Acrobat DC (26.001.21529) crashing with eSignatures

Thanks I have tried all that, and it does not work. Adobe have acknowledged its a known issue. See my earlier post

The community manager has acknowledged on another thread “This is a known issue and will be fixed in the future update.“ 

No one has confirmed that using the online signing feature works.

This is very inconvienent and I would have thought the least adobe could do is regress the version to one that worked, until they have a fix.

Regards

1. Close Acrobat completely.

2. Go to this folder on your computer:

   %appdata%\Adobe\Acrobat\DC\Security

   Just paste that into the File Explorer address bar and press Enter.

3. If you see these files, delete them:
   • acrobat_fss_signature_initials
   • acrobat_fss_signature_initialsi
   • acrobat_fss_signature_initialsk
4. Open Acrobat again. If you're asked to set up your signature/initials, go ahead and do it, then test adding a signature field or using Fill & Sign.

These files tend to get corrupted, especially after you update or change your handwritten signature. Deleting them usually helps Acrobat reset things and prevents the crash.

If That Doesn’t Work

• Switch to Legacy E-Signing Mode:
  Go to Edit → Preferences → Adobe Online Services and check "Use legacy version of Adobe Sign". This is a workaround that works for some users.
• Change Some Preferences:
  • Go to Edit → Preferences → Signatures. Under Creation & Appearance, click More, and uncheck "Use modern user interface for signing".
  • Also, try temporarily disabling Protected Mode and Generative AI (if enabled).
• Clean Reinstall & Cache Clear:
  • If you haven’t already, try a clean reinstall, but also clear the Acrobat cache in %appdata%\Adobe\Acrobat\DC.

Other Possible Causes:

• If you have conflicting plugins or antivirus software running, try disabling them (especially real-time scanning).
• Make sure you're running the latest updates. Go to Help → Check for Updates in Acrobat.
• Test with a blank PDF to rule out any issues with the document itself.

I am having the same issue. I recently changed my signature field and this is the first time I want to sign with my updated (free hand drawn) signature, and the program crashes when I click on the Fill and Sign option in the program. Just spews out an error box and reopen instruction. The web based service is working fine, but the desktop version keeps crashing. I went ahead and deleted the initial files others have suggested years back but noticed that every time I click the fill and sign, the files reappear in the Security Folder again. I have tried restarting my computer, signing in and out, make sure to see if I am not behind updates (I am not) but nothing is working. Right now it seems like the desktop version doesn’t even have my original free hand signature. It is very frustrating because I use this main function for my business and can’t do much to fix this.

I am having the same issue.  The issue is caused when I try request e-signature and fill out the fields I need the recipient to fill out.  When the field is changed to a “signature” field the application crashes every time.  I have gone through all the steps outlined by the previous user - including doing a complete reinstall of Acrobat.

Windows 11 Home

These crashes in Adobe programs for basic functionality are becoming increasingly frustrating.  InDesign also frequently crashes when you do a find and replace.

Hi fleshmanj, and JDCAREYAU,

Thank you for reaching out, and sorry to hear about the trouble-causing.

As mentioned, the application crashes when trying to designate the form fields for signatures. Could you please confirm whether the application crashes when you attempt to send the form or when assigning the signee? If possible, sharing a short video demonstrating the steps you take and the resulting behavior would greatly help us understand the workflow.

Additionally, please collect the crash logs using the steps suggested in the following help document: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/acrobat-diagnostics.html. Once the logs are collected, share the log ID with us.

Let us know if you need any help.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

I have the same issue 

There are essentially two ways to set up eSignature and initial fields in Acrobat. 

The “default” way these days is to essentially set up your document to use Adobe’s server-based utilities for distributing, collecting and tracking signatures through Adobe Sign. If you don’t subscribe to the service, or have an internal need to digitally sign and update signed PDFs that doesn’t require Adobe’s PDF signature services, working from the default way will cause all kinds of complications.

The other, traditional way to add that capability is to manually set up signature fields and sidestep the server-based service for your own eSign/administrative processes. You can read more about these options in another comment thread in this forum:

I seem to be having problems posting a direct link to the thread here, so I’d suggest you use the search bar here to look for “e-sign all broken” to get to that thread. There’s information there to explore both options for processing digital signatures with PDFs. I believe you may find this in formation useful.

Hope this helps,

Randy