Acrobat 9 Family of Products
Validating Signatures
Security Feature User Guide
Status Icons and Their Meaning 113
7.4 Status Icons and Their Meaning
By default, signatures are validated automatically when a document opens. You can change this behavior
as described in
“Validating Signatures Automatically” on page 102
. Signature and document status’ are
represented by status icons and text both in the document, on the Signatures pane, on the Document
Message Bar, and in the Signature Properties dialog, and elsewhere.
Note:
For a higher level of assurance, do not rely solely upon the visual inspection of status icons.
Review the Signature Properties dialog for revocation and trust information as well as the
signer’s certificate details.
7.4.1 Signature Status Definitions
To determine a signature’s status, the application checks the signature’s digital ID certificate status (is it
valid) and document integrity (has it changed since being signed).
The rules for determining signature status are as follows:
Valid
signatures used a valid and trusted certificate and the document has not changed or has
changed in ways specifically permitted by the author.
Problematic
signatures are associated with certificates that cannot be validated or lack a trust
relationship with the signer.
Unknown
signatures indicate that the signature validity state has not been checked.
Invalid
signatures either have an invalid certificate or the document has changed in ways specifically
prohibited by the author.
7.4.2 Document Status Definitions
In addition to the individual status for each signature, the Document Message Bar displays the document’s
overall status. The document status is essentially a summation or “rollup” of all the signature status’ AND
the effect of document changes after the last signature.
For example, a form might have two valid signatures and a valid document status. However, when some
someone types into the form’s text box, both the signature status’ get the blue “i” information icon
indicating that something has changed after the signatures were added. The document message bar now
shows a yellow triangle indicating that there are unsigned changed in the document. If the form is signed
again, the overall document status changes back to valid as indicated by the green check.
The rules for determining a document’s status are as follows:
If there is only one signature and the document hasn’t changed since it was signed, then the document
status is identical to the signature status.
The status is flagged as problematic if there are unsigned changes following the last approval
signature.
The status is unknown (magnifying glass) if the authenticity verification check could not complete.
Like a signature status, if either the authenticity verification or document integrity check fails, the
overall document status is invalid (red x).