How to Use Adobe Acrobat to Route a Document for Digital Signatures

There are lots of instances where you work on documents that need signatures. Adding signatures, without paying for another software subscription, is easy if you already have Adobe Acrobat. Adobe is easier than trying to add digital signatures in Word because while you can add the digital signature image in Word, it's entered as a regular image, where Adobe adds the digital signature into a signature field. This field controls the size and fit of the signature so the remainder of the document is not affected or changed.

This post demonstrates how to use Adobe Acrobat to route a document for digital signatures.

How to Use Adobe Acrobat to Route a Document for Digital Signatures

Using Adobe Acrobat to route a document for digital signatures uses your Adobe account. Adding a digital signature to a document is easiest if you have a spot in the document defined for a signature. This way you have a place to add a signature field. NOTE: You can add other fields in addition to a signature, such as a date field which often is necessary to add with a signature.

Open your file in Adobe Acrobat. NOTE: If the document is a Word document, save it as a pdf file first.
Click on the Pages icon in the right upper pane to expand the menu.

Click on the Pages icon in the upper right panel to expand the Pages menu.

In the All tools menu in the upper left pane of Adobe, click on “Request e-signatures”.

In the All tools menu in the upper left pane, click on "Request e-signatures".

In the E-signature pop-up box, type the email of the first person whose signature you are requesting. If they are part of your network, their display name will auto-populate.
Optional: If you are going to route the document through multiple signatories and they need to be completed in a specific order, check the box next to "Recipients must sign in order". NOTE: If you have multiple signatories, but they can be signed in any order, leave this box unchecked.

Type the name of the first person who you are requesting a signature from and check the box if you have multiple signatories and need them to sign in a specific order.

Optional: If you have multiple signatories, click the + button to add additional recipients.

Add additional signatories as desired. If they need to sign in any order, be sure the ordering is listed correctly here.

When all recipients have been added, and ordering is correct, click the "Prepare document" button in the bottom right of the pop-up.

Once recipients have been added and priority ordered, click "Prepare document".

In the next step, click on the first recipient in the recipients list in the left panel.
Click on "E-signature" under the "Add fields" heading. Note: You will notice that the border around each recipient is uniquely color coded to make it easy to tell who you are adding fields for when adding them into the document.

Click on the first recipient's name, then click on the E-signature field so you can add this to the document.

Click on the signature box in the document to add this fillable field into the document for this signatory.

Add the e-signature field into the document.

Add other fields for the signatory as desired. For example, you may want to add a date field.
Repeat this series of steps for each signatory.
When all fields have been added, click the "Review & send" button in the bottom right corner of the pop-up.

When all fields have been added for each signatory, click the "Review & send" button in the bottom right corner of the pop-up box.

In the Review & send screen, double check that the recipients are listed as expected.
Optional:If you would like automatic reminders to be sent to signatories if they forget to sign, you can set this in the right "Set reminder" panel.
When you are happy with the settings, click the "Send" button in the bottom corner.

After checking the settings and configuring reminders, click the "Send" button.

Once you click the send button, you will receive a confirmation that the document has been sent. NOTE: If you were not logged into your Adobe account, you may be asked to log in first.
Click the "Close" button to close this window.

As the document is signed, you will receive email notifications of progress. Once the document has been signed by the final signatory, you will receive a signed copy in the same email account you used to send the document.

Sending documents for digital signatures can get you results much faster than the more traditional way of printing, mailing and waiting. This can be especially helpful in situations where "wet" signatures are not required, and a digital signature is perfectly acceptable. Using an existing Adobe Acrobat account to send documents for digital signatures negates the need for setting up another account or paying more money for this functionality.

As always, using existing software for new needs is a great way to save time and money!