Signature not verified - Document becomes locked

[eilhys]

Is there any way within PDF-XChange Editor to continue working with a PDF — saving, editing, merging, or assembling it — even if one or more digital signatures in the file are expired, invalid, or show as not trusted?

I regularly compile large documents up to 5000 pages where many supplier documents contain outdated or expired signatures.
Adobe Acrobat allows editing and document assembly in these cases, but in PDF-XChange Editor the document becomes locked, and I cannot proceed with operations such as saving, clearing signatures, or inserting pages.

I simply cannot ask all the issuers for a new signature every time this comes up. Then I would be forced to use another product

I hope this is possible, thank you

[Dimitar - PDF-XChange]

Hello Eilif,

Welcome to our Forum.

Your statement is essentially correct.

PDF‑XChange Editor does lock documents with invalid, expired, or untrusted digital signatures, preventing editing, saving, or merging.

Unlike a few other products, it does not allow bypassing those restrictions, which means you cannot continue assembling or modifying such files without first removing the signatures.

However, I will ask our develops if they are willing to change how our products treat encrypted files, and will let you know what their decision will be.

Regards.

[HKV]

I also hope that the developers can change this, as I have many filled out forms that I sometimes have to resubmit. I want to be able to clear my own signature so that I can change the date that I signed it to allow for accurate resubmission. It takes more time to have to fill out the form a second time before I can resubmit. Is there another way to do this?

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, HKV

Sorry, just to be fully clear here. The Editor itself does not lock the files arbitrarily. The Existence of a certificate in the file includes security at the document level. If the certificate in place is your own, and you have that certificate file present on your device, you should be able to remove it (regardless of any errors or verification state) simply by clicking the either of the "remove signature" buttons.

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Once the signature has been removed and the file saved/re-opened, you should be able to edit it, unless there was a secondary form of security in place preventing it.

In any other situation, especially if the signature is not yours or you do not have a copy of it locally available, we are beholden, as per the PDF specification, to honor the security that the applied certificate has defined. We cannot and will not be offering any methods to circumvent legitimately in place security, and have no plans to ever do so.

Kind regards,