Like conventional handwritten signatures, digital signatures uniquely identify a person or entity signing a document. The difference is reviewers can sign an electronic version of your document, instead of a printed one. With Adobe® Acrobat® 5, you can have reviewers digitally sign your PDF documents to approve them. Once you’ve obtained their digital signatures, you can verify them to make sure that they’re authentic, track changes between signings, and more.
Choose a signature handler.
In Acrobat, choose Edit > Preferences > General. Select Digital Signatures in the left pane, and choose Acrobat Self-Sign Security as your default signature handler in the right pane.
To prepare your PDF document for digital signatures, you first need to choose a signature handler, which determines the appearance and exact contents of the signatures. Acrobat includes the Acrobat Self-Sign Security signature handler, which is easy to use and offers moderate security. You can also use a compatible signature handler obtained from a third-party vendor.
Create a user profile.
Choose Tools > Self-Sign Security > Log In, and then click New User Profile. In the Create New User dialog box, enter a name for your profile and a password containing at least six characters. Then save your profile.
A user profile is a password-protected file containing your name, password, and other basic information. It also stores important information used for security purposes.
Distribute your PDF document for approval.
Distribute your PDF document to a reviewer by sending it as an e-mail attachment or storing it in a shared network folder. Ask the reviewer to approve your document by choosing Acrobat Self-Sign Security as the signature handler, creating a user profile, and digitally signing your document all using Acrobat.
Tip: To add a new digital signature field and digitally sign a PDF document at the same time, tell the reviewer to select the Digital Signature tool, and drag to draw a field. Enter their password to confirm it, and click Save to save the document with their signature.