Adobe Acrobat Pro DC will not allow second signature

[brianshiro]

I've been a long-time user of Adobe Acrobat Pro products for over twenty years, and during that time I have never had trouble digitally signing documents until now.  In the past month or so (Sept-Oct 2020), I've noticed that if a colleage sends me a PDF document to sign after already having signed it him/herself, I cannot add my signature field to it.  The document is locked for any further editing, including adding form fields such as digital signatures.  The Fill & Sign features also does not work because the first author of the document did not add a second signature field for me to sign.

The only workarounds I've found that work are: 1) Ask the person to go back to the original unsigned document, add two signature fields, sign one, and send to me to sign the other; and 2) Just send me the original unsigned document, I add a signature field for my signature, and send to the person to then add the second signature.  While these do skirt around the problem, they do not solve it.

Why can I no longer add a second signature field to a document that already has one?  Did the default behvaior change to always lock documents now upon signing?  I've asked my colleages to check this, and they have confirmed that from their end, the properties show the document is not locked.  However, when I check on my end, it says the document is locked.  Note that I am running Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Continuous 2020.012.20048 for Mac.  Most of my colleages are running the same on Windows, but I've now had the same issue with a person using the Mac version sending me a signed PDF.  I feel I need to revert to a prior release of the software before this potential bug was introduced.  Please help.  Thanks!

[Bernd Alheit]

You can't add form fields to a signed document.

[Amal.]

Hi Brianshiro

Hope you are doing well and sorry for the confusion and the trouble caused. As described, you are unable to add the signature field to a document that is already signed by another user.

If the signer has choosen to lock the document after signing. In that case, the document becomes read-only and no further changes are allowed; even a signature can’t be added in the document. The Lock document after signing option is useful if you’re the last signer or the only one signer. 

Generally, the PDF is locked for editing, but not for signing unless the first signer chooses the Lock document after signing option while signing. 

If you’re expecting others to sign the PDF, don’t select the Lock document after signing option in the Sign As dialog box or the Sign Document dialog box as shown in the screenshot below:

For more information please look at the help page https://helpx.adobe.com/in/acrobat/kb/edit-signed-PDF.html

Hope this information will help.

Regards

Amal

[John32264771wegq]

This is a problem.  Adobe seems to treat many many documents (that contain a digital signature) as locked, and refuses to add digital signatures to them.  This appears to happen with documents signed by docusign, and documents signed by Adobe (whether or not the "lock document after signing" was clicked). It is very inconvenient for doing business using Adobe Acrobat.

"The Lock document after signing option is useful if you’re the last signer or the only one signer. "

NO.  It isn't useful at all. The whole point of a digital signature is to attest to the fact that a document exists at a point in time in a particular state. Why on earth would I be unable to  sign a document with the "locked" field on?  I have experienced this dozens of times.  Every time, enquiring why it's locked so I can't sign it comes back as: "That's weird, I didn't lock it... well, if you can't sign it... use something else... docusign... or just physically sign it."   It makes Adobe Acrobat signatures nearly useless.  Wish they would change this behavior!

[Amal.]

Hi there,

Would you mind sharing the version of the Acrobat Pro you are using? To check the version go to Help > About Acrobat and make sure you have the recent version 23.08.2042X installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

Also, share a sample PDF file for checking at our end.

~Amal

[APenNameAndThatA]

When signature fields are created (so long as they have the little orange stripe at the top left), they can be set to lock all of the form fields, none of the form fields or some of the form fields. When the form is created, the author chooses which fields are to be locked by each signature. 

[APenNameAndThatA]

FIGJAM.

[kai_5375]

Hi, I've been having an issue with choosing which specific fields I don't want to lock when I lock the rest. I go to the Properties of the digital signature > Signed > Mark as read-only: > All fields except these > Pick. For some reason I can check as many as I want but hitting "OK" doesn't save them.