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Answered

How to combining pdfs with digital signature

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Is there a way to combine pdfs without losing digital signatures?

If not, why not?

How to

try67Correct answer

Community Expert

Digital Signature, unlike "wet" signatures, apply to the entire document as a whole, not just to the page where the signature is located.

If someone could add new pages to a document you signed and it would appear you agreed to those pages without having seen them before you won't be too happy, would you?

C

Cassidy5EF1

Participant

Correct Answer: Unable to not lose them

Work Around:

Ex: File 1 has dig sig (or more) - File 2 dose not
You sign the dig sig. - Print this to PDF - Use combine feature - Presto Done
Reason: Print to PDF removes the Dig Sig but leaves the Sig.

Pro Tip: Need another dig sig after you have combined files. Use Fill & Sign and add Place Signature. This is will allow you to create a size of the dig size box and then require to immediately save the combined file PDF. Now hover over your sig, right click and choose Clear Sig. Hit save. Presto you have not added a dig sig for the next person in the sig collection line. I am using Adobe Acrobar XI Version 11.0.09

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M

Mark-in-Va

Inspiring

As more organizations use electronic records for things like meeting minutes, where they want to create a set of signed minutes for each meeting, and then combine the files into a single file for a specific year, as the archive, it would seem Adobe Acrobat would grow to allow each signed PDF to be combined, but have the signatures tied to each file remain. So one could look at a signatures tree for the packaged file and see that each individual file still has its signature integrity. This equates to where one can put signed paper minutes pages into a locking record notebook, on numbered pages, and have each individual meeting (file) still be its own.

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try67

Community Expert

A Portfolio allows you to do just that.

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FrixkyKitty

Participating Frequently

Open the signed pdf in Adobe.
Open print dialogue (Ctrl+p)
Change the printer to "Microsoft Print to PDF" then print.
The newly created PDF will have the signatures and will behave as a normal pdf for combine/merge activities.

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T

Test Screen Name

Legend

EdZooks, thanks, but that is nonsense. Printing cannot preserve digital signatures, only pictures of signatures, which are useless and not legally valid.

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FrixkyKitty

Participating Frequently

"Test Screen Name's" comment deserves some consideration. My suggested approach converts the digitally signed document to a standard pdf. The result displays the signature information but the underlying digital signature is lost. In my case the original signers understand the distinction.

Creating a summary file is my goal. I combine a variety of digitally signed, along with other related, documentation into a single summary pdf. The original, digitally signed documents, are stored for future reference. I am increasingly convinced that it is not possible to combine digitally signed documents into a single, summary pdf, while maintaining the underlying digital signatures.

Users needing summary packets will benefit from my suggested approach. However as "Test Screen Name" suggests, my approach remains "legally valid" to the extent that the original digitally signed documents are available on demand.

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try67

Correct answer

Community Expert

Digital Signature, unlike "wet" signatures, apply to the entire document as a whole, not just to the page where the signature is located.

If someone could add new pages to a document you signed and it would appear you agreed to those pages without having seen them before you won't be too happy, would you?

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B-riana

Participant

What if you're trying to combine signatures? I was able to use Acrobat DC distribute to send a document out to 4 people for signature, but the output is 4 duplicate documents with 4 different signatures when what I want is one document with all 4 signatures.

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try67

Community Expert

I believe Adobe Sign offers that functionality. If not, you can do it in serial instead of parallel, ie, send to person 1, who sends their signed copy to person 2, etc.

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T

Test Screen Name

Legend

Yes, by making a portfolio. It is of course impossible to add pages to a signed document, because think what that could do to a signed contract. So they cannot be combined to a normal PDF, only a portfolio, which keeps them separate.

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J

Jo248584221yx4

Participant

And how do you send that portfolio to someone?

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try67

Community Expert

Just like any other PDF file.

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