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We recently upgraded to Acrobat Pro X (from Acrobat Pro 7). For many years, we have been using the digital signature feature to "approve" documents. Frequently, we have the need to combine many (from several to hundreds) of these "approved" documents (with digital signatures) into one .pdf file. However, Acrobat X Pro will not let us combine these files into one file. When we try this, the first screen(first image below) indicates that the digital signatures will be removed during merge. However, when we proceed, we get an error message (2nd image below) for all of the files with digital signature.
So my question is: How can we combine many .pdf files with Digital signatures into one new file?
(We need for users with previous versions to be able to open this new file, and we need to place a watermark on the file).
Thanks in advance for any help!
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Combine the files as portfolio.
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This is a known issue in Acrobat X, with combination of PDF(s) with digital signatures as "Single PDF".
As a work around, you could combine the PDF(s) into a PDF Portfolio.
Regards,
Devyani.
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Do you have a work around for Acrobat X? We do not have pro, and cannot make this work!
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Please patch to Acrobat 10.1, the issue is fixed herein.
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I have diligently searched the acrobat website but I can't even find the place to download fixes, much less that one. If you could point me in the right direction I'd really appreciate it.
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You can instead go to Acrobat > HELP > opt CHECK FOR UPDATES.
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I downloaded all updates, but it still will not keep the digital signatures when I combine files.
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For PDFs w/ digital signatures, the signatures are removed before combining into a Single PDF.
Earlier, the combination was failing at this step, hence was skipping PDF(s) with signatures, which is the issue reported in the original post. This has been fixed in Acrobat 10.1.
What you're seeing is expected.
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So, Acrobat X does not have the Portfolio option available, only the Pro version, so, now what? This is a program problem, and it needs to be fixed by Adobe. My old version works great, and I bought 9 copies of this Acrobat X stuff, only to find it doesn't work correctly! Any other suggestions?
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I am with you Kevin! Adobe, are you listening? This question is not answered! We need a solution for Acrobat X!
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his is a U2U forum. I suggest that you use Feature Request/Bug Report Form and Adobe will be notified of the problem.
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1. Open the signed pdf in Adobe.
2. Open print dialogue (Ctrl+p)
3. Change the printer to "Microsoft Print to PDF" then print.
4. The newly created PDF will have the signatures and will behave as a normal pdf for combine/merge activities.
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EdZooks, thanks, but that is nonsense. The file will NOT have the signatures. Printing cannot preserve digital signatures, only pictures of signatures, which are useless and not legally valid
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"Test Screen Name's" comment deserves some consideration. My suggested approach converts the digitally signed document to a standard pdf. The result displays the signature information but the underlying digital signature is lost. In my case the original signers understand the distinction.
Creating a summary file is my goal. I combine a variety of digitally signed, along with other related, documentation into a single summary pdf. The original, digitally signed documents, are stored for future reference. I am increasingly convinced that it is not possible to combine digitally signed documents into a single, summary pdf, while maintaining the underlying digital signatures.
Users needing summary packets will benefit from my suggested approach. However as "Test Screen Name" suggests, my approach remains "legally valid" to the extent that the original digitally signed documents are available on demand.