Digitally sign ("Use a Certificate" tool)

[Eccentric_Smile3891]

Hello Community,

I have already some certificates in my Windows Personal certificates store, which are intended for Digital Signature (and other usages).

Unfortunately, these do not show up when I try to use the certificate tool "Digitally sign" feature.

I am able to create a new selfsigned certificate / digital id, via Acrobat, and that one will show up.

All existing personal certs have their private key, so I am not sure why these do not show up as trusted and showing up to be selected for digital signing.

These tester ones are created manually , self signed, and will show in details the Trust:

The others, are from the company and are also having , besides other purposes, the Intended Usage "Digital Signature", but those do not show up when trying to "Digitally sign", and their Trust is not set:

How to get Acrobat accept / trust the other certificates?

[Eccentric_Smile3891]

ok, so the button to Add to Trusted Certificates became available and I added the entire chain. Also selected that the trust settings, but still these do not show up in the list whan trying to Digitally Sign

[Tariq Ahmad Dar]

Hi @Eccentric_Smile3891,

Thanks for the update, and for confirming that you have valid digital certificates available in the Windows Trusted Certificate Store that are intended for signing purposes.

Acrobat does support signing with certificates stored in the Windows certificate store, but in some cases, certificates may not appear in the “Use a Certificate” workflow due to the following:

Reasons Certificates Might Not Appear:

1. Certificate Usage Restrictions: Acrobat will only display certificates that have appropriate key usage flags, such as Digital Signature and Non-Repudiation. If the certificate lacks these attributes or is missing the private key, it won’t show up.
2. No Private Key Access: Ensure the certificate in the Windows store includes access to the private key, which is required for digital signatures.
3. Trusted Identity Configuration in Acrobat: Acrobat may need manual configuration to recognize and trust identities from the Windows store.

Suggested Steps:

1. Check Certificate Usability in Windows

• Open certmgr.msc.

• Locate your certificate under Personal > Certificates.

• Double-click it and check the Intended Purposes and confirm that the private key is available.

  (Look for a line that says: You have a private key that corresponds to this certificate.)

2. Configure Acrobat to Trust Windows Certificates

• In Acrobat, go to Edit > Preferences > Signatures.

• Under Identities & Trusted Certificates, click More…

• In the Digital IDs section, click Add ID > A digital ID stored in the Windows Certificate Store.

• Select your certificate and confirm.

3. Try Signing via Tools > Certificates

• Go to Tools > Certificates > Digitally Sign.

• This tool sometimes performs better than the quick-access version of “Use a Certificate.”

~Tariq