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Configure how you will allow recipients to sign and initial agreements

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Adobe Acrobat Sign Guide

What's New

  1. Pre-Release Notes
  2. Release Notes
  3. Important Notifications

Get Started

  1. Quick start guide for administrators
  2. Quick start guide for users
  3. For Developers
  4. Video tutorial library
  5. FAQ

Administer

  1. Admin Console Overview
  2. User Management
    1. Add, edit, and review active users
      1. Review your active users from the Users tab
      2. Add a User
      3. Add Users in Bulk
      4. Add Users from your Directory
      5. Add Users from MS Azure Active Directory
    2. Create function-focused users
      1. Technical accounts - API driven
      2. Service accounts - Manually driven
    3. Review users who haven't completed verification
    4. Check for users with provisioning errors
    5. Change Name/Email Address
    6. Edit a user's group membership
    7. Edit a user's group membership through the group interface
    8. Promote a user to an admin role
    9. User Identity Types and SSO
    10. Switch User Identity
    11. Authenticate Users with MS Azure
    12. Authenticate Users with Google Federation
    13. Product Profiles
    14. Login Experience 
  3. Account/Group Settings
    1. Settings Overview
    2. Global Settings
      1. Account tier and ID
      2. New Recipient Experience
      3. Self Signing Workflows
      4. Send in Bulk
      5. Web Forms
      6. Custom Send Workflows
      7. Power Automate Workflows
      8. Library Documents
      9. Collect form data with agreements
      10. Limited Document Visibility
      11. Attach a PDF copy of the signed agreement 
      12. Include a link in the email
      13. Include an image in the email
      14. Files attached to email will be named as
      15. Attach audit reports to documents
      16. Merge multiple documents into one
      17. Download individual documents
      18. Upload a signed document
      19. Delegation for users in my account
      20. Allow external recipients to delegate
      21. Authority to sign
      22. Authority to send
      23. Power to add Electronic Seals
      24. Set a default time zone
      25. Set a default date format
      26. Users in Multiple Groups (UMG)
        1. Upgrade to use UMG
      27. Group Administrator Permissions
      28. Replace recipient
      29. Audit Report
        1. Overview
        2. Allow unauthenticated access on the transaction verification page
        3. Include reminders
        4. Include view events
        5. Include agreement page/attachment count
      30. Transaction Footer
      31. In Product Messaging and Guidance
      32. Accessible PDFs
      33. New authoring experience
      34. Healthcare customer
    3. Account Setup
      1. Add logo
      2. Customize company Hostname/URL    
      3. Add company name
      4. Post agreement URL redirect
    4. Signature Preferences
      1. Well formatted signatures
      2. Allow recipients to sign by
      3. Signers can change their name
      4. Allow recipients to use their saved signature
      5. Custom Terms of Use and Consumer Disclosure
      6. Navigate recipients through form fields
      7. Restart agreement workflow
      8. Decline to sign
      9. Allow Stamps workflows
      10. Require signers to provide their Title or Company
      11. Allow signers to print and place a written signature
      12. Show messages when e-signing
      13. Require signers to use a mobile device to create their signature
      14. Request IP address from signers
      15. Exclude company name and title from participation stamps
      16. Apply Adaptive Signature Draw scaling
    5. Digital Signatures
      1. Overview
      2. Download and sign with Acrobat
      3. Sign with Cloud Signatures
      4. Include metadata for Identity Providers
      5. Restricted Cloud Signatures Providers
    6. Electronic Seals
    7. Digital Identity
