validated signatures don't display image of person's cursive signature

Question

I have an ongoing issue with the display of validated signatures. The bar at top of the opened PDF says "Signed and all signatures are valid," but at the end of the letter Acrobat displays merely "John B. Doe -S" in a font instead of the image that looks like someone actually signed with a pen. The Signature Properties (which shows when I click on the name) says that "The path from the signer's certificate to an issuer's certificate was successfully built. The signer's certificate is valid and has not been revoked." How can I make the image of the signture display?

MikelKlink · Answer

To expound what @try67 said, the visual appearance of a digital signature in a PDF is completely irrelevant for its validity and the identity of the signer!

The appearance may be a scribble that looks like the signer's ink signature, or it may be a photo of the signer, or it may be some regular text (e.g. the signer's name and the signing time), or a combination thereof. Or it may be a photo of some boy group, or 3 Xs, or the all-seeing pyramid. It may even be completely blank.

The validity of a PDF digital signature and the information who the signer is, must be determined by inspecting the signature properties or the matching entry on the signature panel.

Of course it is not nice if the appearance refers to a different person than the signature properties. It may even be somewhat misleading and be rejected for that reason. But strictly speaking it would count as a valid signature of the actual signer.

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