How to save after signing

[ScottHornsby]

I have converted a Word doc to pdf and signed it using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. Now I want to save it. However, I cannot fogure out to do this. It says I have saved a read-only file, which is fine, but how do I access it? Where do I find it? It gives me the option of creating a link. I don't want a link. I want to save the doc to whatever file folder I choose to. I bet it's something simple and I'm just not seeing it. Can smeone help? Thanks in advance.

[Amal. · Accepted solution]

Hi Scott,

Hope you are doing well and sorry for the trouble. As described you are not able to find the PDF file that you have created from Word and signed using Acrobat DC.

Please follow the steps below and see if that helps:

- Open the Adobe Acrobat DC application.

- Under the 'Home' tab click on 'Recent' and you will see all the PDF files that you have worked upon including the one that you have signed and looking for.

- Double click on the PDF to open it and then go to File menu and do Save As to save it on your desired location.

Regards

Amal

[ScottHornsby]

Thanks Amal. That worked. A few comments though.

1. I saw that option before but when you click "save as", you then get the following message, "You're saving a copy of this shared document. Any changes made on Adobe Sign won't appear in your saved copy". Since signing the document via Adobe Sign was the only edit I wanted to do, I assumed this was not an action I wanted to take. Confusing.

2. I'm surprised that I can't use "save as" from within the document after I've signed it. I don't understand why I have to close the document, reopen the document, then click "save as".

3. Also, when I go to Home->Recent and check the document I want, I'm surrprised there is no "download" option.

[ls_rbls]

++Adding to the discussion,

I think that is because the file is shared.  And while it is shared the copy that you're working on resides in the Document Cloud where both you and your users are viewing it and making changes concurrently. Save As is the option to download a local copy of that shared file back to your computer. Otherwise you'll need to unshare it to continue to work normally on that document.

[Colby5C15]

Adobe is borderline UNUSABLE AND I AM SO CLOSE TO DELETING IT! WHAT A GIGANTIC WASTE OF TIME, I CAN'T EDIT OLD TEMPLATES, OR EVEN SAVE A COPY OF A COMPLETED TEMPLATE ON MY DEVICE, DEFEATING THE ENTIRE PURPOSE OF SENDING A DOCUMENT FOR SIGNATURE! WHAT A GIGANTIC WASTE! So fed up.

[AnandSri]

Hello,

I hope you're doing well. Apologies for the delayed response and any inconvenience caused.

Are you signing each page of the PDF? If so, please note that once a digital signature is applied, the PDF becomes locked and cannot be modified. To make further changes, you need to save the file again. You can do this by selecting File > Save As (in the appropriate application) and giving the file a new name. This is because digital signatures apply to the entire file, not individual pages.

What happens when you try to save the PDF? Are you getting any error messages? Please ensure you have the latest version of Acrobat installed on the machine: 24.005.20320. Planned update, Dec 10, 2024. Check for any pending updates from the Menu > help > check for updates, install the updates, restart the app and the machine, and check.

For additional guidance, you can refer to these helpful resources:

• Using Digital Signatures
• Creating an Electronic Signature

I hope this information helps!

Thank you,
Anand Sri.