How do I know if a digital signature in my document is valid?

Open your PDF document in Adobe Acrobat. Click on the 'Signatures' panel on the left side. Right-click on the specific digital signature you want to check. Select 'Validate Signature' from the menu to see its status.

What is a trusted identity and why does it matter for digital signatures?

A trusted identity refers to a digital certificate that you have chosen to trust in Adobe Acrobat. It matters because Acrobat uses this trust to decide if a digital signature is valid. If you trust the certificate of the person who signed the document, Acrobat can confirm their identity and that the document has not been changed since they signed it. Managing trusted identities helps you control who you believe is authentic.

If a digital signature says 'valid but with warnings', what should I do?

First, check the warning details. It might be about the certificate's trust or a timestamp issue. Next, try to verify the certificate information. Make sure it comes from a known and reliable source. Consider adding the signer's certificate to your list of trusted identities if you know and trust them. If the warning is about long-term validity, add LTV information to make the signature self-validating over time.

Why is it important to add Long Term Validation (LTV) information to a digital signature?

Adding Long Term Validation (LTV) information to a digital signature is important because it helps the signature stay valid far into the future. Without LTV, a signature might become invalid if the signer's certificate expires or is revoked. LTV embeds all the necessary information, like timestamps and revocation status, directly into the PDF, making the signature self-validating over a long period, even without external checks.

What is the difference between verifying a signature and managing trusted identities?

Action Purpose Outcome. Verifying a signature To check if a specific digital signature on a document is valid, who signed it, and if its certificate is trusted at that moment. You get an immediate status report on the signature's validity and integrity. Managing trusted identities To tell Adobe Acrobat which digital certificates you personally trust, so it can use this information for future signature validations. You build a list of trusted signers, making future signature verifications smoother and more reliable based on your preferences.

Automate signature validation via API in Adobe Acrobat — How-to & AI prompts

AI prompts

3 ways to ask · copy any one

AExecute — “help me do it”Show me how to check if a PDF's signatures are valid...…+

Show me how to use the Adobe Acrobat Sign API to check if all signatures in [PDF file or document ID] are valid and return the results.

when the reply comes backWant to see sample code for different programming languages?

BImprove — “do it better”Review my code for signature validation and suggest improvements...…+

Review my code that calls the Adobe API to validate PDF signatures and suggest ways to make it more reliable or secure. Here is my code: [paste your code].

when the reply comes backNeed help setting up API authentication?

CDecide — “help me choose”Help me choose the right Adobe API endpoint for...…+

Help me choose the best Adobe PDF Services or Acrobat Sign API endpoint for automatically validating signatures in documents for [describe your use case].

when the reply comes backCurious how to handle failed signature checks automatically?

How to do it

the tool · the steps · what to avoid

1
Open the PDF document containing the digital signature you want to validate.
2
Locate the signature field or signature panel in the document.
3
Click directly on the digital signature or open the signature panel and select the signature you wish to validate.
4
In the signature details popup, click Signature Properties.
5
In the Signature Properties dialog, click Show Certificate to review certificate details if needed.
6
Close the certificate window, then click Validate Signature in the Signature Properties dialog.
Best practiceIf the signature status shows as 'Unknown' or 'Not Valid', check if the signer's certificate needs to be added to your list of trusted identities.
7
Review the validation result displayed in the Signature Properties dialog.

In the appWith the API

You can view detailed information about the signature's validity and certificate by clicking on the signature and opening Signature Properties.

This runs in the Acrobat app - there is no separate API for this task.

Glossary

words on this page

APIA way for different software to talk to each other automatically.ExampleAn online store uses an API to automatically send shipping details to a delivery service.

Signature ValidationChecking if a digital signature on a document is real and not changed.ExampleThe software performs Signature Validation to ensure the digital signature hasn't been tampered with.

EndpointA web address your code sends requests to for a specific job.ExampleThe app sends your payment details to a secure endpoint on the server to process the transaction.

The real tasks

the one, listed here

Finance asked for an audit trail today and I need to confirm every agreement has auditable timestamps.

FAQ

about this task

You need to send your PDF file to the correct Adobe API endpoint for signature validation, usually after setting up authentication. The API will return information about each signature, showing if it is valid or not.

Signature validation checks if a digital signature on a document is real, hasn't been changed, and is trusted. The API does this automatically and gives you a result for each signature.

Yes, you can write code to send multiple documents to the API in a loop or batch, letting you check many signatures automatically without doing it by hand.

With the API, you can check signatures in code without opening the document or using the app, which is much faster and better for handling lots of files.

Adobe's API is trusted, works with many types of digital signatures, and lets you build automatic checks into your own apps or systems easily.

Automate signature validation via API

When to use it

AI prompts

How to do it

Glossary

The real tasks

Who does this

FAQ

Sources

Adobe help