      1. Digital Identity Gateway
      2. Identity Check policy
    8. Report Settings
      1. New report experience
      2. Classic report settings
    9. Security Settings
      1. Single Sign-on settings
      2. Remember-me settings
      3. Login password policy
      4. Login password strength
      5. Web session duration
      6. PDF encryption type
      7. API
      8. User and group info access
      9. Allowed IP Ranges
      10. Account Sharing
      11. Account sharing permissions
      12. Agreement sharing controls
      13. Signer identity verification
      14. Agreement signing password
      15. Document password strength
      16. Block signers by Geolocation
      17. Phone Authentication
      18. Knowledge-Based Authentication (KBA)
      19. Allow page extraction
      20. Document link expiration
      21. Upload a client certificate for webhooks/callbacks
      22. Timestamp
    10. Send Settings
      1. Show Send page after login
      2. Require recipient name when sending
      3. Lock name values for known users
      4. Allowed recipient roles
      5. Allow e-Witnesses
      6. Recipient groups
      7. CCs
      8. Recipient Agreement Access
      9. Required fields
      10. Attaching documents
      11. Field flattening
      12. Modify Agreements
      13. Agreement name
      14. Languages
      15. Private messages
      16. Allowed signature types
      17. Reminders
      18. Signed document password protection
      19. Send Agreement Notification through
      20. Signer identification options
        1. Overview
        2. Signing password
        3. Knowledge-based authentication
        4. Phone authentication
        5. WhatsApp authentication
        6. One-Time Password via Email
        7. Acrobat Sign authentication
        8. Cloud-based digital signature
        9. Government ID
        10. Signer Identity reports
      21. Content Protection
      22. Enable Notarize transactions
      23. Document Expiration
      24. Preview, position signatures, and add fields
      25. Signing order
      26. Liquid mode
      27. Custom workflow controls
      28. Upload options for the e-sign page
      29. Post-sign confirmation URL redirect
    11. Message Templates
    12. Bio-Pharma Settings
      1. Overview
      2. Enforce identity authentication
      3. Signing reasons
    13. Workflow Integration
    14. Notarization Settings
    15. Payments Integration
    16. Signer Messaging
    17. SAML Settings
      1. SAML Configuration
      2. Install Microsoft Active Directory Federation Service
      3. Install Okta
      4. Install OneLogin
      5. Install Oracle Identity Federation
    18. Data Governance
    19. Time Stamp Settings
    20. External Archive
    21. Account Languages
    22. Email Settings
      1. Email header/footer images
      2. Permit individual user email footers
      3. Customize the Signature Requested email
      4. Customize the To and CC fields
      5. Enable Linkless Notifications
      6. Customize email templates
    23. Migrating from echosign.com to adobesign.com
    24. Configure Options for Recipients
  4. Guidance for regulatory requirements
    1. Accessibility
      1. Accessibility Compliance
      2. Create accessible forms with Acrobat desktop
      3. Create accessible AcroForms
    2. HIPAA
    3. GDPR
      1. GDPR Overview
      2. Redact a user
      3. Redact a user's agreements    
    4. 21 CFR part 11 and EudraLex Annex 11
      1. 21 CRF part 11 validation pack
      2. 21 CFR and EudraLex Annex 11 handbook
      3. Analysis of shared responsibilities
    5. Healthcare customers
    6. IVES support
    7. "Vaulting" agreements
    8. EU/UK considerations
      1. EU/UK Cross-border transactions and eIDAS
      2. HMLR requirements for deeds signed electronically
      3. The impact of Brexit on e-signature laws in the UK
  5. Download Agreements in Bulk
  6. Claim your domain 
  7. Report Abuse links
  8. System Requirements and Limitations
    1. System requirements
    2. Transaction limits

