Can I enable a PDF for digital signatures outside Acrobat Pro?

Question

I'm working on a small program to take a large PDF, split it up (using iText), and add digital signature fields to each file. The splitting part works fine, but users with Adobe Reader can't sign the generated files until someone with Acrobat Professional opens them and enables them for Reader.

Is there a way to do the enabling automatically? A Java/iText solution would be my first choice, but anything automated will beat the current system.

Mirko N. · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-25T21:16:23.197

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Signing PDFs is explained in the iText in Action book, including some examples.

However it seems that enabling "Usage Rights" cannot be done because it requires a private key owned by Adobe - see this thread in the iText mailing list.

edited Jan 25 '10 at 21:16

answered Jan 25 '10 at 20:01

Mirko N.

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Perhaps I'm missing something, but those look like examples of *signing* the PDF -- not *enabling it to be signed in Reader*. – Michael Myers Jan 25 '10 at 20:35
Uhm it was me that missed something sorry. I'm not clear what this "enabled for signing" feature is. Do you know how it's called in PDF specs? – Mirko N. Jan 25 '10 at 21:00
That's called "Usage Rights" apparently and it's Adobe-specific. Answer updated. – Mirko N. Jan 25 '10 at 21:16
Pity. Looks like it's AutoIt for me then. – Michael Myers Jan 25 '10 at 22:28

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:13

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It seems you do not need anymore reader extensions for digital signature with Acrobat Reader DC. See this simular question : Reader extensions not needed anymore for digital signature in Acrobat Reader DC?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:13

Community

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answered Nov 18 '16 at 15:02

Juljan

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Can I enable a PDF for digital signatures outside Acrobat Pro?

2 Answers2