Add and manage users

Last updated on Sep 16, 2024

Adobe Acrobat Sign makes it fast and easy for administrators to add users to an account. You can also set user authority levels, edit user profiles, and deactivate and reactivate users.

Note:

This page describes the processes for manipulating individual users in enterprise and business level accounts within the Acrobat Sign native environment.

Administrators in the native environment that need to create or edit a large number of users should reference the Create or update users in bulk article

Accounts that manage users through the Adobe Admin Console should refer to the Managing Adobe Acrobat Sign on the Admin Console article.

Administrators in the Adobe Admin Console can manage multiple users via bulk CSV upload here >

Error Message: You cannot add that email address to your account

When adding users to your Acrobat Sign account, you may encounter an error indicating that “You cannot add that email address to your account.”

Error: you cannot add that user to your account

This error message suggests one of two problems with the email provided:

Log in as an Administrator and navigate to the Users section of the Admin menu
Click the More Options icon and select Show All Users
Search for the name or email address of the user

The status of the user is the right-most value in the user record
The status determines the next step.

Single click the user to expose the actions available (just under the search field). Only options that pertain to the current status of the user are displayed:
- Inactive - Click the Reactivate User link
  
  Inactive users have been explicitly disabled in the system by an admin
- Created - Click the Resend Invite link to resend the email to the user
  
  Created users have been formally created in the system, but have not yet set their password
- Unverified - Click the Reset Password link to resend the verification email to the user
  
  Unverified users have changed their email address, but have not yet verified that email change
- Pending - Click the + and create the user
  
  Pending users have been included in agreement processes (as recipients or CC'd parties) but have never been formally created and provided authentication credentials

Some accounts are set up with domain level security. All site license customers should have this type of security, as well as customers that use SAML.

However, domain level security isn’t exposed in the Admin interface. It can only be evaluated on the back end by Customer Support or the Customer Success team.

If the problem user isn’t in your account under any status level, then the problem is almost certainly a domain permission issue. Contact Customer Support or your Customer Success Manager if you have one.

Be sure to include your Account Admin email and the email of the user you are trying to add.

Note:

Claiming domain ownership is a straight forward process, but it does take time. If you believe you have domain type issues, or just want to proactively prevent the possibility, start the claiming process early.

How to add users to your account

Follow the steps below to add an individual user to your account:

Log in as an Administrator and navigate to the Users section of the Admin menu
Click the plus sign (+) in the upper-right corner.
Enter the Email Address, First Name, and Last Name for the user.

If necessary, specify which User Group to place them in from the drop-down list.
- A new group can be created by selecting Create a new group for this user, and then supplying a group name
Check View Their Agreements if you want to have the user's agreements shared to your Manage page. This share is one-way only.
Once you've confirmed all the information is correct, click Save.

A success message displays at the top of the window, and the new user is visible in the list of users.

Edit a user's authority level

Administrators of an Acrobat Sign account have the authority to up-level the users under their authority to the authoritative level they hold.

Group admins can promote Users to Group admins for the same group.

Account admins can promote:

A user to group admin for any group in the account
A user to account admin, granting them full authority in the account
An account admin to a privacy admin

All admins have the authority to:

Allow or deny the userID the right to send agreements
Allow or deny the userID the right to sign agreements

To configure the authority for a user:

Log in as an Administrator and navigate to the Users section of the Admin menu
Search for the name or email address of the user you want to edit
Single click the user to expose the actions available (just under the search field)
Select Edit User from the options
Configure the user settings as desired, and click Save when done.

Options include:
- User is an account administrator
- User is a privacy administrator
- User is a group administrator
- User can send documents
- User can sign documents
Note:

There is no limit to the number of admins (of any type) that you can add to your account (within the scope of the license count).

Edit a user profile as an admin

Administrators of an Acrobat Sign account have the authority to make field-level changes to a user's profile.

Log in as an Administrator and navigate to the Users section of the Admin menu
Search for the name or email address of the user you want to edit
Single click the user to expose the actions available (just under the search field)
Select Edit User from the options
Click the Edit Profile button
Edit the values as needed, and click Save when done.

Note:

There is no limit to the number of admins (of any type) that you can add to your account (within the scope of the license count).

Deactivate a user (Inactive status)

An Account Admin can deactivate a User ID in an account. An inactive User ID cannot log in or send documents and does not take up a seat in the account.

An Inactive user may be allowed to sign agreements provided the inactive userID does not explicitly disable their authority to sign.

When you have users leave the organization, deactivate their User ID in the Acrobat Sign admin console to secure that login against unauthorized access.

Deactivating the User ID prevents all login activities, but does not cancel or otherwise impact any agreements in process. All transactions on the User ID complete normally. Deactivation is purely a login/access security measure.

Inactive users can also be reactivated at any time, with no harm to the User ID. However, the user has to reset their password using the I forgot my password link on the login page.

Account Administrators can deactivate users at any time. Group Administrators can deactivate users if they have been given access to the ability to add users.

To deactivate a user:

Log in as an Administrator and navigate to the Users section of the Admin menu
Search for the email address of the user you want to deactivate
Single click the user to expose the actions available (just under the search field)
Select Deactivate User from the options
After you click Deactivate User, you are presented with a confirmation page. The text of the confirmation affirms that you understand this user can no longer log in and send agreements. The user will also no longer count in regard to your maximum number of licenses.

Two options are presented in the challenge screen:
- Click here to review all the agreements in <user's> account - Recommended to enable if the user is still an employee that might need to sign an agreement (e.g. Internal policies). If not enabled, the user will not be allowed to sign any agreements using Acrobat Sign.
- Allow the deactivated user to sign agreements - Recommended to enable if the user has agreements that would need to be reviewed online. Establishes a one-way share allowing the administrator to view the agreements of the user. The share can be canceled at any time.
Once you have enabled the options you prefer, select Yes.
Caution:

UserIDs that are marked as Inactive are fully blocked from accessing Acrobat Sign.

Inactive users can still sign agreements provided the userID is not explicitly configured to disallow signing.

Reactivate a user

Inactive userIDs can be reactivated and brought back into normal use.

Reactivating a user does not impact the status of the agreements related to that userID.

Only an administrator in the account can reactivate a user ID, and only if there is an available seat for them. All account admins have the authority to reactivate users, as well as group admins who have been given the authority to add users by the account admins.

To reactivate a userID:

Log in as an Administrator and navigate to the Users section of the Admin menu
Click the More Options icon and select Show All Users
Search for the email address of the user you want to reactivate
Single click the user to expose the actions available (just under the search field)
Select Reactivate User from the options. The user now appears as an Active user in the Users list.

Note:

A user that is reactivated has an expired password and may not log in.

The act or reactivating them sends a Change Password email to the reactivated user

Once the password is changed, the user will be able to log in normally, and has full access to any/all historic agreements/library templates/web forms that were previously associated to the user.

Export a user list

Log in as an Administrator and navigate to the Users section of the Admin menu
Click the Export user list icon (the box with an arrow) in the upper-right corner:
The CSV file is automatically downloaded to your system.

Open the CSV file to view the list of your users.
- Sort by Status to pull your Active users together
A success message displays at the top of the window, and the new user is visible in the list of users.