Multiple signatures in a shared review.

Greetings,
I am a tech writer working at an engineering company. I am driving the company toward a digital sign off process for our documentation, and I am using the shared review system in Acrobat Pro X to facilitate this process. These reviews involve 10+ people, and, in the past, the system that was used was to have a single sign off sheet with multiple lines for each representative to sign from their department. I am trying to integrate a similar process into the shared review by adding a modified version of the original sign off sheet into the shared review document that everyone can then sign electronically.
I want to use the signing futures native to acrobat and reader, but I am aware that having multiple signatures on a document is a problem. I don't understand why this feature is not possible in this software. It seems so obvious. Lot's of people have to review it, so lots of people have to sign it.
My Question: is there a workaround that will allow me to do this. I am aware that the stamp tool will allow me to create a custom stamp out of my hand signature, but that method does not time stamp and date it. Having everyone do a timed and dated approval stamp AND a hand signature stamp seems messy and rife with possible errors since most of the people who will be doing this have never used this system before.
Thank you for any thoughts or ideas.

Signature appearance ("stamp" in Test Screen Name's language) in my opinion does have a value. When it is properly generated and applied it does convey information about the signer, time, location, reason, etc. If it weren't in the signature appearance, the document's reader would have to go to Signature Properties dialog to find all these bits of information, and some of them may not even be there if the signature appearance is highly customized. Test Screen Name is totally correct when saying that inexperienced digital signatures consumers may confuse the location of a signature appearance with the part of the document to which the signature allegedly applies.
PDF does allow the signers to sign portions of a document in a limited way. When the first signer signs a document, the signature covers the complete document. When document is modified and more content is added to it and the second signer signs the document, the second signature also covers the complete document but the first signature still covers only the part of the document before any modification was applied. In this case the signature appearance may be indicative of which part of the document this signature covers.
Actually, PDF specification provides for signatures covering only a part of the document (by controlling the /ByteRange entry). It is just that Acrobat (and AFAIK other PDF producers) do not have this functionality.

Similar Messages

Can you send a document for Shared Review once you've applied an electronic signature?

Hi! I'm having troubles sending a document for shared review, I need 3 people to digitally sign it and then send it on a shared review. I keep getting this error message however:
'The document you have chosen cannot be sent for shared review or collaboration because its current security permissions do not allow modifications. Please choose another document or change this document to allow modifications.'
I'm not sure how I can 'allow the modifications' - where's this option?
I've tried 'File/Save As/Reader Extended PDF/Enable Commenting & Measuring' but this didn't help.
We can't use stamps for signing as we want to be able to verify signatures.
Any suggestions on what the issue may be?
Thanks in advance!
Mel

thanks George for your response. Basically what we do in our engineering company is have the author and supervisor sign a document (verfiying that its at a good enough level) to go out on review, and if its something that needs to go to our client for review there'll be a 3rd approver signature before it leaves our office - then the client will put it on shared review amongst their staff.
when we're having a play around with this trying to get this to work, we aren't going in and locking the document after any of the signatures. but I'm also not sure of what you need to do to 'enable' a document before initiaiting the send for shared review process. Are you able to give me a step by step on how to set this up - and how to see if a signature field is 'preconfigured to lock a document' - that actually might be the root of the problem!
Sorry I'm not a huge whizz on adobe, I haven't had to use it for a review process in quite a while but my current company is wanting to go electronic.
Thanks for your help!
Regards,
Mel

Send for shared review multiple pdf files

Hi
I want to know if it's possible to send for shared review more than one file with one action, or you have to send for shared review every single file? I have more than 100 files I would like to send for shared review.

I'm having the same problem. I've
been using this for over a year without an issue, today I am getting the same message, can't log into the server. It works on my pc but not my mac. Any answers

Shared Reviews Multiple Network Locations

Hi,
I started using the Shared Review process in Acrobat X and the workflow is great, but when I want to send a different PDF (i.e. a whole entirely separate project) out for a shared review to different reviewers, it seems the XML folder is still being created in the first network folder I chose. I would like to have some Shared Reviews in folder "A" and some in folder "B", but I haven't been able to do that successfully. Is it possible?
ZeroZone

When you create the new review, are you entering a "different" network path in the Shared Review wizard, or using the same profile which got created during the creation of first review? If you enter a new network folder path, the new review will use that folder path to create XML files.

How do I Automatically Send a PDF for Shared Review?

