Acrobat feature for combining documents with digital signatures needs fixing

[JoannaWR]

I understand that Adobe digital signatures are meant to preserve the integrity of a document and prevent tampering, but there should be a way to keep the digitally signed PDF locked and unaltered while still allowing it to be merged with other documents, like exhibits for court and discovery purposes. Why can’t Adobe develop a solution where signed PDFs are truly unalterable but can still be combined with other files without compromising their integrity?

From my perspective working in law, the fact that this functionality was removed has made things unnecessarily complicated. When I need to merge multiple documents to create an exhibit for court, it’s frustrating to encounter obstacles. The ability to combine signed PDFs without invalidating them or altering their content would streamline the process and save time. As it stands, I’m forced to print, scan, and then merge the documents—a tedious and inefficient workaround. - Sincerely a person who has a LOT of great ideas for Adobe 🙂 

This feature is something we rely on frequently, and it’s hard to understand why combining signed PDFs into a larger document should be viewed as altering the original content. It doesn’t change the integrity of the signed document—it simply brings it together with other materials for a legal purpose. Having a solution that accommodates this need would make a huge difference in our workflow.

[Bernd Alheit]

In Acrobat combine the files as portfolio.

[Thom Parker]

As Bernd suggests, collecting PDFs into a Portfolio is the same as putting a bunch of signed paper documents into a folder.  So this is a solution. 

I think what you objecting too is the presentation. You'd like there to be a way to show the separate signed PDFs as if they were a continous document.  That would be a cool feature.

Perhaps another approach would be to create a summary/Index document with links to information in all the separate documents, so they are easy to navigate.  

Or perhaps a Legal document management system, like Case Map from Lexis Nexis. 

But I also agree that it would be useful to have a way to sign only the page content streams, so that the documents could be combined and annotated without breaking the signatures.  Take this one step further and there could be signed/certified sub-content, i.e., a portion of a page that's signed/certified. 

This however is not something Adobe can do directly. Creating this type of contained content certification would be a change in the PDF specification (ISO 32000), which can only be done by the keepers of the spec, The PDF Association. 

[JoannaWR]

Hi Thom,

Thank you for your detailed response. I agree with your points, and I think we’re on the same page regarding the need for a more streamlined way of presenting and navigating signed PDFs. The idea of having the separate documents appear as a continuous document would definitely enhance the user experience, especially when it comes to reviewing or presenting legal documents in a more cohesive manner.

The suggestion to create a summary or index document with links to the separate PDFs could be a practical workaround, and I think that could help improve navigation. It’s not quite the same as seeing the documents as a single continuous entity, but it would certainly make the process more efficient. I’d be very interested in exploring this approach further, and it would be incredibly helpful if there were a tutorial or example of how to create such an index document, including how the links would be structured and how it might look from the user’s perspective.

I also appreciate your thoughts on the possibility of signing only the content streams, without breaking the signatures when combining or annotating documents. It’s an interesting direction, and I can see how that could offer a lot more flexibility while preserving the integrity of the signatures. I understand that implementing this would require changes to the PDF specification, which would be a longer-term solution, but it’s definitely something worth considering as we look toward future enhancements in document management.

Thanks again for sharing your insights. I’ll explore the ideas you’ve mentioned and see what other potential solutions might be available in the short term.

Best regards,
Joanna

[Thom Parker]

The Legal industry probably consumes more documents, and by extension PDFs, than just about any other area of business.  Would not surprise me in the least if there were already companies with tools for creating legal document packages with all the features that could be desired in such a thing. 

[PDF Automation Station]

Another idea in place of a portfolio is to attach all of the documents to one PDF with a clickable table of contents, or a list box, to open them.  This can literally be done in a minute:

1)  Drag all the PDFs into the attachments panel.

2)  Create a list box ("List Box1").

3)  Run the following script in the console:

var aray=this.dataObjects;
var aray2=[];
for(var i=0;i<aray.length;i++)
{
aray2.push(aray[i].name);
}
this.getField("List Box1").setItems(aray2);

Enter the following script in the Selection Change tab of the list box field:

this.exportDataObject({cName:event.changeEx,nLaunch:2});

[try67]

This is just a Portfolio with a different interface...

[PDF Automation Station]

If printing, scanning, and merging is acceptable for an exhibit, then you can print the signed documents to PDF and merge them.  Printing to PDF can be automated. 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/workaround-needed-for-quot-print-quot-action-limi...

This should save you time and paper.