the PDF, add a blank page, then add text explaining this is a signature page with some of the info from the actual document. The resulting document can have eSignature requests added.
Don Scelza, Management Consulting

[Personal info removed from the post: Adobe moderator]

AnandSri
AnandSriCorrect answer
Legend
April 22, 2025

Hello Don!

 

I hope you are doing well. Thanks for sharing the steps that worked for you. We are glad that you were able to add the signature to the PDF.

 

As our community product expert correctly highlighted in the above response, this often happens with scanned or image-based PDFs, where the document is essentially treated as a flat image without recognisable form or text elements. Adobe Sign requires an underlying structure (like text layers or editable objects) to properly place signature fields. That’s why you’re able to place fields on some files but not on certain scanned ones. 

Root Cause: Scanned documents often lack the necessary layer metadata that Acrobat’s eSignature tool uses to anchor fields. These files can appear editable, but don't directly support interactive form field placement.

 

If you prefer to keep everything on one page, you can: Use “Scan & OCR” > Recognize Text to convert the image-based content into a searchable layer. Save the file and try again with “Request eSignatures.” For more information, please see these articles: E-signature fields

https://adobe.ly/4cFsg4W

 

I hope this helps, and feel free to reach out if you need any assistance.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

creative explorer
Community Expert
creative explorerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 22, 2025

@Don25148838qte6 Since it works on other files, the problem likely lies within this particular document. A potential cause could be a corruption within the file itself, even if the reduced size "Save As Other" didn't resolve it. Are you able to go to the original document and re-make a PDF?

Another possibility is that there might be some lingering data or a temporary glitch affecting the eSignature functionality specifically for this file. To try and resolve this, I recommend first attempting to "Optimize" the PDF (File > Save As Other > Optimized PDF), which can sometimes clean up underlying issues.

If that doesn't work, try exporting the PDF to a different format, like PostScript (File > Export To > PostScript), and then reopening the PostScript file in Acrobat to convert it back to a PDF. This process can sometimes strip away problematic elements. As a final step before considering a more drastic solution like reinstalling Acrobat, you could try printing the PDF to a new PDF using the "Adobe PDF" printer option, as this can also sometimes resolve file-specific anomalies.

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