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Screen goes black when adding signature

New Here ,
Mar 12, 2020 Mar 12, 2020

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I am using Adobe Reader DC and I would like to digitally sign a document. When I try to digitally sign it, the screen goes black, nothing happens and I have to press Esc to return to the document.

 

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This fix didn't work

Launch Reader > Edit > Preferences > Signatures .

Under Creation & Appearance > click More > uncheck use modern user interface for signing....

Relaunch Reader and check.

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Security digital signatures and esignatures

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correct answers 2 Correct answers

New Here , Oct 18, 2021 Oct 18, 2021

If anyone is still having issues with this. Turning off "Use modern Interface" did not work for me. What worked was going to Preferences - Adobe Online Services - Turn on "Sync Preferences across Devices and Document Services". Once I had this on I no longer got the black screen and was able to add my own signatures / initials.

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Community Beginner , Nov 22, 2021 Nov 22, 2021

I just ran into this issue on 2 computers. None of the edit preference settings fixed the issue. Tried repair in control panel for acrobat same issue.

 

Actual fix that worked was to uninstall, restart computer, and reinstall Adobe Acrobat DC through creative cloud.

 

Regards,

Arnel

 

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Adobe Employee ,
Mar 13, 2020 Mar 13, 2020

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Hi Jjorgensen,

 

we are sorry for the trouble. As described the screen goes black when you try to sign the PDF.

 

Please try the following steps and see if that helps:

 

 

 If it still doesn't Work, launch Reader>Edit>Preferences> Security Enhanced: "Turn off of the protected " and  "Uncheck: Enable protected mode at startup". This step is only for testing purpose. If this fixes your issue enable the feature again. You may visit this: Protected Mode troubleshooting | Adobe Reader

Also, you may try to disable your security software for temporarily for some time and check. 

 

If it still doesn't work, you may try to sign the documents online at document cloud (https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/home/)

 

Let us know how it goes.

 

Thanks 

Amal

Regards
Amal

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New Here ,
Mar 02, 2021 Mar 02, 2021

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This does not work for me either. Is there any remedy? How can Adobe charge for this product?

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Adobe Employee ,
Mar 03, 2021 Mar 03, 2021

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Hi Jan

 

Hope you are doing well and sorry for the trouble.

 

Have you tried the troubleshooting steps provided earlier?

 

Please try to sign out of the application > reboot the computer once and re-login to the application using the same Adobe ID and check if that helps.

 

Also make sure that you have the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat DC (21.01.20142) installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once and check.

 

Regards

Amal

Regards
Amal

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New Here ,
May 27, 2021 May 27, 2021

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I am having this problem too - latest MacOS, latest Adobe. But the pain of changing signatures is getting unbearable. You need to make this easier. I don't just sign on behalf of me, I have to sign on behalf of an aged parent and minor children and each signature change is fraught with issues. You should make this easier - really! 


I'm not sitting with the Black Screen and done everything you suggested and apart from an uninstall, reinstall (WHY SHOULD WE HAVE TO!!!) I am now stuck, again.


PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE fix this!

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Adobe Employee ,
May 27, 2021 May 27, 2021

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Hi there

 

We are sorry to hear that. Please try following troubleshooting steps:

 

Launch Acrobat/Reader > Edit (Win), Adobe Acrobat (Mac) > Preferences > Signatures  > Under Creation & Appearance > click More > uncheck use modern user interface for signing and relaunch the application and check.

 

Regards

Amal

Regards
Amal

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New Here ,
Jun 08, 2021 Jun 08, 2021

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Just FYI, I had the same problem. Trying to add a signature in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC leads to a black screen.

 

  1. Version shows as "no updates available" (21.005.20048).
  2. I "repaired" the installation ... no improvement.
  3. I added the Adobe folder as an antivirus (Windows Defender) exception ... no improvement.
  4. I restarted the app ... no improvement.
  5. I uninstalled and reinstalled and tried it all again ... no improvement.
  6. If I turn off "use modern interface" I no longer see the option to add a signature (using touch screen or image), so I can't sign it (documents need my signature, not just me typing a digitally signed name).
  7. I gave up, signed it without digital signing in free Adobe Reader (works fine), waited a while, retried with the same document in Pro DC as a prelude to writing a bug report here ... the modern interface had turned itself back on and it all worked fine, signed.

 

No idea how or why, but it's working now.

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Adobe Employee ,
Jun 08, 2021 Jun 08, 2021

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Hi there

 

We are happy to hear that it started working for you again.

 

Feel free to contact us for any assistance required in the future.

 

Regards

Amal

Regards
Amal

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New Here ,
Oct 18, 2021 Oct 18, 2021

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If anyone is still having issues with this. Turning off "Use modern Interface" did not work for me. What worked was going to Preferences - Adobe Online Services - Turn on "Sync Preferences across Devices and Document Services". Once I had this on I no longer got the black screen and was able to add my own signatures / initials.

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 23, 2021 Oct 23, 2021

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I’ve tried every suggestion here, as well as unchecking "Enable Enhanced Security" in Preferences > Security (Enhanced) as indicated here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/acrobat-dc-for-mac-puts-up-a-black-screen-over-my...

 

Nothing helps, and this Issue has been a problem for quite some time.

 

Please help.

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New Here ,
Oct 25, 2021 Oct 25, 2021

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I am having this issue as well and have tried all the suggested trouble-shooting steps with no success. Adobe - please advise on a functional solution. 

