I have a compliance document that requires eleven signatures.

[Typeaux]

I've set up signature fields for each signer, but the "Participant Role:" field pull-down only allows up to six signatures.  I tried putting "Signer" from the pulldown in the block, but the first signatory informs me that the document wants him to sign "nearly half" of the signature blocks (presumably the ones simply marked "Signer"). Is there a way to manually increase the number of signatures beyond six?  This seems like an arbitrary limitation and it is seriously impacting the delivery of this document needed for audit.

Message was edited by: Tom Regner

[Bernd Alheit]

Do you use an e-sign form?

[Typeaux]

I did use an Adobe Sign (nee Echosign or e-Sign) form to send the document, yes.  The workaround seems to be that NOT including the signature fields will cause Adobe Sign to auto-populate the document with the signature blocks with the order based on the order that the signers' email addresses appear in the form.

While that might work (it's being Real World tested as I write this, but Adobe Sign is NOT sending me notifications that it is being routed, so I am dubious), it does NOT negate the fact that the signature field dialog box limits the number of signers to six.  If Adobe Sign does this automatically, why is that dialog box needed at all?  Is it some vestige of Early Acrobat?

[Bernd Alheit]

Try this forum:

Adobe Sign

[Joel_Geraci]

Only the Acrobat UI has a limitation of 6 signers. You can manually edit the field names based on the Tag Guide so that Sign will recognize as many signatures as your workflow requires. See the link below. The only trick is you just remove the curly brackets when you're naming the fields in Acrobat.

Adobe Sign Text Tag Guide

[Typeaux]

Only the Acrobat UI has a limitation of 6 signers.

Okay, but why? What is the rationale for this?

You can manually edit the field names based on the Tag Guide so that Sign will recognize as many signatures as your workflow requires. See the link below. The only trick is you just remove the curly brackets when you're naming the fields in Acrobat.

This seems excessively complicated and labor intensive for something that should be extremely simple.   Ideally, there would be a field for "Number of Signers" where the user can enter the exact number of Signers they need, and that number of Signers will be made available to them in the pull-down.  Lemon-peezy easy.  Editing all those tags is pure drudgery and it seems unnecessarily esoteric.

[Joel_Geraci]

The thing is... the minute a UI goes public, it can be immediately improved upon... for specific users... in specific use cases.

I suspect 6 was chosen based on actual data that showed that there was a sharp drop off after the number of signers exceeded three... so they doubled it. What I do know, having worked there, is that it is not an arbitrary number and that the number 6 was not determined by casting a die.

In my opinion, the UI serves the most common workflows well and provides flexibility for people who need something more extensive.

[Typeaux]

The thing is... the minute a UI goes public, it can be immediately improved upon... for specific users... in specific use cases.

Well... no argument from me on that score.  I've been documenting use cases for 39 years, and that fact never changes.

...actual data that showed that there was a sharp drop off after the number of signers exceeded three... so they doubled it.

Okay, the old "bungie cord theorum."  Figure out how many bungie cords you need to hold down your gear on a motorcycle or camping trailer, and double that number.  It works for bungie cords, so why not use cases?

What I do know, having worked there, is that it is not an arbitrary number

Okay, I'll buy that.  I'm still disappointed, being a specific user with a specific use case and a very tight deadline, but I can see where needing more than six signatures might be out of the ordinary.  That said, I like my idea of having a field for entering the number of signatures needed and having the UI adjust to that number.  There are far more complex bits of code already in play than that one, I suspect.  So, let's change this from me sounding like I'm complaining to someone who might have a good idea. 

In my opinion, the UI serves the most common workflows well and provides flexibility for people who need something more extensive.

What is "flexible" for some is tedious and time consuming for others (show of hands, please), but I'm not the one designing the UI, just the one trying to get it to fit my needs.  'Twas ever thus...

Thank you for taking the time to respond.