Send, Sign, and Manage Agreements

  1. Recipient Options
    1. Cancel an email reminder
    2. Options on the e-signing page
      1. Overview of the e-sign page
      2. Open to read the agreement without fields
      3. Decline to sign an agreement
      4. Delegate signing authority
      5. Restart the agreement
      6. Download a PDF of the agreement
      7. View the agreement history
      8. View the agreement messages
      9. Convert from an electronic to a written signature
      10. Convert from a written to an electronic signature 
      11. Navigate the form fields
      12. Clear the data from the form fields
      13. E-sign page magnification and navigation
      14. Change the language used in the agreement tools and information
      15. Review the Legal Notices
      16. Adjust Acrobat Sign Cookie Preferences
  2. Send Agreements  
    1. Send (Compose) page
      1. Overview of landmarks and features
      2. Group selector
      3. Adding files and templates
      4. Agreement name
      5. Global Message
      6. Completion Deadline
      7. Reminders
      8. Password protect the PDF
      9. Signature type
      10. Locale for the recipient
      11. Recipient signature order/flow
      12. Recipient roles
      13. Recipient authentication
      14. Private message for the recipient
      15. Recipient agreement access
      16. CC'd parties
      17. Identity check
    2. Send an agreement only to yourself
    3. Send an agreement to others
    4. Written Signatures
    5. Recipient signing order
    6. Send in Bulk
      1. Overview of the Send in Bulk feature
      2. Send in Bulk - Configure a parent template
      3. Send in Bulk - Configure the CSV file
      4. Cancel a Send in Bulk transaction
      5. Add reminders to Send in Bulk
      6. Reporting for Send in Bulk
  3. Authoring fields into documents
    1. In-app authoring environment
      1. Automatic field detection
      2. Drag and drop fields using the authoring environment
      3. Assign form fields to recipients
      4. The Prefill role
      5. Apply fields with a reusable field template
      6. Transfer fields to a new library template
      7. Updated authoring environment when sending agreements
    2. Create forms with text tags
    3. Create forms using Acrobat (AcroForms)
      1. AcroForm creation
      2. Creating accessible PDFs
    4. Fields
      1. Field types
        1. Common field types
        2. E-signature fields
        3. Initials field
        4. Recipient name field
        5. Recipient email field
        6. Date of signing field
        7. Text field
        8. Date field
        9. Number field
        10. Checkbox
        11. Radio button
        12. Drop-down menu
        13. Link overlay
        14. Payment field
        15. Attachments
        16. Participation stamp
        17. Transaction number
        18. Image
        19. Company
        20. Title
        21. Stamp
      2. Field content appearance
      3. Field validations
      4. Masked fields values
      5. Setting show/hide conditions
      6. Calculated fields 
    5. Authoring FAQ
  4. Sign Agreements
    1. Sign agreements sent to you
    2. Fill & Sign
    3. Self-signing
  5. Manage Agreements
    1. Manage page overview
    2. Delegate agreements
    3. Replace Recipients
    4. Limit Document Visibility 
    5. Cancel an Agreement 
    6. Create new reminders
    7. Review reminders
    8. Cancel a reminder
    9. Access Power Automate flows
    10. More Actions...
      1. How search works
      2. View an agreement
      3. Create a template from an agreement
      4. Hide/Unhide agreements from view
      5. Upload a signed agreement
      6. Modify a sent agreement's files and fields
      7. Edit a recipient's authentication method
      8. Add or modify an expiration date
      9. Add a Note to the agreement
      10. Share an individual agreement
      11. Unshare an agreement
      12. Download an individual agreement
      13. Download the individual files of an agreement
      14. Download the Audit Report of an agreement
      15. Download the field content of an agreement
  6. Audit Report
  7. Reporting and Data exports
    1. Overview
    2. Grant users access to reporting
    3. Report charts
      1. Create a new report
      2. Agreement Reports
      3. Transaction Reports
      4. Settings Activity Report
      5. Edit a report
    4. Data Exports 
      1. Create a new data export
      2. Web form data export
      3. Edit a data export
      4. Refresh the data export content
      5. Download the data export
    5. Rename a report/export
    6. Duplicate a report/export
    7. Schedule a report/export
    8. Delete a report/export
    9. Check Transaction Usage

Advanced Agreement Capabilities and Workflows

  1. Webforms 
    1. Create a web form
    2. Edit a web form
    3. Disable/Enable a web form
    4. Hide/Unhide a web form
    5. Find the URL or script code 
    6. Prefill web form fields with URL parameters
    7. Save a web form to complete later
    8. Resize a web form
  2. Reusable Templates (Library templates) 
    1. US Government forms in the Acrobat Sign library
    2. Create a library template
    3. Change a library template's name
    4. Change a library template's type
    5. Change a library template's permission level
    6. Copy, edit, and save a shared template
    7. Download the aggregate field data for a library template
  3. Transfer ownership of web forms and library templates
  4. Power Automate Workflows 
    1. Overview of the Power Automate integration and included entitlements
    2. Enable the Power Automate integration
    3. In-Context Actions on the Manage page
    4. Track Power Automate usage
    5. Create a new flow (Examples)
    6. Triggers used for flows
    7. Importing flows from outside Acrobat Sign
    8. Manage flows
    9. Edit flows
    10. Share flows
    11. Disable or Enable flows
    12. Delete flows
    13. Useful Templates
      1. Administrator only
        1. Save all completed documents to SharePoint
        2. Save all completed documents to OneDrive for Business
        3. Save all completed documents to Google Drive
        4. Save all completed documents to DropBox
        5. Save all completed documents to Box
      2. Agreement archival
        1. Save your completed documents to SharePoint
        2. Save your completed documents to One Drive for Business
        3. Save your completed documents to Google Drive
        4. Save your completed documents to DropBox
        5. Save your completed documents to Box
      3. Webform agreement archival
        1. Save completed web form documents to SharePoint Library
        2. Save completed web form documents to OneDrive for Business
        3. Save completed   documents to Google Drive
        4. Save completed web form documents to Box
      4. Agreement data extraction
        1. Extract form field data from your signed document and update Excel sheet
      5. Agreement notifications
        1. Send custom email notifications with your agreement contents and signed agreement
        2. Get your Adobe Acrobat Sign notifications in a Teams Channel
        3. Get your Adobe Acrobat Sign notifications in Slack
        4. Get your Adobe Acrobat Sign notifications in Webex
      6. Agreement generation
        1. Generate document from Power App form and Word template, send for signature
        2. Generate agreement from Word template in OneDrive, and get signature
        3. Generate agreement for selected Excel row, send for review and signature
  5. Custom Send workflows
    1. Custom Send Workflow Overview
    2. Creating a new Send Workflow
    3. Edit a Send Workflow
    4. Activate or Deactivate a Send Workflow
    5. Send an agreement with a Send Workflow
  6. Share users and agreements
    1. Share a user
    2. Share agreements

