How to send digital signature from pdf form to fdf file?

I am sorry I can't answer that question, but I have a similar question.  I have created a form in Acrobat X, extended the features to allow Reader users to sign the form, then tested it.  I set up the "submit" button so that it sends an me the email with .fdf file attached.  When I manage data and merge into a datasheet, all the fields and data merge EXCEPT the signature.  I can see that there is a signature field (it's in the top row), but there is no indication that it's actually been signed.  Does anyone have any idea what I've missed?  I've tried this as just an .fdf reply, as an .fdf reply with all checkboxes checked, and now as .xfdf.  Thanks.

When you submit, submit the "Incremental changes to the PDF" - you'll get the binary stuff that you need to append to the original forms and reconstruct your signed document... I was told that would work at one time long ago but have never tried it.

It did work with earlier versions that did not perform a full save when a signature was applied. Since Acrobat/Reader now do a Save As when a signature is applied, there are no incremental saves to include in the FDF. This can still be useful for forms that haven't been signed, oddly enough, but since you cannot control whether the user performs a full save, it shouldn't be relied on for general use. The big problem is extracting the appended saves from the FDF so you can concatenate it to original document. The FDF Toolkit is the only thing I'm aware of that helps with this.

pgm820,

That's just the way it works. I agree that it would be helpful that there be some indication that signature fields have been signed, but what should the indication be exactly? When you retrieve the value of a signed signture field with JavaScript, it returns the string "<<dict>>", so that might be reasonable. You might want to submit a feature request, and I think I will too as this has come up before.

George,

I will submit that request, but in the meantime, would it be possible to "rebuild" the form itself by importing the .fdf data into a blank form, and if so, would it include some indication that the form had been signed?  I don't know what indication could be given in the Excel output of the .fdf file, but recreating the .pdf might be plenty.  Maybe I should just accept all data back as a .pdf, although then I get into the license restrictions, I think.  Looks like I'll be talking to Adobe today.  Thanks for your help.

Grant

No, Acrobat does not cause digital signature fields to be signed when it imports FDFs that contain signature field information (dictionaries). The problem with FDF is there is no way to validate the signatures if that's all you have, so you do need the complete PDFs for that important step.

OK, thank you George.  I talked to Adobe this morning, and when I said I could accept the entire PDF and export the data to Excel but would have more than 500 responses, the technician recommended using a single instance of the form until it had reached its limit, then re-post the form to get another 500 responses, etc (I'm going to post it to a website).  Not a great workaround from Adobe's perspective, but I may just have to give it a shot.

...the technician recommended using a single instance of the form until it had reached its limit, then re-post the form to get another 500 responses, etc (I'm going to post it to a website).  Not a great workaround from Adobe's perspective, but I may just have to give it a shot.

That's an interesting response. He's wrong about that being a valid approach to the problem, but at least it came from Adobe.

Hi, I am planning to buy Acrobat X pro, but i am not confident that Signature will able to submit by using fdf.

I am having the same problem as well, Is there any way to export fdf and the merge the fdf to pdf? is there any good prove? so that i can be convinced to buy.

It is far easier to just set up the form to submit the entire PDF if you need to use a digital signature. You can't simply import an FDF that contains a signature field "value" (it's not really the value) and have Acrobat create a signed PDF. The other method described may or may not work for your situation, and you would have to figure out how to extract the incremental changes so you can gnerate the signed PDF.