Getting initials from multiple personnel over time

[seane17354685]

At work we have checklists that various steps get checked off and initialed by the person performing the work of each task, which may be done by an outside vendor or contractor at different times.  When all the tasks are done a supervising employee will print their name and sign the bottom.  The company wants to be able to fill these out and have the person performing a task to be able to initial on a computer or tablet that our employee will have. I can put in check boxes for the OK and the NA part and text fields for the any of the places to record info.  The issue I am having is figuring out how to implement the initials and signing.  I have made a few attempts and haven't found a good solution.  In general I have tried digital signatures and I have tried Fill and Sign and they both seem to be geared towards only one person using the computer to sign anything or to send the form to other people by email so they can open on their machine or device and use their saved signatures.  These solutions also seem to be more for the final signing of the entire document.  What the company would like is to be able to easily add initials at every task as we go, possibly saving and opening the document at a later time to record something in another task and initial, with finally printing the name and date when signing at the bottom.  Ideally, I would like to be able to tap or click a box and then the person signs their initials using the mouse or touchscreen, bonus points if you can sign once for multiple boxes.  Also, want to make sure the method used is as acceptable as handwritten initials, liability-wise.  The idea is to hopefully save time as there can sometimes be lots of forms and I dont want spend more time trying to initial the forms than it takes to do the work.  If anyone has some suggestions of how to accomplish this.

Below are some of my questions or issues with using Fill and sign or digital signature in more detail

Using Fill and Sign:

- You have to save a signature and initials and then drag and drop for each spot.  Would prefer a box to tap then just write initials

- Biggest issue, once the first person signs their initials and saves, the document can no longer be edited to record info or initial further steps.

Using Digital Signatures:

- Have to setup certificates, which is supposed to validate the persons identity somehow that I do not fully understand.  I can setup an "identitiy" for someone and then continue to use that, but having gone through the process I am not sure how it verifies the person  Mostly, I am trying to understand liability here should it come into question.

- Have to use a password each time, making it much more tedious and slower when signing off alot of tasks vs just doing it on paper.

- Changes made in other sections after initialing invalidates signature.

- I do like that once signed the corresponding check boxes and text boxes could be locked to read-only.

Any thoughts, suggestions or ideas?

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi Seane,

Sorry for the delay in response.

As looking to your workflow, you may try once to use the Adobe Sign in order to send a document to be filled and signed by the receivers.

Using Adobe Sign, you can assign the form fields to the individual as required. Also, you can get multiple signatures on a document and signatures can be added by just clicking on the signature field to adding initials.

If you are using Adobe Acrobat DC, the Adobe Sign individual service is available with that.

Please refer to the following help link to get more information on Adobe Sign workflow:

- Adobe Sign Learn & Support

If you are using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC latest version, you can use the Adobe Sign free service using the Fill & Sign tool.

- Open the PDF form and select the Fill & Sign tool.

- Then select "Others"

You may also register for the Adobe Sign free trial from here Free electronic signature, sign up today | Adobe Sign

Check if that helps.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Regards,

Meenakshi

[seane17354685]

I do not wish to send the pdf to anyone.  I wish to hold on to the pdf myself and have someone initial the form as work is done, then perform more work which may require editing the pdf to add information or comments, and then initial again as information is filled out or work performed.  I would also like this to be a fluid simple process.  My understanding is that Adobe Sign locks the pdf after the first signature therefore it is not capable of doing this. It seems any built-in method of signing does not allow for a workflow over time type setup, unless I have missed something.

I have found I can write a script to set the read-only property of empty fields back to false, allowing me to check boxes and initial again once the work is performed later, however so far I have not found a simple way for someone to run the script once the file has been signed and saved, as the signature also locks buttons or anything that would run a script.  Anyone know of a way to run a script in a simple way after it has been signed and saved, like push a button?

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi Seane,

Sorry for the delay in response.

As I understand, you need to keep the document with yourself and update it on time to time basis.

In that case, I would suggest you to use the Adobe Fill & Sign feature. In the Fill & Sign tool, adding initials or signature will only block the form fields that are already filled. You can save the document after adding initials and later on can use the form again to update further details. However, you will not be able to make any changes to the already filled information.

If you still need help with the script, I would suggest you to post your query over here JavaScript

Hope the information helps.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Regards,

Meenakshi