Question re documents with security assigned

[mariea40962818]

Hi there,

I use Acrobat Pro DC.

I send confidential contracts out to clients to sign and return to me via email.  I always add a password security which only allows high resolution printing (until I learn how to enable signatures and filling out forms etc - still new to this part).

However I have received a contract back via email where the client has added his signature (presumably as a picture file) and dates added as text.

Can a customer save a secure document to then edit and send back?  Really concerned because the file he sent back (which he completely renamed) is now editable and for all I know, he could have changed parts of the 11 page contract I sent him?

Am I doing this wrong?  Any suggestions on how to get around this?

Hope anyone can help?

[Test Screen Name]

When you set security you should have got a warning that some third party tools will ignore security. So, yes, any file can be edited, though Adobe software respects your security settings. The customer may not even have edited the file .They might have printed it, written on it, and sent you a new scanned PDF.

This is why digital signatures were invented. They can be used to detect change, and the signature is proof that the file is unchanged. This must be a digital signature, not a "stamp" type of signature which is worthless both practically and legally (but people do like them). You do have to make sure you don't look at the signature ON THE PAGE - that's a dangerous habit.

[mariea40962818]

Thanks for your reply.

Its definitely not a scanned copy the client returned.  They have inserted their signature as an image file and typed in their dates and initials on each page.

I will look at the digital signatures and study that more then as to send a password file as I have been is pointless.

Thanks for responding.