Adobe Won't Let Me Sign? Solved With 6 Effective Fixes

Imagine that someone has sent you a very important document. To make this document official, you need to sign it. So you open the PDF document in Adobe Acrobat to sign the PDF. However, for some reason, you are having difficulties signing the PDF in Adobe. So you probably find yourself asking "Why Adobe won't let me sign the PDF?"

This can be incredibly frustrating because now you have to waste time and energy to find a solution to why Adobe won't let you sign the PDF. But we're here to help! In this article, we will discuss some of the reasons why Adobe won't let you sign a PDF, along with six effective fixes for solving this problem.

Part 1. Match the Acrobat Signing Problem to the Right Fix

Do not begin by printing the PDF or deleting security settings. Those actions can remove interactive fields, invalidate existing signatures, or create a copy that no longer carries the original verification data.

Part 2. Check Whether the PDF Allows Another Signature

A PDF can open normally while still blocking changes. The restriction may come from password permissions, a certification signature, or a previous signer who locked the document.

Step 1. Open the PDF in the desktop version of Acrobat rather than a browser preview.

Step 2. Select Menu > Document Properties > Security on Windows or File > Properties > Security on macOS.

Step 3. Review Document Restrictions Summary. Check whether signing, filling form fields, commenting, or changing the document is allowed.

Step 4. Open the Signatures panel and inspect any existing signature. If the document was certified or locked after the first signature, Acrobat may correctly prevent another signature unless the author prepared an additional signature field.

Step 5. If a permitted signature field already exists, click that field instead of placing a new signature elsewhere.

If the PDF owner restricted signing, request an unlocked copy or a correctly prepared signature field. Only remove PDF restrictions when you own the file, know the permissions password, and have the right to modify it. The guide to remove a password from a PDF explains the authorized workflow.

Part 3. How to Fix The Issue "Adobe Acrobat Won't Let Me Sign"?

Now that you know a few reasons why you may have an error when trying to sign a PDF in Adobe Acrobat, let's talk about all the ways you can fix this issue.

Way 1. The Fastest Way: Use UPDF As An Alternative to Sign PDF

If you urgently need to sign a PDF, and you don't have time to troubleshoot all the problems with Adobe Acrobat, then you can use UPDF as an alternative. UPDF has all the features you need to sign a PDF. With UPDF you can add a digital signature, add a signature with drawing tools, use the signature feature, and add a signature as an image. In addition, if your PDF cannot be signed because of its permission password, you can use UPDF to remove the password from the PDF.

UPDF has many other features to help you edit, customize, organize, and read PDFs. You can watch the below video learn more about UPDF. UPDF digital signing features work across all devices on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. Click the link below to download UPDF and start your free trial today.

1. Sign PDF With Adding Digital Signature

You can use this method to sign a PDF with a digital signature in UPDF.

Steps: Use UPDF to open the PDF that you need to sign. From the left side select "Form" in Tools,  and then from the top choose "Digital Signature". Then click wherever you want on the PDF to add the digital signature box. From the right side click the narrow next to save and select "Save as..." to save your PDF and send it to others for a signature or use preview mode to sign it yourself.

2. Sign PDF with Signature Feature

You can also use UPDF's signature feature to add a digital signature.

Steps: Download UPDF and open the PDF that you need to sign. From the tools on the left, select "Comment" in Tools, click on the "Signature" tool. Either select a signature you have already used or create a new signature. click anywhere on the PDF to add your signature, and you can then adjust the size and location of the signature. Then save your PDF by clicking on "Save as...".

3. Sign PDF With Drawing

You can also use UPDF's drawing tools to add a digital signature to a PDF.

Steps: Download UPDF and open the PDF you need to sign. Select "Comment" in Tools on the left side, and then from the annotation tools at the top, click "Pencil". You can adjust the color thickness and opacity of the pencil tool, and then click anywhere to start drawing your signature. When you are done, click the narrow next to save and choose Save as...  to save your PDF.

4. Sign PDF With Adding Image

If you have an image file of your signature, you can add that to a PDF with UPDF. You can use this method.

Steps: Use UPDF to open the PDF that you need to add a signature to. From the tools on the left, select "Edit" in Tools, and then from the features at the top choose the "Image" tool. Click anywhere to add an image, and then select the digital signature image file you want to add to the PDF. Once you have added the image file, you can then change the location and size of your digital signature image. Save your PDF when you're happy with your digital signature image.

5. Sign the PDF after Removing Permission Password

If your PDF has a permission password, and you cannot sign the PDF with Adobe Acrobat, you can use UPDF to remove the password. However, just remember that it is illegal to remove a password from a PDF without the owner's permission, so UPDF only allows you to remove a password from a PDF if you know the password.

Step 1 - Remove Security

With UPDF, open the password-protected PDF. From the tools on the left select "The narrow next to save" > "Remove Password".

Step 2 - Remove Password

For permission password, you should enter the password first. Select "Unlock". Now you can use one of the methods above to add your digital signature, and then save your PDF.

If you're not sure why you should use UPDF over Adobe Acrobat, you should check this UPDF vs Adobe Acrobat. UPDF is much more affordable and cheaper to purchase a license than Adobe Acrobat. You can check its price here. And UPDF also has all of the tools you need for editing, customizing, organizing, and reading PDFs.

To try one of these different methods of signing a PDF, click the button below to download UPDF and start your free trial today.

Way 2. Open PDF with Adobe Again

One very simple method of fixing any problems with signing a PDF is to try closing Adobe and opening it again. To do this, you simply need to click on the X in the top right corner of Adobe Acrobat.

Way 3. Print PDF with Adobe

If you are having trouble signing a document with Adobe, you can try printing your document to a PDF and then try signing again. To do this, just open your document in Adobe, and then click on the printing icon. adjust the settings so that you are printing to PDF. Then click Print, reopen the new PDF in Adobe Acrobat, and sign the document.

Way 4. Clear Adobe Cache

The issue of Adobe wont let me sign may be caused by the cache files. You can clear all the cache files to fix it.

Step 1. Close Adobe Acrobat on your computer.

Step 2. Now, open your file explorer, follow the below path to the cache and delete the cache files.

C:\Users\ [UserName]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Acrobat\DC\JSCache

Way 5. Update Adobe

You may also have trouble signing a PDF if you're Adobe Acrobat needs to be updated. to update Adobe Acrobat, open Adobe, and then select "Menu" > "Help" > "Check for updates".

Way 6. Download 32-bit if You Have 64-bit Adobe

If you have 64-bit Adobe, and you're having difficulty signing PDFs, then you probably need to download 32-bit Adobe. First, you will need to uninstall 64-bit Adobe. Then you can go to the Adobe website and choose the correct installer for the 32-bit Adobe. Follow the instructions for the 32-bit Adobe installer, and when it's ready try opening your PDF and signing again.

FAQs

Conclusion

Now you know several reasons of why Adobe won't let me sign a PDF, and also know many different ways to solve this issue. you can use UPDF to very easily sign PDF documents in a variety of different ways. However, if you have an Adobe license and want to continue using Adobe Acrobat to solve this issue, you can use one of the 5 methods in this article.

We highly recommend downloading and purchasing UPDF because it is a much more cost-effective alternative to Adobe Acrobat. Click the link below to download your PDF and start signing PDFs today.