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ramiro_5353
Participant
October 1, 2024
Question

PDF/A - shrinking and checking for e-Signature

  • October 1, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 308 views

Hi team, I've almost got it, hopefully you can help.

 

I have a billion PDF/A PDFs.  Some have e-signature (docusign).  I don't know if they have a full digital certificate or just 'the signing'.

 

I need to shrink these if possible.

 

1)  If I use Preflight, and check "Check if Digitially Signed"

   - Will this always be true if the PDF is PDF/A 2-b format anyway?

   - It marks them as "success" for all my PDFS  even when there are no clear signatures on the doc (nothing in the e-sig section of acrobat), so wanted to confirm

 

2) As above - is there any other way to in-bulk find if there are e-signatures on the file using Guided Actions?

 

3)  IF I have a PDF/A file, I CANNOT shrink it.  I must remove the PDF/A formatting, shrink it, and then PDF/A it, correct?

 

 

Thank you team in advance for your help here.

1 reply

S_S
Community Manager
S_SCommunity Manager
Community Manager
February 7, 2025

Hi @ramiro_5353,

 

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for writing in!

 

If you are still looking for answers, here are some of it:

 

Using Preflight and checking if digitally signed

 

  • If the file is PDF/A-2b (or any version of PDF/A), the file should allow for digital signatures to be included, but the signature needs to comply with PDF/A standards.
  • If Preflight marks the file as "success" even when there is no visible signature, it may be that the Preflight tool is detecting an invisible signature or metadata that still counts as a valid digital signature, even though it isn't visually represented in Acrobat's signature panel.

Bulk Finding E-Signatures Using Guided Actions

  • Guided Actions in Acrobat allow you to automate processes, including finding e-signatures. However, there’s no built-in action to directly detect e-signatures, so the process can be a bit more involved:
    1. Using Preflight in Bulk: You can set up a Preflight check (like "Check if Digitally Signed") as part of a batch processing action. This will help you identify files that have digital signatures embedded, but, again, it may not be fully reliable for all cases as mentioned above.
    2. Creating a Custom Action:
      • You can use the Action Wizard in Acrobat Pro to create a custom action. For example, you can run the Preflight check in batch across multiple documents and get reports on which PDFs contain a digital signature.
      • The Action Wizard doesn't specifically look for signatures like you might expect but can automate various document checks, including compliance with PDF/A standards, and it could be set to flag or report files with certain signatures or metadata.

 

Shrink a PDF/A file:

  1. Remove PDF/A Compliance: Open the PDF in Acrobat, go to File > Save As Other > Optimized PDF or use Preflight to remove PDF/A compliance.
  2. Shrink the PDF: Use Optimization features (via File > Save As Other > Optimized PDF) to reduce the file size. You can reduce image resolution, compress text and graphics, and remove unnecessary elements.
  3. Reapply PDF/A Standard: After shrinking the file, you’ll need to convert the file back to PDF/A to ensure it’s compliant. This can be done through Preflight (using the "Convert to PDF/A" fix-up).

 

Hope this clarifies your question.


-Souvik

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