Warning When Signing PDF Form Document

[Playful_uniqueness2723]

I have created a form in Adobe Acrobat Pro with a digital signature. It has several fields, including text boxes, drop-downs, and radio buttons, but no JavaScript. The last field is a Digital signature. When the user signs the form, it locks the form and saves it to a new file. The problem is that the user receives the following warning when they are signing the document.

“This document contains constructs which could affect its appearance. Review it before proceeding.”

I’m looking for a method to prevent/remove the warning.

[MikelKlink]

Please share the document for analysis. 

[Playful_uniqueness2723]

I am attaching test.pdf, a document that shows the warning, and test_warning.png, a screenshot of the warning.

[nitish_6906]

Hi @Playful_uniqueness2723 
The “Review” step before signing is intended to give users a quick look at certain dynamic elements in a document . This step has long been part of certifying signatures and was recently extended to approval signatures as well. We added it to help users stay informed about these elements before signing.

You can turn off this warning message using below steps:
Preferences(Ctrl+K) -> Signatures -> Creation & Appearance -> More
and then changing the value of Enable Review of Document Warnings to "When certifying a document" or "Never" as per your requirements.

[MikelKlink]

The “Review” step before signing is intended to give users a quick look at certain dynamic elements in a document . This step has long been part of certifying signatures and was recently extended to approval signatures as well. We added it to help users stay informed about these elements before signing.

Hi Nitish,

It surely is good to offer users the option to check for unexpected dynamics in a document they sign.

But the message you show - "This document contains constructs which could affect its appearance." - is misleading as it seems to imply that there is something special about this document that makes reviewing necessary while apparently you currently display that message for any document.

Doing it like this, i.e. trying to scare people into pressing the review button, IMO will eventually achieve the opposite: Yes, at the start more people may be scared into pressing the button, but when they only see the "This document does not contain any content that may affect its visual integrity" popup again and again thereafter, you'll eventually teach them that the scary message can be ignored and so can the Review button.

If you'd formulate it less scary and more rational - e.g. "PDF documents may contain constructs which could affect its appearance." - you probably will get fewer users who press review at the start. But as they do so based on a more rational decision, they IMO are more likely to keep reviewing even if only seeing that all-is-well popup again and again.

[MikelKlink]

Thanks for supplying the example.

Indeed, in your example file there is hardly any content at all. I tried to cut it down even further (removing page contents, annotations, outlines, ...) but I still got the warning you mention.

Thus, I wanted to go the other way around and compare your file to an arbitrary file that doesn't show that warning. So I checked a number of PDFs I have here on my PC but to my surprise each of them shows that warning, too!

To me this looks like Acrobat now always shows that warning to make people review. Or do you by chance have a PDF for which that warning does not pop up? If you have, please share the file so we can check what causes that warning to appear.

[Playful_uniqueness2723]

Thank you both, Nitish and Mikel, for your thoughts and advice!

I created an even simpler file that contains only a Digital Signature in the upper left corner. When I look at it in preview mode, I get a message that says, "You are in signature preview mode. The document contains no dynamic content or external dependencies. Please review the document before you sign." That seems reasonable. However, when I attempt to open the document on a laptop with only Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, I still get the same warning.

I'm a newbie to Adobe Pro, but I've been around IT a few years... I'm concerned some potential customers will ask me why they get that warning when I try to sell them my services.

It seems we should at least be able to create a base, simple document that does not warn customers about constructs affecting its appearance when they sign it. Who wants to sign a contract or order form only to find out it was updated after they signed it?

[nitish_6906]

Thanks for making the setting adjustment @Playful_uniqueness2723 .

Are you still seeing those warnings after adjusting the settings in your Preferences?

We've confirmed that setting the appropriate dropdown (for instance, "Enable Review of Document Warnings" to Never) successfully suppresses them for your test document on our end. We designed the feature this way to give users the freedom to choose the level of warnings they wish to see.

If you haven't already, please fully close and restart Acrobat (or your computer) and please share the document in case you still see the warning after adjusting your preferences.

[nitish_6906]

Thanks @Playful_uniqueness2723 

We appreciate your response on this. Your feedback has been noted and taken up for discussion at our end(ADC-4534781).