Hello,
I am trying to automate sending documents for shared review. Basically, all my users post PDFs to the same location and so they perform all the same actions. I would like to make it easier on them and automatically trigger all the actions. Currently, I am using Acrobat.dll in a C# program, but I am not adamant about using this particular technology. All I could get was:
Acrobat.AcroAppClass acro = new Acrobat.AcroAppClass();
acro.MenuItemExecute("SendForSharedReview");
This opens the shared review wizard, and I can send keystrokes to the wizard dialog box, but I am hoping there is a more elegant method of doing it. Is there an API that I should be using or some other method to automatically trigger a shered review on a selected document?
Thanks,
Pawel

It took a while to figure out, but I confirmed it with Adobe staff. The answer is no; sending multiple documents for shared review is not possible with LiveCycle or with any other Adobe software.
The only thing to do would be automate with some kind of clicker application or AutoIt, but that is far from ideal.

What is a Resonable Shared Review File Size?

I have a user group that is having some problems with their shared reviews. They are snding thier documents out on a WedDav server and the files are about 50 to 100 mg. Doe to the file size some of the reviews are experiening download times of up to 30 minutes and when they try to oprn the review in Reader or Acroabt they get a error massage that the file is too large. Is there a internal issue here or should a start exploring on how to break these files up into multiple reviews. If the later what is a reasonable file size?

2GB is the maximum size limit.
Anything over 20mb requires download via Wi-Fi or docked connection.
See: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2808

Acrobat 9.0 Shared Review COMMENTS VANISH MYSTERIOUSLY

Has anyone had a problem with comments created on one day simply vanishing the next?
Windows XP 2002 SP1
Acrobat 9 Pro
Acrobat Reader 9
Acrobat 8 Standard
How we start the review:
We use Acrobat 9 Pro to create a manual shared review. This creates a review pdf in the same shared network directory as the original pdf. (I saw in an Acrobat 8 entry that this may not be good practice.) In Windows explorer, we create a shortcut file from the review file. Then we drag the shortcut file into a new Lotus Notes database that we created for storing and organizing links, and to send auto-notifications at different review milestones. We used to send the link via Notes mail, but users lose them. Users then launch the shortcut, which opens the review file. Sometimes we, the review creators open files directly from Tracker.
The problem...
occurs after a day or two. After creating comments, at least two of the reviewers opened the document the following day, but the comments had disappeared. I watched one reviewer open the document. The "Welcome Back" window listed the reviewers and showed the normal new/total comments. After a few seconds, THE TOTAL COMMENTS FOR ONE REVIEWER RESET TO ZERO as we watched. The comments were not in the review file. It seems that comments are normally stored inside the review files instead of in auxiliary .fdf files as they once were, or in .xml files as I saw in a recent example with Acrobat 9 on a review I restarted.
A possibly related problem occurs sometimes when trying to close a file, even when no comments are added: A message states that there are unpublished comments and offers a publish, delete, cancel, and one other button. After clicking publish, another messages states that the file is locked. This is an endless loop and Acrobat will not close without going to the Task Manager.
I also submitted this as a bug report to Adobe. Has anyone found a solution? Need help. Reviewers are losing hours of work.
Thanks,
Phil

Hi Vikas,
We began saving the files locally and this seemed to sort out the confusion with comments disappearing and reappearing, etc.
There are still some rough spots you may be interested in -
1. My teammate, Russ initiated a file and sent me the link (which is a Windows shortcut file with a path to the shared document). I opened the link and the shared file opened. However I was not prompted to save it immediately as you described in step 5 above. The save prompt only appears when closing the file. So, when the user first starts working on the file it is on the shared copy.
2. While the file was still open the first time, I created a couple of comments and clicked publish. A message appeared that I had not seen before: "1 published - 1 queued." I could still add comments, but the publish button did not become active and the check button did not respond. It was like the check/publish functions locked up but not the rest of the program. I was able to save the file locally. When I reopened the local file, the check message said 3 messages were being added (Russ published these) checking again deleted the comments, then checking again restored them. Since then, as long as we opened the local versions, commenting seemed to function normally. The key here is that opening the local copy is not enforced by the program. The program relies on users to function a certain way and does not inform them of the consequences. If Reader or Tracker knew whether a bona fide local copy existed and warned if an attempt to open the network copy was made, many of these issues would go away.
3. Some other concerns:
a. When a link is sent to users, there is no guarantee that they will only use it once and discard it. If they don't discard it, they will continually open the shared doc, not the local copy. When our users get busy, they take the path of least resistance, which is to find the original link and open it, rather than hunting down a file to open. In Acrobat 6 this was never a problem. Users always linked to the shared document; each user's comments were stored in outboard files (fdf) the integrity of the shared doc and users comments was never in question. We did hundreds of documents this way. Of course, everyone had 6 Standard or higher, not reader.
b. When closing the document, Acrobat prompts to save the file. Clicking Save produces a Save AS window each time. Shouldn't this be a Save box? When users enter and close a document multiple times they must stop and decide whether to overwrite the file each time. Conversely, if there are unpublished comments and you try to close, there is a Save Draft button, which seems to save over the local file without asking. This seems backwards. If I'm editing an Indesign document and I click save, it just saves. If I want to save a variation, I click Save AS. (FYI, on my pc, Acrobat prompted to save the file in C:\temp; on Russ's pc, it prompted for \MyDocuments.)
c. Tracker is not as easy to find as other Acrobat functions. I could not find a Tracker button to add to the toolbar. I believe that if Tracker could be selected to turn on at program start (or even start as a separate program), the users would more likely open the correct (local) file. All that users would be required to know is Start Acrobat, read links. The link they need would be visible immediately.
I hope this gives you our perspective in the spirit of improving the product.

