Adobe form - Read only after filling and saving the form

Forum|Forum|9 months ago
May 2, 2025
2 replies
762 views

Hi All,

I am trying to figure out how to make an Adobe form read only after the form has been filled and saved.
How can I do this? At the moment, the form is still editable after it has been saved. Is there a way to set the form as read only after it has been saved?

Thanks

Correct answer try67

Then a digital signature is really your only option. Setting the fields as read-only is easily reversible, but a digital signature isn't. If you edit the fields after it was applied, the signature becomes invalidated and you have proof that the file was manipulated.

try67

Community Expert

The best way is to use a Digital Signature field. You can set it to lock all fields when signed.

If you don't want to do that then use a button to "finalize" the form (by setting all the fields as read-only). Don't do it when the file is saved, or you'll get plenty of complaints from users who just wanted to save the file for whatever reason and discovered they can't edit it any longer...

A

Ayaz ahmadAuthor

Participant

@try67 Thanks for your reply.
I'll give it a shot and see how it goes. I'm working on creating a form for our customers to fill out and return to us. However, we want to ensure that the form becomes non-editable once it has been completed and submitted

try67

Correct answer

Community Expert

Then a digital signature is really your only option. Setting the fields as read-only is easily reversible, but a digital signature isn't. If you edit the fields after it was applied, the signature becomes invalidated and you have proof that the file was manipulated.

Meenakshi Negi

Community Manager

Hi Ayaz ahmad,

Thank you for reaching out.

Please let us know how you create the PDF form and send it to the recipients. What do you mean here by the form is editable? Are you referring to the form or signature fields that can be modified? I think more details about the workflow would be helpful.

Did you try to use Acrobat Sign to send documents? If not, please try once. In Acrobat Sign, the document is encrypted once it is signed and filed by all recipients. It is not possible to make any changes to the document after that. For more information, refer to the information in the following help document: https://adobe.ly/3Sh7b7v.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded