E-Signature
Middlebury offers E-Signature to all faculty and staff via Adobe Sign and Adobe Acrobat. The functionality is available both through the application and the web interface. Please read through our FAQ for any questions you may have, and visit go/esign/ for more detailed information.
To use the web interface, visit go/adobesign/ or go/adobeacrobat/. To use the application, visit go/getadobe/ for installation instructions, then open Acrobat.
For full instructions, see how to sign a document using…
- standard process: Sign PDFs
- certificate-based signature process: Certificate-based signatures
For more information specific to Adobe Sign, visit Adobe Acrobat Sign user’s get started guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I add fillable fields to a document which needs to be signed?
When sending a document, you can either create a PDF which already has fill-able fields in Acrobat Pro, or you can upload a simple Word document. Before sending the document, check the “preview and add signature fields” option. This will allow you to mark the appropriate areas for signature as well as adding other fields. Adobe Sign will also attempt to automatically add the correct fields into an uploaded document.
Can I sign a PDF document directly from Outlook?
Yes; Adobe has created an Office 365 Add-in which allows for e-signature directly from Outlook. Please see Adobe’s site for more information on installing and using the Add-In.
Is there a way to easily replicate common forms I need to send?
Yes; you can create and share templates for forms and documents, either from within Adobe Sign or using OneDrive or Google Drive.
Can I use Adobe Sign to gather sensitive information?
Yes; however, please refer to Middlebury’s data classification policy for more information on what constitutes sensitive data and recommendations.
How can I be certain that the signer of my agreement is the intended recipient?
There are four different ways in which Adobe can verify the identity of a signer of an agreement.
- Email verification - this is the default method applied to all agreements - a signee must verify their email address when signing a document. This prevents documents from being forwarded.
- Password - you can add a password to an agreement which is only shared with the signee of the document.
- Social - the user is required to authenticate to the document using a Microsoft, Facebook or Google identity.
- Adobe Sign Authentication - the user must sign in to their Adobe Sign identity to be able to sign this document. This method only works for other Enterprise Adobe Sign customers or internal Adobe Sign users.
For more information on these methods of identity verification, please visit Adobe’s website.
How can I share a signed document with my department?
You can either carbon copy CC colleagues on the document itself or you can share a document after it has been sent or signed.
You can also download the document and upload it to a shared storage location, like Microsoft or Google cloud storage locations. See more at go/cloudoverview/.
How can I review documents I’ve signed?
All signed documents are available in Adobe’s Document Cloud; to review documents you have signed, sign into go/adobesign/ and go to the “manage” tab.
What is an audit report?
An audit reported is a generated document which includes the history of the agreement, including who has viewed and signed it, as well as their IP address. For more information on audit reports, please see Adobe’s documentation.