Screen goes black when adding signature

[jjorgensen]

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.

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.

[billzerr · Accepted solution]

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.

[danielr33856272]

Hey there tried all the solutions below and was not successful

I am using Adobe Reader DC and I would like to digitally sign a document. but a small white window pops up and does not do anything after that, changed all the setting to the suggested below also uninstalled and installed the product any suggestions, Acrobat DC is also on the newest iteration 

[Amal.]

Hi there

We are sorry to hear that. Would you mind sharing the logs of the affected machine as described here https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-log-collector.html and the 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

[Arnel2188450476vg · Accepted solution]

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

[GaspardPetit]

Tbe year is 2023, running a MacBook Air (2018) on macOS Ventura 13.2.1 and ran into this issue. I had also encountered the issue where the "Save" dialog was blank which I resolved by disabling "Show online storage when saving files" from Preferences > General

For the signature dialog, I tried:

• Turning off Use modern interface for signing and Digital ID configuration from Preferences > Signatures > Creation & Appearance > More > 

• Turning off Sync Preferences across Devices and Document Services from  Preferences > Adobe Online Services

Neither worked.

Followed Arnel's solution:

• Uninstall; Restart; and Reinstall Adobe Acrobat DC

This worked. After reinstalling, I was able to turn all the feature on ("Show online storage when saving files", "Use modern interface for signing and Digital ID configuration" and "Sync Preferences across Devices and Document Services") and I am no longer seeing blank dialogs.

What I believe might have caused this issue, is that I changed subscription account on Creative Cloud. I suspect some online features are not properly updated unless the apps are fully uninstalled and reinstalled.

[SIA FOR TECH]

For those who get Black Screen on their Adobe Acrobat Reader check this video blow to solve the issue in 1 mint

https://youtu.be/MCShMwo55C8

[rajeshsundaramk]

I faced the same issue but found an interesting thing which I overlooked.

The cause of the problem is - either the PDF file has  READ ONLY attribute or it is downloaded into a Protected folder in Windows (such as TEMP). I guess the folks at the acrobat dev team coded the security in such a way that, any PDF files opened from TEMP folders cannot be changed/modified. Thus adding signature fails. +1 to Adobe security folks. 0 to Adobe QA folks.

When I moved my PDF to a normal folder (like DESKTOP or DOCUMENTS or any user created folder) and tried to add signature, it worked flawlessly.

[Justin30451493e6uj]

This one worked for me!!

[Jacqueline22290838tuan]

This has started happening to me, and has essentially rendered the program unusable.  I am having to print the documents required for signing, which is extremely time consuming, a waste of paper, not to mention a waste of money on this program.

I have tried the fixes outlined here, and unformately don't have Photoshop installed at work.

An effective fix would be extremely helpful, folks.

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi Jacqueline,

Thank you for reaching out and sorry about the trouble.

As the screens turn black when trying to add a digital signature on the PDF, please try the troubleshooting steps suggested below:

1. Launch the application and go to Edit menu > Preferences > Signatures.

2. Under Creation & Appearance, click on the More button.

3. Uncheck the box for "Use modern interface for signing and Digital ID configuration".

3. Relaunch the application and check.

If the above steps do not help, try once uninstalling the application and rebooting the machine.

Then reinstall the application from this page: https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/acrobat-downloads.html.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

[Bettina Monique]

This does not work.  Also where are my previous signatures? Why don't they update to the new version  when I update?

[Emil5C82]

I don't think they will ever fix this. They don't even admit there is a problem with the product and just give us useless workarounds.
I recommend using the adobe online e-signing feature instead. It works without any issues. Link:

Adobe Acrobat Home

[genevièvec1973]

Thank you Emil5C82 - never had so many issues with Acrobat, it's just endless. Install uninstall, black screens while trying to do the most BASIC things like saving docs. Thank you for your tip - using the online e-signing feature is the only thing that worked 🙂

[Luis35624781wioq]

acceda a edicion-preferencias-seguridad (mejorada) y desactive modo protegido al iniciar.  Reinciar Adobe acrobat.   !solucionado!

[Kaleb22610964syfl]

Anyone who encounters similar behaviour in a virtualized environment may find this useful.

