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chrisb_MBCG
Inspiring
September 19, 2019
Answered

Can Adobe SIgn be set to IGNORE existing fields in an Acrobat document?

  • September 19, 2019
  • 2 replies
  • 6720 views

I have a complex form that's been completed by multiple parties in a team and now needs to be sent for approval by others via an Adobe Sign workflow.  Trouble is, Adobe Sign re-examines all the fields and takes the Signer through every fillable field before they get to the Signature page. 

 

Adobe Sign is also flagging format issues with some fields - dates, for example, because it's expecting all dates in US format MMM dd, YY when our fields are set to the Australian standard of dd-MMM-yy.  There's also a mismatch between the way Acrobat formats for fields containing percentages works compared to Adobe Sign.  All of which could be overcome if I could find a way to get existing fields ignored.

 

Is there some way to tell Adobe Sign to ignore existing document fields?  That would save a whole lot of heartache.

      Correct answer chrisb_MBCG

      It turns out there are two ways to achieve what I was trying to do, but neither of them are particularly elegant.
      The first, and probably quickest, solution is to save the form with fillable fields using SAVE AS OTHER from the File Menu, then choosing OPTIMIZED, which flattens form fields.

      The second way is to edit the form fields in PREPARE FORM mode, click Read Only and Click Locked.  But that would be terribly tedious in a multiple-page form with lots of fillable form fields.  That option would allow the document owner to unlock those fields, however, if the document subsequently required re-editing.

      2 replies

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      paravia
      Participant
      April 24, 2025

      This only just started happening to me today 4/24/2025 (wasn't a problem last week).  I did find a work around in case anyone is still having this issue, or wants an alternative.  You take the pdf that is causing problems, open it in Chrome/Opera tab.  Print the opened pdf in the browser with the print choice of 'Save as PDF' (that is what it shows in Opera).  This removes all the links/problems/signatures/etc that exist on that copy of the pdf.  You can then use this newly 'printed' copy to send out for new signatures.

        Z
        zac_8794
        Participant
        April 24, 2025

        I logged in specifically to tell you thank you for this. I tried the other ways on here with frustrating failure, and your method saved me from extended headache.  Thank you so much!

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        chrisb_MBCGAuthor
        Inspiring
        September 23, 2019

        Just want to bump this to see if anyone has had any new ideas about this question?  Have spoken to a number of Adobe Support personnel via the phone and online support, they have had some connectivity issues leading to line drop and over several calls have been unable to resolve the matter.  Competing product HelloSign makes ignoring existing fields very easy.  I feel there must be a solution, but I'm struggling to find one.

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        chrisb_MBCGAuthorCorrect answer
        Inspiring
        September 26, 2019

        It turns out there are two ways to achieve what I was trying to do, but neither of them are particularly elegant.
        The first, and probably quickest, solution is to save the form with fillable fields using SAVE AS OTHER from the File Menu, then choosing OPTIMIZED, which flattens form fields.

        The second way is to edit the form fields in PREPARE FORM mode, click Read Only and Click Locked.  But that would be terribly tedious in a multiple-page form with lots of fillable form fields.  That option would allow the document owner to unlock those fields, however, if the document subsequently required re-editing.

          K
          Ken Akiyama
          Participant
          August 18, 2021

          Thank you! One more tip: Within the PDF Optimizer popup, we need to choose Discard Objects > Flatten Form Fields. We could also create and save a preset for future use.

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