How to ADD page(s) or COMBINE Signed PDF and regular PDF

[ymEA]

In effort to reduce paper printing, I decided to request a signature on the form I filled out from my boss for State Filing, then later add the receipt of eFiling (plain PDF), which then I can forward it to our accounting department...

I used to be able to PRINT a signed PDF as "Save as PDF", then add or edit the PDF...

But now, THAT command results to create "LOG" in Text! 😞

I tried to INSERT signed PDF to a plain PDF, but I could not select it, nor COMBINE files didn't work either...

Is there ANY WAY to work around this issue?

I don't want to send 2 PDFs for 1 transaction...

We are really trying to be ECO-Friendly...

Thank you in advance.

[gary_sc]

Hi ymEA,

I knew there'd be issues as soon as I read "Save as PDF." 

What that means is that Acrobat did not create the PDF but rather your operating system did. And the quality of that can vary from OK (at best) to "Oh my goodness!!!!"

Next, I cannot figure out what you mean by "...THAT command result to create "LOG" in Text." Create a LOG of the text? Create the word LOG in the text? Help me here, I do not know what you mean.

Next, you tried to Insert the signed PDF to a plain PDF. What is a plane PDF, a blank sheet of paper?

Lastly, what kind of Acrobat are you using? Acrobat Reader? Acrobat Standard? Or Acrobat Pro. (and what release are you using?

And lastly lastly, what is your OS (and what release)?

Thanks

[ymEA]

Hi gary-sc,

First of all, Thank you for your reply!

Well, I apologize for such a SHORT and minimum info in regards to WHAT is my environment is...

OS: Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Version 2021.007.20091

Sorry, it was totally embassingly TYPO... not "Plane"... It's a "Plain PDF" meaning non-secured, non-signed regular PDF.

In regards to LOG, when I attempt to PRINT as the printer "Adobe PDF", it creates attached TEXT Document which is ".log" in Note Pad...

I hope I cleared all of your questions?

I hope there is a solution or work around method(s)...

[gary_sc]

Ha! Well we're even, I WAS THE ONE who typed in "plane," not you! 😄

OK, back to square one. As long as you have Acrobat Pro, do not use "Save as PDF" unless you have a specific reason to. In your case it's being done by Microsoft (for me it's Apple) and simply neither is as good as what Acrobat can do. 

You do not mention from where you are creating this document. Word? InDesign? Text Edit? Where? In Word, Acrobat Por has it's own ribbon. Whatever, look for "Print to Adobe PDF"

Let me know if this changes anything.

(and by the way, I may not see this until tomorrow as I'm about to BBQ some chicken for dinner. Sorry)

[ymEA]

Hi gary_sc,

As I mentioned in the original post:

"In effort to reduce paper printing, I decided to request a signature on the form I filled out from my boss for State Filing, then later add the receipt of eFiling (plain PDF), which then I can forward it to our accounting department..."

Let me elaborate... 

1. I downloaded a form from some Secretary of State website, then open in Acrobat Pro DC to fill out the form. 
2. "Print as PDF" to enable to add only necessary Signature Filed, instead of all of the original form's required fields get selected.
3. Using "Fill & Sign" I added a Signature Filed to Request Signature.
4. Sent to the recipient to ask him to sign. *Did that create the PDF to be SECURED? Later when I checked its Property, the Security Method said "Password Security" (although no password was created), then I got the following error message:

Should I use "Prepare Form" method to add a signature filed, or whenever I add a Signature Filed or the PDF gets SIGNED, it automatically becomes SECURED PDF?

😞

As we really want to go paperless, and do all the process with PDF/Acrobat, I really need find the way to work around WITHOUT PRINTING ANYTHING... 😞

[MikelKlink · Accepted solution]

 Your log screen shot mentions that the source PDF was encrypted. So unless this log message is totally misleading, your problem is that the PDF is encrypted!

 Please try your workflow (form fill-in, signing, ...) using a PDF that is not encrypted, and try "Save as PDF" then.

 That being said, (digitally) signing a document does not combine well with changing the document thereafter; digital signatures are about guaranteeing that no (disallowed) changes are applied after the signature.

 Removing the actual digital signature to make the PDF editable again, on the other hand, makes the whole process of signing it in the first place questionable.

 One option to put a signed PDF together with new content (another PDF) in a single PDF while keeping the signature intact, is to wrap them both in a portable collection PDF (aka portfolio). You might want to try that.

[ymEA]

Hi MikelKlink,

Thank you for your reply.

I see. I do understand what you saying about Signed PDF won't allow further editing, including add more page or extract/delete any page...

I just checked out creating a Portfolio PDF...!!!

And YES, THIS would work!

I just need to make sure to NOT COMBINE PDFs if I need to separate it in chunks LATER... as there is no way to extract or delete any page after signed.

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! m(_ _)m \(^O^)/

[ymEA]

I wanted to add some additiona insights I figured out...

For future reference in case someone else is looking for a solution, I found ANOTHER Method and TIPS...

First of all, if you plan to separate the PDF after signed for whatever reason (although I know you are NOT supposed to do so and I'm not suggesting you should, but sometimes it happens...), you should send the PDF separately, meaning send a signature request individually.

i.e. I had a PDF required 2 signatures from one person. But later I realized I needed to EXTRACT one of the signed page, which apparently I couldn't... So, in the future, I would create/request signature PER required signature page.

TIP: If you need flexibility to EDIT/ADD Text/Image AFTER the PDF has signed, you could Export as Word, which WON'T OCR, but save each page as an IMAGE.

Once you get the Word version (.docx), Convert THAT to PDF... VOILA. Now, you got editable PDF!

As Going Green getting more popular and normal, I was glad to find these methods.

I hope this will help someone who really needs... I was SO FRUSTRATED... until I found these tricks.