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Adobe Employee ,
Oct 26, 2021 Oct 26, 2021

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Hi there

 

Hope you are doing well and sorry to hear that. Would you mind sharing the version of the Adobe Acrobat/Reader DC you are using? To check the version go to Help > About Acrobat and make sure you have the recent version 21.07.20099 installed. Go to help > for updates and reboot the computer once.

 

Regards

Amal

Regards
Amal

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New Here ,
Oct 26, 2021 Oct 26, 2021

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I'm having this issue also. Rather painful to say the least. Is there a way I can use the signature from the adobe on my iPad to populate the signature window on my PC?

 

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Adobe Employee ,
Oct 27, 2021 Oct 27, 2021

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Hi there

 

Hope you are doing well and sorry to hear that.

Would you mind sharing the steps you are doing to sign the PDF file?

 

What is the version of the Adobe Acrobat DC you are using? To check the version go to help > About Acrobat and make sure you have the latest verion 21.07.20099 installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboo the computer once. 

 

Also try to reset the Acrobat preferences as described here - https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/how-to-reset-acrobat-preference-settings-to-defau... and check

 

You may also try to create a new test user profile with full admin rights in Windows or enable the root account in Mac and try using the application there.

 

Also try to sign the the PDF online via Document Cloud - https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/home/

 

Regards

Amal

Regards
Amal

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 27, 2021 Oct 27, 2021

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Hey Amal,

 

1. The version is 2021.007.20099

2. The Acrobat preferences that I have have been reset, and no fix

3. I’m using a root account already

4. Although the Document Cloud does work for signing, I need to be able to keep my documents out of the cloud. Please help figure this out.

 

Thanks, Jeff

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Adobe Employee ,
Oct 28, 2021 Oct 28, 2021

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Hi Jeff

 

Please go to Edit (Win), Adobe Acrobat (Mac) > Preferences > Signatures > Under Creation & Appearance > click More > uncheck use modern user interface for signing and relaunch the application and see if that works for you.

 

Regards

Amal

Regards
Amal

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New Here ,
Nov 02, 2021 Nov 02, 2021

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This problem is frustrating for me..tried above all options but no luck with signature.

Please improve options for the users that we can easily use the adobe reader, this is modern world, no one want to do all these settings.

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Adobe Employee ,
Nov 03, 2021 Nov 03, 2021

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Hi Praven

 

Would you mind sharing the version of the OS and the Acrobat Reader DC you are using? To check the version go to Help > About Acrobat and make sure you have the recent version 21.07.20099 installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer.

 

Also try to reset the Acrobat preferences as described here https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/how-to-reset-acrobat-preference-settings-to-defau...

 

You may also try to create a new test user profile with full admin rights or enable the root account in MAc and try using the application there and check.

 

Regards

Amal

 

 

Regards
Amal

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Community Beginner ,
Nov 03, 2021 Nov 03, 2021

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Amal, in my original message I said that I had tried everything suggested here so far. Unchecking use modern interface was mentioned by the OP. For your edification, here is a complete list of everything I have done:

 

I’m still getting a black screen with a white dot in the center when I try to sign a document. I’m running macOS Big Sur 11.6, but this has been a persistent issue for a while. Please acknowledge that there is a legitimate software issue that needs to be addressed by your development team.

 

Thank you,

Jeff

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New Here ,
Nov 06, 2021 Nov 06, 2021

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Hi, 

 

I have exactly the same problem. I've tried all the solutions mentionned by Amal but it doesn't work.

 

Regards, 

Nassim

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Adobe Employee ,
Nov 08, 2021 Nov 08, 2021

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Hi Nassim,

 

Hope you are doing well and sorry to hear that. Would you mind sharing the version of the OS you are using.

 

Also collect the logs of the affected machine as described here https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-log-collector.html and procmon logs (Win Only) here https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/acromonitor.html

and share the logs via document cloud as described here https://helpx.adobe.com/document-cloud/help/sharing-pdfs.html

 

Regards

Amal

Regards
Amal

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New Here ,
Nov 10, 2021 Nov 10, 2021

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Found the solution: Open the PDF in Photoshop sign it there and save it as a PDF. Or even better print it, sign and mail.
Ok this was a joke, and so is Acrobat! Seriously how many bugs this thing has? It should be still in beta phase at least then we would know these things can happen.

And honestly Adobe, don't start your solutions by saying you must update to the latest version, and of course then must update the cloud app as well. Guess what, when the OS was not updated and everything elso runs in exactly same way as it did a week ago, when I could still sign documents in Acrobat then I'm expecting it to work this week too without updating!
By the way I've been using Adobe since Photoshop 2.5 so I am well aware of how stable things were before things went to the cloud.

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Adobe Employee ,
Nov 12, 2021 Nov 12, 2021

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Hi there

 

We are sorry to hear that. Would yo umind sharing the requird logs as asked earlier so that we can isolate the issue for the fix.

 

Regards

Amal

Regards
Amal

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New Here ,
Nov 16, 2021 Nov 16, 2021

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Same problem here

I tried all the proposed solutions to no avail.

 

Finally I tried to remove my antivirus and everything started to work again !

 

In my case, it was my antivirus (F-SECURE) which was blocking something in the background.

 

Hope this helps

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New Here ,
Nov 16, 2021 Nov 16, 2021

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I am having the same problem with Adobe Reader 2021.007.20099. When adding a signature the screen will go black and I unable to do anything else and must force the application to close.  None of the solutions here have worked.  If I uninstall and reinstall it will work for a short period then the problem will come back again. Please help find a permanent solution.

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