Clicking the Sign button does not do anything

[jswla]

I'm not sure what happened. I had a pdf with a user signature field and I used to be able to add my digital signature into it. Today, I received a prompt in Adobe Reader and I don't recall what it was, but it seemed to have changed something. Now, I am unable to add my digital signatures. When I click on the signature field, I am able to select my Digital ID in the "Sign with a Digital ID" window, hit "Continue", but when I hit "Sign", nothing happens. How can I fix this? I've already reinstalled Adobe Reader but my problem still remains.

Thank you for any guidance.

[Guest]

Just here to reinforce the "I have the same question" button I pressed. Every other button and function works. Even all the other buttons on the final GUI along with "Sign." Just the critical button doesn't do anything, and I use this for work of a time sensitive nature that needs to be accomplished from home. Reinstalling failed to rectify the issue.

[Esting247991634efu]

I have the same problem, when I click the Sign button it doesn't do anything. It seems to react (slightly changes color) but it does not work.

[poorvis54079495]

Hi,

Sorry for the inconvenience caused to you.

Please update Reader to the latest version from Help>Check for Updates and let us know the version you are using from Help>About Acrobat Reader DC.

Also, please share a screenshot of what happens when you click on 'Sign'

Regards,

Poorvi

[cadbury]

Hello,

Thank you for reporting the issue.

Please go to Certificates tool -> Digitally Sign -> Sign with Digital Id screen should show where  you will see the list of available digital ids.

Please click on "View Details" link at the right side of the digital Id. This should open "Certificate Viewer" window.

Please send us screenshot od "Summary", "Details", "Revocation" , "Trust" tab.

This would provide us the certificate details and we will be able to analyze why the certificate is not being used for signing

Regards,

[jswla]

<Redacted screenshots due to privacy concerns. Please PM for more information.>

[jswla]

Still waiting for a response. It has been 3 months.

[aguillaud]

I have the same issue, I click on sign and nothing happens. All other buttons work.

I have created a new appearance from imported graphic and named it. This new appearance is in my list now but when I select it and click sign nothing happens.

[ste.pen]

Same issue. Sign button does not work 😞 

[linda_lou_357]

I have the same issue.

[ABJB]

I just had the same problem.

I use a password manager and copy passwords. When I clicked backspace, the sign button was active again. So I typed the last letter and clicked sign and it worked as usual.

Maybe it's a new functionality for increased security?

[cadbury]

Dear user,

Thank you for reporting the issue. This is known issue. The Sign Button is not activated on Copy and would need manual Entry of atleast a character.

We are looking into the issue. Your patience is appreciated

[VipulK]

I was stuck at it for 2 days until I realized I got a USB token with my DSC. When I plugged it in and clicked SIgn, it worked.

See if you had the same problem.

[Celina5DC5]

Hello, I had the same problem for weeks but recently I think I found what was wrong (at least in my case). My certificate was made for a different e-mail-address as the one listed under my digital identity.

I went to the options under edit (or something similar, I use it in another language) and there was a category "Identity".  Under that category I could change the e-mail-address to the one that was specified in the certificate.

After I made this change, I could use the button sign again and sign documents again.

[defaultthtxfvtngg71]

This worked. Thanks.

I needed to create a new sign id with my current email.

EDIT>PREFERENCES>IDENTITY

[timh30308772]

It's just so frustrating as this was working fine a few months ago and it suddenly doesn't do anything when it is necessary. When clicking the sign button, it briefly disappeared & reappeared without any message. Rebooting or reinstalling didn't do anything either. Any tip to resolve this stupid problem?

[Dima5C19]

Just wanted to share a tip for those that stuck on "Sign" button being unclickable;

I've fixed it by connecting to our corporate VPN, my assumption is that it validates the digital certificate that was released by our corp via intranet.

The Identity tip also makes sense.

Best of luck to everyone and stay calm,

-D

[ls_rbls]

++Adding to the discussion,

Dima's observation is absolutely correct, but to be more specific, you won't be able to apply a certificate-based digital signature if the issuer of the Root Certificate Authority requires a time-stamp server  to validate encryption at signing time.

Such is the case when an signer is required to use a smart card to sign and validate the authenticity of such credentials that are embedded in the issued certificate, for example.

If this is your case, you must be online to in order to execute and finalize the signing action, or else , as Dima indicated, check if there is anything in your home/work network that is preventing access to a required time-stamp service (or similar authentication mechanism).

That said, if you use a self-signed digital certificate, you don't need to be online to sign a PDF.

[margaretmmay]

This fixed my issue! As soon as I changed to a different VPN, everything worked! I am almost certain that the following was happening for me: when I clicked the "Sign" button, Adobe attempted to go out and check my certificate's revocation list. I am guesing that my computer could not reach out to get the certificate revocation list, possibly due to an SSL certificate error. Everything was failing silently. Adoble should likely not fail silently and instead inform the user of the underlying error.

[ELISENDA29223065oynh]

It worked for me as well! Thanks!

[b5c51]

I know there have been lots of recommendations posted to this already but none of them have been able to help me resolve this issue for me. 
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC (latest version) 

Windows 10 64bit Version: 21H1

I have tried uninstalling, restarting the computer, then reinstalling from the Creative Cloud launcher. 
Our enviroments do not require connection to the VPN in order for a digital siganture to be applied, but I have tried both off the VPN and on the VPN.

I deleted the smart card credentials from the Windows Certificate store, then re-cached them. 

Recap:
1. Press "Digitally Sign"
2. Select area on document
3. "Sign With Digital ID" window appears
4. Valid company-issued ActivClient Smart Card Digital certificate with the intended usage as "Digital Siganture, Non-Repudiation" is the only certficate present and radio button is selected.
5. Press "Continue"
6. ID Preview displays correct signature/date
7. "Sign" button is blue, and reacts to "onlick" (color changes slightly when clicked).
8. "Sign as ______" window remains opened, despite multiple clicks. Other buttons (i.e. "Back", "Review", "Create") function nominally.

No error message is shown, and no log file can be found that details what could be happening making this incredibly difficult to troubleshoot. 

[Dan1T · Accepted solution]

I've ran into this issue. This workaround helped restore the ability to use a smartcard signature in my case (Windows 10, Acrobat Pro DC):

Close all instances of Adobe Acrobat, then delete the three "Acrobat" folders in the Windows user's appdata folder (C:\users\<username>\appdata):

C:\%userprofile%\appdata\Local\Adobe\Acrobat

C:\%userprofile%\appdata\LocalLow\Adobe\Acrobat

C:\%userprofile%\appdata\Roaming\Adobe\Acrobat

After deleting these folders, they will be recreated after Acrobat is launched again. After that, digitally signing should work again. I still don't know what causes this issue, but this seems to fix it.

[ls_rbls]

Thank you for this solution!

[Richard24976335epxb]

This worked for me too.

Thank goodness (and Dan).

RT

[ALBERT5CEB]

Thank you! Your solution worked for me perfect!