Why does Acrobat DC only support Electronic Signatures (and not digital signatures like Adobe Sign) yet calls it a "digital signature" in the document?

[greggm54772883]

Adobe produces an entire white paper on the differences yet Acrobat DC, which only seems to support Electronic Signatures, refers to it as a Digital Signature

[George_Johnson]

Adobe Sign generally does not use digital signatures, though once a document has been e-signed by all the signers it is digitally signed by Adobe.

I can easily digitally sign documents with Acrobat DC, assuming there are no security restrictions in place that would prevent it. Where do you see electronic signatures being referred to as digital signatures? If you're unable to digitally sign with Acrobat, exactly how are you attempting to?

[greggm54772883]

From the Adobe white paper...Electronic signatures refer to any electronic process that indicates acceptance of an agreement or a record. Digital signatures use a specific method to sign documents electronically. Since Adobe Sign's premium offering is the highest level of security and legal compliance, I assumed Acrobat DC was not using Digital Signatures. Am I wrong?

[George_Johnson]

The digital signature option (certificate-based) that's available with the Enterprise (premium) service is not available with the Individual plan that's included with Acrobat DC.

Digital signatures were introduced with Acrobat 4 and have been available with Acrobat and most versions of Reader since then. Both digital signatures and electronic signatures can be used to achieve legal compliance, or not, depending on the specific requirements.

[JainAjay]

Hi Gregg,

Acrobat DC do have the option of using Digital Signatures/Certificates to sign documents. You can access the same through

1. Launch Acrobat DC -> Select "Tools" option (next to "Home" ) -> Look for Certificates" tool.

OR

1. Launch Acrobat DC -> Search for "Digital" in the Tool search box in Right Hand Panel. Select 1st tool in search result "Digital Signature"

Regards

Aj