Adobe Acrobat DC Send documents for signing

You can request that students electronically sign documents using the Fill and Sign tool in Adobe DC Professional called Adobe Acrobat Sign. It lets students quickly sign agreements from anywhere using a web browser or mobile device.

Note * Signers are not required to purchase any Adobe product to sign the agreements.
Send the document to get signatures from others

1. Open the PDF form in Acrobat or Acrobat Reader, and then choose Tools > Request E-signatures. Alternatively, you can click the Sign icon in the top toolbar.

2. The Request Signatures window is displayed. It displays the fields progressively as you enter the details. The left pane provides information on getting signatures from others’ workflow. In the recipient’s field, add recipient email addresses in the order you want the document to be signed.

Image showing the Request Signatures Window in Adobe Acrobat DC

3. The Mail and Message fields are just like the ones you use for sending an email and appear to your recipients in the same way. Change the default text in the Subject & Message area as appropriate.

Optional: If you want to add more people just for information, use the Add CC button to add their email addresses to the CC list.

Enter the desired information and do one of the following:

Optional: To explore advanced options including signer authentication, reminders, and more, click More Options.
  • To add form fields and specify where to sign, click Specify where to sign.  Request signatures – Add Cc, subject, message, and More Options.

Image showing a recipient being added to the Request Signatures Window in Adobe Acrobat DC

You can skip the More Options, however, the more options include options, such as signer authentication, reminders, and more.

  • By default, the Complete in Order setting is turned on. The numbers by the email addresses reflect the participation order. If you do not want to follow any order for signing, toggle the switch to Complete In Any Order.
  • (Optional) Click Add Me if you want to be included as a signer of the document.
  • Specify authentication types like Email, Password, Social Identity, Knowledge-Based Authentication, Phone, or Acrobat Sign.
  • Password Protect the PDF file.
  • Set a Completion Deadline.
  • Specify the Recipient’s Language in the email sent.

Image showing the additional options available in the Request Signatures Window in Adobe Acrobat DC

More or Advanced Options

When ready click the Next button

The Specify Where to Fill & Sign window is displayed showing options based on whether you have added one signer or multiple signers.

Simplified mode for single signer:  If you’ve added one signer, the Advanced Editing mode is off, and you see the simplified option as shown below. To place a signature or another field, click at the desired location in the document and then set the field’s properties from its context menu.

Image showing the Processing document progress bar

Image showing the Specify Where to Fill & Sign window and the associated simple and advanced options that can be set and applied

The Specify Where to Fill & Sign window is displayed showing options based on whether you have added one signer or multiple signers.

If the form needs to be signed by multiple users, switch on Advanced mode, you can also assign colours to the signers making it easy to distinguish the fields that each respective signer.

Image showing the Advanced options for the Fill and Sign wizard in Adobe Acrobat DC

When you’ve placed all desired fields in the document, click Send. The document is sent for signature to the recipients and a confirmation notice is displayed.

Note* If the document that is being sent out includes other fields Adobe Acrobat DC will prompt to add additional form fields to this document before it is sent out.  If additional form fields do need to be added, click the Review button.

Image showing the possible missing signature field warning message

Clicking the send button will send the form to the designated recipients and to the sender.

Image showing the completed send for signing process

From the signer’s point of view

A signer receives an email with a link to sign the agreement. Also, if the signer uses Acrobat DC or Acrobat Reader DC desktop application, the signer sees a notification that an agreement has been shared for signing. For more information, see Sign an agreement.

Note* Signers are not required to sign up or purchase any Adobe product to sign agreements. They can sign agreements using a web browser, mobile device, or Acrobat DC / Acrobat Reader DC desktop application.
Track agreements sent for signature

You can track which agreements are out for signature, signed, or waiting for your signature.  This becomes the central repository for storing all signed documents that can be referred to in the future.

Note* Copies of the signed documents can be downloaded and then added to Blackboard alongside other related content such as Teesside University assessment feedback sheets or other signed documents.

Individual and team users

Go to Home > Sign > All Agreements. All the documents shared for signature are listed.

Image showing the manage All Agreements wizard in Adobe Acrobat DC

Adobe Acrobat DC includes additional data protection verification and may require additional re-authentication to your Adobe account to view the signed agreements.

Image showing the manage All Agreements wizard in Adobe Acrobat DC

In addition to viewing the signed document (once returned by the end user/s) Adobe sign also includes options to view the activity related to the signing process.

Image showing the manage All Agreements wizard in Adobe Acrobat DC

Image showing the manage All Agreements wizard in Adobe Acrobat DC

Click the Activity option to collapse the logged activity. All logged Activity is shown here

There is also the option to produce an overall Audit Report, this is a hard copy of the logged activities that can be downloaded and kept for future reference.

Image showing the manage All Agreements wizard in Adobe Acrobat DC

Video Tutorial

This video tutorial demonstrates the techniques described within this guide relating to Forms in Adobe Acrobat DC.