I encountered this issue with blank screens for Signature and other features after updating from Reader 2018.x to DC 2022.x in my organization's Virtualized Citrix Desktop (VAD) environment. The Fix I had to employ was to add the three Adobe processes to the UviProcessExcludes list for all VAD hosts at HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\CtxUvi\UviProcessExcludes for DC Version 2022 the additions to the list should be  'otherprocesses.exe.....;Acrobat.exe;AcroCEF.exe;RdrCEF.exe'. Further Details can be found on the post I made at the bottom of page three here https://discussions.citrix.com/topic/403607-after-upgrading-715-ltsr-cu1-to-1906-opening-adobe-reade...

Please mark this as an accepted answer if this works for you!

[Fiona239747985t3q]

Same issue here and none of the solutions work. I mean its Nov 2022, and the problem has not been fixed yet. 

[SIA FOR TECH]

Try this for sure yiu will get the Solution

https://youtu.be/MCShMwo55C8

[Adrian240630391h4o]

Make that December 2022 -- seeing this issue on multiple systems

• MacBook Air M1, MacBook Pro M1
• MacOS Ventura (13.1), MacOS Monterey(12.6)
• Acrobat Reader 2022.003.20281

Can someone provide a helpful answer, rather than a "try this"?  

Has Adobe been able to replicate or even acknowledge this is a problem?  When can we expect an updated build where this has been fixed?  (Acrobat is currently the best reason to buy DocuSign!)

Best regards

[Amal.]

Hi @Adrian240630391h4o 

We are sorry about the trouble.

As the screens turn black when trying to add a digital signature on the PDF, please follow the steps as below:

1. Launch the application and go to Edit menu > Preferences > Signatures.

2. Under Creation & Appearance, click on the More button.

3. Uncheck the box for "Use modern interface for signing and Digital ID configuration".

3. Relaunch the application and check.

If the above steps do not help, try once uninstalling the application and rebooting the machine.

Then reinstall the application from this page: https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/acrobat-downloads.html.

Let us know how it goes.

Regards

Amal

[Adrian240630391h4o]

Thanks, Amal --

No dice on steps 1 through 4 --  I get the same dark screen.

I've attempted to install from the link provided, and it appears there's no option to install the free Acrobat Reader -- only paid Acrobat Standard or Pro.  Can you advise?

Many thanks!

[Adrian240630391h4o]

....and no luck installing through Creative Cloud either.  I assigned myself an Acrobat Pro license from our company account, then installed thorugh Creative Cloud.  Exact same dark screen on trying to add a signature.

What else can we do?

Thanks!

[jjorgensen]

I don't know if this will work but try to go under Edit < Preferences < General and uncheck

Show online storage (both items that start with that)

Click OK and see
That worked for my one user and not the other.  

[SIA FOR TECH]

I guess yiu didnt try this as thus way workrd for all

Solved: Adobe Acrobat Black Screen fix
https://youtu.be/MCShMwo55C8

[Fiona239747985t3q]

Me again. It's April 2023, and I still can't add a signature in Acrobat.  I hate Acrobat so much. Adobe charges a lot but only focuses on changing the interface. If the function doesn't work, who cares how fancy it looks???? Acrobat is soooooo buggy. It complains about the incompatibility with my system setting when I launch it, and blacks out when I try to add a signature. I literally hate it. Solutions like rebooting, changing preferences, and checking anti-virus software are workaround, and none of the workaround works. I hope when engineers at Adobe really fix the bugs I am still alive. 

[SIA FOR TECH]

Try this will worl 100%
Solved: Adobe Acrobat Black Screen fix
https://youtu.be/MCShMwo55C8

[Fiona239747985t3q]

Me again. It's April 2023, and I still can't add a signature in Acrobat.  I hate Acrobat so much. Adobe charges a lot but only focuses on changing the interface. If the function doesn't work, who cares how fancy it looks???? Acrobat is soooooo buggy. It complains about the incompatibility with my system setting when I launch it, and blacks out when I try to add a signature. I literally hate it. Solutions like rebooting, changing preferences, and checking anti-virus software are workaround, and none of the workaround works. I hope when engineers at Adobe really fix the bugs I am still alive.