Shared Review cannot resolve email addresses through Outlook

I am finding references to the issue I am having that goes back a couple years and seems to be tied to a change to Acrobat between versions 8 & 9, I am flummoxed though that there isn't a solution listed for any of the forum posts I've found. We are using Acrobat Pro & Standard X. When I create a shared review via Email or using a SharePoint workspace, I am unable to succesfully add users to the review process.
A few users always work and most others result in multiple contact selector dialog boxes and a final message:
"Microsoft Outlook does not recognize "/o=..."
If this is a known issue how can there not be a work around or fix for this? It's a great feature, but I can't ask our users to use this shared review process if I also have to tell them to just keep trying to enter the reviewer email - it might work eventually.
Suggestions?

Hello Chris,
Yes, you are correct the problem is tied to the "<last name>, <first name>" convention that uses the comma.
The issue arose due to Acrobat allowing commas as separators in the list of addresses in the Shared Review dialog.
As of Acrobat XI 11.0.9 this issue is fixed. It will be included in all future updates, so version 11.0.9 and higher contain the fix.
Please see the 11.0.9 release notes regarding 3732843.
11.0.09 Planned update, Sept 16, 2014 — Acrobat and Adobe Reader Release Notes
You must create and set a registry key to enable the fix:
Key location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\11.0\Sendmail
Name : bRemoveCommaDelimiter
Type : DWORD(32-bit)
Value : 1
The issue is NOT fixed in Acrobat X.
Regards,
Charlene

Can you Send for Shared Review in Batch Processing JavaScript?

Hello! I am new to javascript and Acrobat 9 Pro. I have multiple documents emailed to me in a day and need to send/track each one individually. Can this be done using the Batch Processing javascript as a Shared Review?
I have tried adding a button to the "Add-On" toolbar and start a shared review but can't automate manual key entries for the dialog windows that opens for a Shared Review.
What I am looking for is a js file to add a button to execute Send for Shared Review, Select multiple files dialog window, open the standard dialog windows for Shared Reviews one time and then do the same to all other selected files.
Can you please help, and maybe supply some javascript examples?

Please repost in the Acrobat Scripting forum.

Comment deletion in shared review

I am trying to use Adobe's shared review feature to have multiple reviewers for a PDF document. We've noticed that if you delete a comment, then when you reply to another comment the reply sometimes gets associated with the wrong comment. It's as if the deleted comment is somehow being still counted, so the matching is off.
I can't find anything about this issue. Does anyone know anything about it?

The User (identified by his credentials) has the right to delete his own comments/replies only. If in your case, a different user is able to delete other user's comments, then it requires attention. For this, Please share the Acrobat and OS version you are using and in which category of shared review you are experiencing this. Thanks.

How can I see shared review comments in a PDF when connected to a SharePoint server over a VPN?

