Disable locking of document after digitally signing

[krs242]

Good Afternoon,

We have just recently upgraded from Acrobat v7 Standard to Acrobat X Professional.

With Acrobat 7 several users would pass around a PDF document for each user to sign and to add attachments to it. Now that we have upgraded to Acrobat X this is not possible. As after the first person signs the pdf with their signature the whole PDF document locks.

Please advise if there is a way to disable the locking, as the PDF document needs to stay unlocked for others to sign and attach spreadsheets to it.

Please let me know if you require anything further.

Kind Regards,

K

[EnterpriseHelp]

It is certainly possible. Read the Help doc and verify that:

• You are using approval sigs and not accidentally certifying the doc with the first signature.
• If you want to use a certification signature, then have the signer set permissions to allow signing sig fields.

Ben

[krs242]

Morning Ben,

Thank you for your response. Though can you be a little clearer please?

Ive been through the help docs but am unable to find anything relating to my question. I've tested with:

*Signing in Preview Document Mode

*Signing with an approval signature

*Signing with a certification signature

*I'm also NOT enabling the "Lock Document After Signing" Option

I've noticed that as soon as I sign a PDF document that the paper clip to attach further attachments is grayed out from within Acrobat X. I need this locking of the PDF disabled as our work flow requires other signees to attach spreadsheets etc as the PDF is sent to several people for signing.

Kindly advise how we can accomplish this.

Kind Regards,

K

[EnterpriseHelp]

Fields do not automatically lock. You are doing something specific to make them lock. You are either certifying the doc and not allowing subsequent signatures, using seed values, or locking the field via properties.

Try creating a blank document with two signature fields and test it out.

Ben

[krs242]

Hi Ben,

I think there is a mis communication here.

I'm referring to attachements. So for example, i recieve a document which needs my digital signature. I sign it then sent it to someone else, they review it and want to add a spreadsheet (an XLS file) to it.

In Acrobat 7, even though the document is signed other users were able to attach attachments to the already signed PDF. And then sign it themselves to send to the next group of reviewrs.

Though with Acrobat 10 as soon as the first person signs off on the Acrobat document the little paper click to attach a file becomes grayed out. Locking anyone from adding an attachment.

Please see attached.

I hope this clears up things.

Please let me know,

Thanks

K

[EnterpriseHelp]

Yes, I was thrown by your use of "the whole PDF document locks" and "unlocked for others to sign". The whole document does not lock. However, you cannot add attachments to a signed doc since version 9. The feature is designed to allow you to sign both the doc and the attachment so that you can verify its origin and integrity.

If you want a signature workflow that allows adding attachments, use Portfolios. You can sign any doc in a Portfolio and add as many additional docs to it as needed without affecting the signed documents.

Ben

[krs242]

Morning Ben,

Thank you for your answer.

A collegue of mine also found that users can add attachtments (without using a portfolio) to a signed PDF by using the "Attach File" option from within the "Comment" section of Acrobat X.

Thank you agian for your help.

Kind Regards,

K