Store leadership wants to pilot secure digital receipts with signature capture next month but IT says integration will…
Open the PDF document you want to sign in Adobe Acrobat.
Select Tools in the upper-left and then choose Protect from the tools list.
Click Sign in the Protect toolbar.
Drag to draw the signature area on the page where you want your digital signature to appear.
In the dialog that appears, select your personal digital certificate from the list.
If prompted, enter the password for your digital certificate.
Click Sign to apply your digital signature to the document.
Choose a location to save the signed PDF and click Save.
Best practiceIf you need to sign multiple documents, consider creating a reusable signature appearance to save time.
You can customize the appearance of your digital signature by editing your signature properties before applying it.
This runs in the Acrobat app - there is no separate API for this task.
An Electronic Seal is used by an organization to officially mark a document, often through an API, and is different from a person's signature. A Certificate Digital Signature is a personal signature applied by an individual using their digital ID to certify a document. The seal is for the organization, the signature is for the person.
A Certificate Digital Signature matters because it proves who approved the document and ensures the document has not been changed after approval. It adds a strong layer of trust and security to official documents, making them legally sound.
If you try to certify a PDF that already has other signatures, Acrobat will not let you. Certification can only be applied to a PDF that does not have any other signatures on it. You must start with a clean document.
A Digital ID is like your unique electronic fingerprint. It contains your private key, which is used to create your digital signature. You need it for a Certificate Digital Signature because it verifies your identity and proves that you are the one who approved and signed the document.