Dynamic Forms - Fill & Sign

[ellenk76580830]

My question is related to dynamic forms and the ability to utilize the fill & sign capability with a drawn/scribble signature.

It is required in our organization to retrieve a scribble signature on a form vs. an electronic digital signature.  I know with Dynamic forms the only way I can get this to work is by having the user Print the form using ADOBE PDF, which saves the form in a format where "fill & sign" can be used to draw a signature.  Unfortunately this causes a number of extra steps for our users.  Once the form is generated from an XML feed they have to click on File, Print, Select Adobe PDF, Save the form to their desktop and then click Fill & Sign to utilize the drawing signature.  Note: this option also requires the users have a license for Adobe Acrobat Standard Pro or DC Pro which is an added expense.  Additionally, the form is saved to extend the appropriate reader capabilities.

Question: is there any option to utilize scripting at the time the form is generated to allow for the user to utilize the drawing signature capability within fill & sign?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[Daryl_Dean · Accepted solution]

Where you say 'dynamic forms', this makes me assume that you're using LiveCycle/AEM Designer to create your forms as Dynamic PDF files.  I can't know if you have the LiveCycle or AEM server software, though.

If that's the case then it's also the cause of your issue when it comes to using Fill&Sign, as that isn't meant for dynamic LiveCycle forms but for Acrobat forms, which is the old Acrobat-only way of doing forms.  You can do a lot more with LiveCycle forms - including making them dynamic - than with Acrobat forms.

You will hear LiveCycle forms also referred to as AEM forms (as there was a name change) as well as XDP or XFA-based forms.  We use these terms to clarify the difference between a 'regular' PDF and one made by LiveCycle/AEM.

Acrobat forms are also called Acroforms for short.  Both of these things exist in Acrobat.

What you're running into is that the Fill&Sign tools are meant to work with Acroforms or just regular PDF files and not with XFA forms.  So by filling out the form and then printing it you're creating what we call a 'flat' file.  All of the dynamic information in the form is lost and it goes from being an XFA-based form to being just a regular PDF file. And then you're able to sign it this way.

Of course your users are able to fill and print the form in Reader because you've Reader-Enabled it, but the PDF they print isn't Reader-Enabled so then they are unable to use Fill&Sign to scribble on it unless they have Acrobat.

I'm making a further assumption that you need this form to be dynamic for some reason.  If you don't, you could just make an Acroform for it and that would solve this issue entirely as long as you Reader-Enabled that form.

If you stick with the XFA-based PDF form then there's currently no way to use Fill&Sign on that unless you do as you've described in your question.

And I know nothing about what you're using this for and why you might need to have a scribble signature...even if you let people make their own digital ID's they are still harder to forge than a scribble...especially one done with a mouse.

I hope that helps, let us know if you need any clarification.