Integrate with other products

  1.  Acrobat Sign integrations overview 
  2. Acrobat Sign for Salesforce
  3. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft
    1. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft 365
    2. Acrobat Sign for Outlook
    3. Acrobat Sign for Word/PowerPoint
    4. Acrobat Sign for Teams
    5. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft PowerApps and Power Automate
    6. Acrobat Sign Connector for Microsoft Search
    7. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft Dynamics 
    8. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft SharePoint 
  4. Other Integrations
    1. Acrobat Sign for ServiceNow
    2. Acrobat Sign for HR ServiceNow
    3. Acrobat Sign for SAP SuccessFactors
    4. Acrobat Sign for Workday
    5. Acrobat Sign for NetSuite
    6. Acrobat Sign for VeevaVault
    7. Acrobat Sign for Coupa BSM Suite
  5. Partner managed integrations
  6. How to obtain an integration key

Acrobat Sign Developer

  1. REST APIs 
    1. Methods documentation
    2. SDK/Developer Guide
    3. API FAQ    
  2. Webhooks 
    1. Webhook overview
    2. Configure a new webhook
    3. View or edit a webhook
    4. Deactivate or reactivate a webhook
    5. Delete a webhook
    6. Two-way SSL certificates
    7. Webhooks in the API
  3. Sandbox
    1. Sandbox overview
    2. Link your Production and Sandbox
    3. Sandbox asset types

Support and Troubleshooting

  1. Customer Support Resources 
  2. Enterprise Customer Success Resources 

Enable one or more styles of signature you are willing to accept: Types, Drawn, and Image.

In electronic signature workflows, how a signature is applied is generally less critical than the signer’s intent to agree. The audit log captures and supports that intent and provides the legal foundation for enforceability.

For example, recipients may type their name—or even enter a symbol or mark, like an “X”—to indicate agreement. This practice has long been accepted in both physical and digital formats. What matters is that the signer deliberately chose to apply a signature and that the action is recorded in an auditable, traceable way.

Because of this, signatures applied through typed names, image uploads, signature stamps, or copied images can still be legally valid—even though they don’t resemble traditional handwritten signatures.

Note: Some compliance regulations may require a specific type of signature, such as a digital signature. These requirements are outside the scope of this group of settings.

Signature input options

Acrobat Sign supports three ways for recipients to sign or initial, as defined by the Allow recipients to sign and initial by setting:

  • Typed – The recipient enters their name, and one of four available fonts is used to display the signature.
  • Drawn – The recipient draws their signature using a mouse, stylus, or touch screen.
  • Image – The recipient uploads an image of their handwritten signature.
Note:

There is a fourth signature option if the account enables Stamp workflows. A stamp can be used as a signature if explicitly enabled.

How it's used

When composing an agreement, senders can choose which signature types are allowed for each recipient. All enabled signature types are available by default. To limit options, the sender can deselect any signature types they don’t want the recipient to use.

Best practices

To reduce friction when applying signatures, keep all electronic signature types enabled—unless a compliance requirement limits their use.

Configuration

Availability:

  • Acrobat Standard and Acrobat Pro: Supported
  • Acrobat Sign Solutions: Supported
  • Acrobat Sign for Government: Supported

Configuration scope:

Administrators can enable this feature at the account and group levels.

Access this feature by navigating the administrator's configuration menu to Signature Preferences > Allow recipients to sign and initial by

The Signature Preferences menu with the Allowed signature types controls highlighted.

When this option is enabled, the signature panel provides the Type option for the recipient to apply their signature.

The typed signature option allows the recipient to simply type in their name, and the application applies that name string using one of four signature fonts.

The font style always starts with the first font, and applies subsequent recipient signatures in the same order (if the Dynamically choose signing font option is not enabled).

 

An example of the signature panel with the typed name input and the resulting signature as applied to the agreement PDF.

