Nitro PDF Professional User Guide

12. Forms
© 2008 Nitro PDF Software
Digital signatures 69
commenting, form filling and signing). If any change is made to the document after certification, its
certificate becomes invalid.
· Only allow form fill-in actions. Disables all tools that can be used to change a file, except for the
form filling and signing tools. An example of when you would use this is when collecting information
from users via an official form that requires the user to enter their information but must not allow
them to change the form you have designed.
· Only allow commenting and form fill-in actions. Disables all tools that can be used to change a
file, except for the form filling, signing, and commenting tools. An example of when you would use
this is when reviewing a contract that may require signatures and comments during the reviewing
stage.
Why certify a document?
· When you want people to be able to sign, form fill or annotate a PDF file without invalidating the
certificate.
· To attest you are the document’s author.
· To vouch for its contents.
· To specify what changes are permitted for it to stay certified.
· To automatically disallow functionality such as inserting pages, changing text, and editing form field
properties.
Tip: PDF files can be certified only once, but if permissions allow, can be digitally signed many
times. This is the benefit of certifying the files you author rather than just signing it.
To certify a PDF document:
1. On the Secure and Sign ribbon, in the Signatures group, click Certify .
2. On the Certify Document dialog, choose the actions you want to permit from the Permitted
actions list.
3. Click Next.
4. Select the digital ID with which to certify and choose whether to make the certificate visible or not.
5. Click Next.
6. If you chose to make the certificate visible, click on the page where you would like it to appear.
7. On the Certify Document dialog, do the following:
· Choose a reason for signing the file from the Reason for signing document list, or enter your own
reason.
· Choose to save the certification to the current document or save as a new document.
· Choose how you would like the certificate should appear.
8. Click Finish.
Note: When sharing certified PDF files with other users, the PDF viewer they use must support
the functionality for certification and signatures to work correctly. Nitro Pro, Adobe Acrobat and
Adobe Reader can all share certified and signed PDF files between them.
Forms are one of the most common uses of PDF documents. Using form tools and JavaScript you can create
dynamic, interactive documents, and create alternatives for writing complex HTML code when hosting forms
on web sites. There are seven form tools in Nitro PDF Professional used for creating PDF forms. Each tool
offers a number of different settings to control form behavior and appearance.
When a PDF form is opened in Nitro Pro, the Information bar (above the document pane area) appears,
notifying the user that the file contains forms fields.