Certify a pdf, Clear or remove a digital signature – Adobe Acrobat 9 PRO Extended User Manual
Page 273
267
USING ACROBAT 9 PRO EXTENDED
Digital signatures
Last updated 9/30/2011
Certify a PDF
When you certify a PDF, you indicate that you approve of its contents. You also specify the types of changes that are
permitted for the document to remain certified. For example, suppose that a government agency creates a form with
signature fields. When the form is complete, the agency certifies the document, allowing users to change only form
fields and sign the document. Users can fill in the form and sign the document, but if they remove pages or add
comments, the document doesn’t retain its certified status.
You can apply a certifying signature only if the PDF doesn’t already contain any other signatures. Certifying signatures
can be visible or invisible. A blue ribbon icon
in the Signatures panel indicates a valid certifying signature. A digital
ID is required to add the certifying digital signature.
1 Click the Sign button
in the Tasks toolbar and choose one of the following options:
•
Certify With Visible Signature.
•
Certify Without Visible Signature. If you choose this option, your signature appears only in the Signatures panel.
2 Click OK in the Save As Certified Document dialog box.
If you are certifying with Visible signatures, you can place the signature in an existing signature field or create a field
for the signature. Follow the directions in the prompts to choose a location.
3 If you’re adding a visible signature, draw the signature field on the page.
Note: If you enabled View Documents In Preview Document Mode When Signing in the Security Preferences, click Sign
Document in the document message bar.
4 Follow the on-screen instructions to select a digital ID, if prompted.
Specify a default ID to avoid being prompted each time you sign a PDF.
5 In the Certify Document dialog box, specify the permitted changes, type your password or PIN for your digital ID,
and then click Sign.
Note: Some digital IDs are configured to ask for a password or other user authentication after you click the Sign button.
6 Save the PDF using a different filename than the original file, and then close the document without making
additional changes. It is a good idea to save it as a different file so that you can keep the original unsigned document.
More Help topics
Specify the default digital ID
Clear or remove a digital signature
❖
Do one of the following:
•
To remove a signature, right-click the signature field and choose Clear Signature.
•
To remove all signatures in a PDF, choose Clear All Signature Fields from the Options menu in the Signatures
panel.
You cannot remove a signature unless you are the one who placed it and you have the digital ID for signing it installed.
To delete the signature field in Acrobat, choose Tools > Advanced Editing > Select Object Tool, select the signature
field, and press the Delete key.