I've begun using Acrobat DC to get drawings signed. When I make the next revision, I would like to mark up the prior revision to show what needs to change. Of course since it's been electronically signed Acrobat disables all commenting tools. I think this is a mistake. I think it should be possible to re-line the document at which point the signatures are marked as invalid. As it stands I have to print the document out and physically redline which just feels too 20th century.
It's not a mistake. A Digital Signature is meant to ensure the file is not edited. If you want to edit the file, for example by adding comments to it, you must do so before signing it. Signing should be the very last step in your workflow.
When I circulated paper drawings, the reviewers had a choice to either sign or mark any errors. Now they can only write a brief note in a text box. I'm not saying that the signatures should remain intact when someone makes a mark-up. I'm asking that they can mark in some detail what they object to if they refuse. Clearly the marked-up version should be stripped of signatures.
You need to think of signing as like signing paper with ink, laminating it, and sticking it to the wall. You cannot touch or edit it. What would you do in the case of paper like this? You would make a copy before signing, to work on, and then make the special signed copy. This is vital because the signature would be destroyed by editing, so what would be the point of signing? Bear in mind the signature is NOT a mark on the page, that is a useless (easily faked) stamp.
In some situations you can peel off the signature as if it didn't exist. Generally if you were the signer and still have the certificate, though I haven't tried it lately.
That effectively invalidates and removes any signatures from the file. If you do that you might as well not sign it at all, or use a stamp or the pencil tool, instead of a real signature.
The purpose in my application is that I'm taking a signed drawing from a controlled document database - and then because there are changes being proposed, you make mark-ups on the drawing, which then goes back around for signatures and approval to be used as the next revision - once it has all the requisite signature (fully endorsed) it can then be uploaded as a new revision of the document. So yes, we are invalidating the signatures on the marked-up drawing - until it is finalised and approved, it is not an official/controlled document.
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