Dynamically choose signing font.

Acrobat Sign applies signature fonts in a fixed sequence, similar to an ordered list—starting with Font1 and progressing to Font4. The order is always the same: Font2 follows Font1, Font3 follows Font2, and so on.

When the Dynamically choose signing font option is enabled, it doesn't randomly select the font for each recipient. Instead, it randomly selects the starting point in the font sequence. After choosing the initial font, the system cycles through the fonts in order.

For example, if the dynamic setting starts with Font3, the following signature will use Font4, then Font1, and so on.

The illustration below shows a non-dynamic example with eight signatures. The sequence follows two complete cycles through the font set.

List of signature fonts identifying the four fonts available (in static mode).

The example below shows how fonts are applied when Dynamically choose signing font is enabled. In this case, the randomized starting point is Font4, but it could have started with any of the available fonts, including Font1. Once the starting font is chosen, the remaining signatures follow the standard sequence. In this case, Font4 is the starting font, and Font1 is the second recipient.

List of signature fonts identifying the four fonts available (in dynamic mode).

Enabling the option to Draw a handwritten signature and initials on the screen adds the Draw icon to the signature panel.

This allows recipients to use a mouse, stylus, or finger to draw their signature—providing one of the closest representations of their actual handwriting, especially on touch-enabled devices.

Because drawing with a mouse or trackpad can be difficult, it's a good idea to enable an additional signature type to ensure all recipients can complete the signing process smoothly.

An example of the signature panel with the drawn name input and the resulting signature as applied to the agreement PDF.

Note:

Because a drawn signature is treated as an image, no name text is automatically captured. The recipient must manually enter their name in the field at the bottom-left of the signature panel. This name is used in the audit report to represent the signer.

If the recipient's name is included during the compose process, that name will appear as the default in the name field within the signature panel.

When the Upload an image of their signature and initials option is enabled, the Image icon appears in the signature panel.

This option is ideal for recipients who sign documents frequently and want to reuse a scanned version of their signature saved as a standard image format, such as JPG or PNG.

Like drawn signatures, image uploads provide a high-quality representation of the recipient’s signature. When signing, recipients can select the Image icon and upload the file directly from their device.

An example of the signature panel with the uploaded signature image and the resulting signature as applied to the agreement PDF.

Note:
  • Image signatures don't include the signature line chrome that a "well-formatted signature" normally would.
  • Because an image of a signature has no name text that is automatically captured, the recipient must manually enter their name in the field at the bottom-left of the signature panel. This name is used in the audit report to represent the signer.
    • If the recipient's name is included during the compose process, that name will appear as the default in the name field within the signature panel.

When this option is enabled, and when sending a new agreement, a setting appears in the Recipient settings for each recipient that lets the sender choose which signature types are allowed or disallowed.

The Compose page with the Recipient's settings exposed and the signature types allowed highlighted.

Tip:

By enabling the Image and Drawn signature types, the option to use a Mobile device to capture the signature is added to the signature panel. This options allows a recipient to send a link to the signature panel to their touch screen or stylus device, where the signature is captured and returned to the agreement.
(This option is not available to Acrobat Sign for Government accounts)

Related settings

There are several settings that are involved with or that parallel  the signature types allowed:

When the Stamps workflow and the option to Use a stamp as a signature are enabled, you can insert a Stamp field instead of a Signature field.

This option is handy for customers who sign documents using Hanko or other traditional stamp methods.

The Signature Preferences admin menu highlighting the Stamp workflow controls.

Note:

Using stamps as a signature option is currently supported only in the classic Request Signature workflow.

Automatically adjust the line and captured image of a drawn signature to ensure it’s large enough to read without overwhelming the width of the page.

The Signature Preferences admin menu highlighting the Required Mobile Signature workflow controls.

If capturing a signature that closely reflects the recipient’s actual handwriting is important to your process, you can require the signature step to be completed on the recipient’s mobile device. This ensures they can provide a drawn or image-based signature using a touchscreen.

The Signature Preferences admin menu highlighting the Required Mobile Signature workflow controls.

If your organization needs to meet compliance requirements for timestamping but doesn’t require digital signature certificates, enabling the stand-alone timestamp may be the right solution.

This option allows you to associate a cryptographic timestamp with the Certification Seal applied to all Acrobat Sign agreements. It supports compliance with certain regulatory and industry standards, such as Japan’s Electronic Books Maintenance Act.

The Security Settings admin menu highlighting the Timestamp controls.

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