Adobe Acrobat Reader to digitally sign PDF documents with a certificate

Question

We are experiencing an issue with Adobe Acrobat Reader when digitally signing PDF documents.

The signature remains valid when the file is saved to a local drive, but it disappears when the document is saved directly to a network share.

This issue only occurs with network shares and has never been observed when saving locally.

Amal Jaiswal · Accepted Answer

Hello Felipe,Thanks for confirming, that helps narrow it down, and it's helpful to know the local-then-copy approach does work reliably.As we checked on our end, your account has an Acrobat Pro subscription, so you have access to the Use guided actions feature, which can help automate the local-sign-then-move pattern so it isn't a manual step per file:Go to All Tools > Use guided actions > New Action.Add a Certificates/Sign step, and set it to use your Digital ID with prompts disabled so it doesn't stop for each file.Add a Save step, and set the output location to a local folder rather than the network share.Save the Action, then run it against your whole batch of PDFs at once. Acrobat will sign each one and save it to the local folder automatically, without you handling files individually.Once the whole batch is done, do a single bulk copy or move of that local folder's contents to the network share, rather than copying file by file.This keeps the reliable local-save step, but turns "sign one, copy one, repeat" into "sign all, then move all," which should be much more practical for your volume.For the full guide on setting up and running Actions, including how to avoid password/prompt interruptions during a batch run, see: Adobe Acrobat Pro Action Wizard.Let us know if this works for your workflow.Regards,Amal

DFWTechGuy · Answer

Since the signature stays valid when saved locally but disappears when saving directly to the network share, I’d focus on the network file handling rather than the certificate itself.

As a test, save the signed PDF locally first, close Acrobat, then copy the completed PDF to the network share. If the signature remains valid, that would strongly point to how Acrobat is writing/updating the file on the network.

I’d also check whether antivirus, file indexing, backup software, or another process on the server is accessing/locking the PDF during the save. Acrobat needs to write the signed PDF correctly, and a file-sharing conflict could cause problems.

If the network location is trusted, you can also test adding the folder under Preferences > Security (Enhanced) > Privileged Locations. I’d keep Protected Mode enabled rather than disabling it permanently.

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