How to Delete Digital Signature from a PDF Document?

About PDF's Digital Signatures

You might have seen notifications like this when trying to edit any signed PDf document. A Digital Signature in PDF is like a typical handwritten signature, that identifies a user signing a file or document. It is quite difficult to forge a digital signature as it contains encrypted information. It also includes a password and is stored in a special file format called PKCS #12, or PFX (Personal Exchange Information File).

But, have you wondered about the need to remove digital signatures from PDFs?

Why Do Users Remove Digital Signature from PDF?

There are many reasons why users may be forced to delete digital signature from PDFs. Here are some scenarios such as:

• Sometimes, users delete digital signatures to correct errors in signed PDFs.
• To change or update any critical information like addresses in the document.
• Signatures can be removed from the document to allow multiple stakeholders to edit.
• Any kind of issue with the PDF, when the user needs to recreate PDF documents.

But what is the best way to remove a signature from a PDF online? Let us find out.

Best Ways to Delete Digital Signature from PDF Documents

We have found some of the methods to remove signatures in PDF documents. Choose one as per your requirements and preferences.

Method 1: Use Delete Option to Delete Digital Signatures

If the PDF file is created in Adobe Acrobat containing all the required passwords, use the Delete option to remove the signature on the PDF. For this, you must have a Digital ID for signing. Just follow the below-mentioned steps to perform the deletion:

1. First of all, open the PDF document.
2. After that, go to Tools and click on content.
3. Then you have to select the Object.
4. Now, click on the Signature field and click the Delete Key.

Method 2: Delete Digital Signature from PDF Using Adobe

Adobe makes it easy to remove digital signatures from PDFs. However, you can only do this if:

• You’re the only person who signed the document.
• The signer didn’t lock the file when saving it.

Further, follow the procedure below:

1. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat.
2. Go to the Edit tab.
3. Click on the signature while holding Control (on Windows) or Command (on Mac).
4. Choose ‘Delete’ or ‘Clear Signature’ from the menu that appears.

Points to Note

• Look into whether the digital signature was applied when the PDF file was created. If it is so, then the user is required to find the signature field and delete the value.
• If a digital signature is added after the creation of a PDF file, then move back to the previous version of the PDF. Then only you can clear the digital signature PDF.
• If a PDF document comprises more than one signature then you would be able to remove the most recent signature. So that other available signatures won’t be affected by this. To remove the most recent digital signature, you need to revert to the version before this recent signature is applied. If you desire to erase the older signature, delete all counter signatures applied later on.

Conclusion

We all know that PDF files are highly secure and it is considered the safest format to store all your information. In PDF files we can add digital signatures and watermarks for security reasons. But sometimes we need to remove digital signatures from PDF documents. So, this article explains the different approaches that can be used to delete digital signatures from PDF documents. Hope it helps you out.