I am using Acrobat Pro XI on Windows 7.
When I issue a shared review, hosted on our work SharePoint server, I always encounter problems when accessing my work network from home, over a VPN. My comments do not get published, and I cannot see comments that reviewers have published.
I issue the review PDF as an attachment when I open the review, and all reviewers save a local copy of this file. When I open the PDF, the "Welcome back to shared review..." screen is never updated with the number of comments. The server status always seems to show green, but the comment reporting mechanisms do not behave as they do at work. When I click Publish comments, I am usually asked if I wish to take ownership of unpublished comments by other reviewers (to which I click No). When I return to the office, everything seems to "just work" again. But this is hugely inconvenient if I am out of office for days on end.
I had this problem with my previous version of Acrobat, and no satisfactory solution was ever reached. I am most dismayed to find it is still present in version XI.
Please can anyone advise?

I don't know if you solved this issue yet. But we have the same issue in the pass, and clean the log files under "\Synchronizer\resources\" folder seems to be a solution. Here is the thread talking about it.
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1426298?start=0&tstart=0

Unable to see other writer's checked check boxes in comments of shared review

I'm using Acrobat 3D Version 8 in a Windows XP environment. We are using SharePoint for shared reviews.
We are able to see developer's comments, and we can respond back to the comments with a reply. However, when we use the checkbox to indicate that a comment has been addressed, each writer can only see the checkmarks that she makes. We cannot see checkmarks made by other writers.
We have tried selecting the check box, and we have also used the check box icon to select the check box. We then publish and the the action is accepted as a comment and is published. But we are unable to see each other's check boxes.
Why?
Thanks!

Solved on my own.
Simply close BEx Analyzer and restart it again. If still it doesn't work then restart your computer and then run BEx Analyzer again, it will definitely work.
TR.

Shared review using Sharepoint 2010 Foundation

Brief description *
Sharepoint for Shared review
Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible *
Shared review using server acrobat.com works fine. However, when using Sharepoint as server the testing fails and it is not possible to finnish the set up of the shared review.
This is pictured in(bild1.jpg.) As the return code is Status: undefined it is not possible to proceed.
However, when looking into the sharepoint site a file called com.adobe.acrobat.sharepoint has been created as shown in attachment2 (bild2.jpg)
When this file is opened it contains the following text written by acrobat; Testing Writeablility
It seems like the test has been done sucessfully but that Acrobat is not able to read/understand that.
My Acrobat 9 is swedish version but the 'Testing Writeablility' is in english regardless of if I create a Sharepoint site in swedish or english.
Please help me out.
regards Anders K
bild1
bild2

The login names of the sharepoint server is not controlled by my organisation. Sharepoint is hosted.
At the time initiating the review when Sharepoint is presenting possible locations (shared documents libraries) for the review then I need to login
using credentials very much diffrent from the windows credentials.
They are of course also diffrent from the identity that Acrobat itself is carrying from the acrobat.com?
This situation is the same for for the reviewers that has no problem.
regards
PS do you have a suspicion that windows credentials or Acrobat credentials are thrown automatically at Sharepoint although I have logged in
at the time of finding possible review location.

Mac using Acrobat Pro v9 can't connect to shared review hosted on Sharepoint server.

A person at our company has a Mac with Acrobat Pro v9 and can't connect to our shared review hosted on a Sharepoint server. The shared review is initiated from a PC using Acrobat Pro X.
They can access/login to the Sharepoint server via Safari on the same computer both inside the company and from outside.
They used to have it working just fine for months, then suddenly (recently) it stopped working and it just keeps saying that it can't connect.
When trying to connect, Acrobat doesn't ask for credentials. I've tried hunting down where those credentials are stored to try and delete them to force it to ask again, but no luck there either.
I also have a Mac (but I'm running Acrobat Pro XI and now DC) and I can access the same shared review that doesn't work for them. And I can't seem to break it for me (as an effort to figure out their problem).
Any helpful guidance on how to get things back on track would be greatly appreciated. My head hurts from beating it against my desk. :-|
Thanks!

Several of us encountered the same issue running MAC OS X on Acrobat Pro XI. I'm tagging your question to see if someone provides a solution.

Can there be more than one initiator in a shared review?

We use Acrobat X Pro to do shared reviews of pdf documents. At times, the initiator will be out of the office when someone needs to take action on the document and it would make it more convenient if there was more than one person with access. Is it possible to assign two people as the "initiator" of the documents so that there will always be one available?

No, sorry.
If you're using email or own-server-hosted reviews there's nothing (technically) to stop another person signing on using the initiator's identity provided they know the password. If you're using Acrobat.com to host the reviews, and so the participants are using Adobe IDs, then in a legal sense you can't because the terms of use for an AdobeID do not allow shared access.

Multiple signatures in a shared review.

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for