Adobe Acrobat Sign Sandbox

The Adobe Acrobat Sign Sandbox is a modified enterprise-tier account in an environment discrete from the production environment.

The purpose of the sandbox is to allow administrators to test setting configurations, API calls, library templates, custom workflows, and new features that are approaching release. Scheduled releases that contain features are pre-published to the sandbox 28 days before the public launch date.

The sandbox is presented as a "blank slate" environment with the standard (default) configuration. The sandbox does not mirror your existing production account when delivered

The admin has the ability to copy Library Templates, Web Forms, Group names, Custom Workflows, and API Applications from one environment to the other, allowing tweaking and testing in the sandbox, and then moving the vetted object to the production environment for use.

Things to note:

• The sandbox environment is a separately entitled pay-for-access environment. Contact your success manager or sales representative to inquire if interested.
  
• The sandbox updates the codebase 28 days before a major release to allow accounts four weeks of testing to review the new content and report any problems they encounter.
• To have the option for entitlement:
  • The production account must be an enterprise-level account.
    
  • The account must have a success manager assigned.
  • The account must manage its user entitlements through the Adobe Admin Console.
• Only one sandbox is possible per account.
• The sandbox environment is built with one account-level admin added to the account. Additional users can be added in the same manner as the production environment.
  • Additional admins can not be defined in the Admin Console. To configure a new admin for the sandbox, the user must be elevated to Admin in the Adobe Acrobat Sign environment.
    
• The sandbox environment is persistent and retains any assets built over time (users, templates, workflows).
  • Customers that add Users to their sandbox will need to keep these userIDs in mind if they have to disable or delete (via GDPR tools) a user in production. Given sandbox is a discrete environment; these users will need to be explicitly addressed.
    
• Contact your success manager if any back-end settings need to be adjusted (e.g.: Number of pages per agreement, Send in Bulk roll-up value).

• The sandbox has only one environment and is hosted on the Azure platform.
• Integrations that are currently supported in sandbox accounts
  • Salesforce
  • Power Automate
  • Microsoft 365 (Teams, Outlook, Word/PowerPoint)
• Agreements sent from the sandbox are watermarked as "not for production use".
  
• Sandbox does not permit configuring the Account Setup tab of the account admin menu (Company Name and Hostname values).
• The sandbox does not support the Acrobat integration.
• The sandbox does not support the Acrobat Sign mobile applications.
• The settings for Require signers to use a mobile device are not available in the sandbox.
• The control to Allow recipients to decline is reduced in scope and listed as an option in the Additional Settings section of the Signature Preferences tab.
• Outbound email notifications are largely suppressed by default. If you would like to modify the email notification options, your success manager can assist.
  • User/account provisioning emails are disabled.
  • Emailed agreement notifications to the agreement sender and participants are disabled, to include:
    • Please Sign and Signed and Filed emails to recipients
      • The sender of the agreement will still get the Signed and Filed email
    • All emails to CC'd parties
      
    • Updates to recipient groups when one member completes the signature
    • Sent agreement notifications
      
    • Viewed agreement notifications
      
    • Archiving events
      
    • Cancellations
    • Delegation actions
      
    • Expired agreements
    • Uploaded agreements
    • Signer replacement

Local vs Remote assets

When a sandbox is connected to your production environment, the Sandbox interface defines the two independent environments as either Local or Remote.  

• The Local section contains the assets that are available in the environment you authenticated to
• The Remote section lists the assets in the environment you connected to

In the image below, we have authenticated to the Sandbox (note the banner at the top of the page), and connected to the Stage environment (Stage Sync). In this case, the sandbox is local, and you can copy assets from the remote Stage environment.

Accessing the sandbox environment from your production account

To access the sandbox from your production account an OAuth connection must be created. The OAuth connection persists while the browser session is active. When the session expires, the authentication token expires with it, and the admin will have to re-authenticate when a new session is created.

Authenticating directly to the sandbox environment

It is possible to log in directly to the sandbox public portal: https://secure.na1.adobesignsandbox.com/public/login

When authenticated to the sandbox, a banner is evident at the top of the page (for all pages):

Connecting the sandbox to your production environment follows the same process as connecting from production to sandbox

Searching for assets

By default, the list of assets is sorted by the Name/Title value of the asset.

To help find the asset you are looking for, each section has a Search field that limits the data set exposed based on the Name/Title field of the asset type being viewed:

Only assets that match the string will be returned.

• The search string is not case sensitive
• The search string can be anywhere in the name/title as long as the string is unbroken

Asset Types

Templates

The column data provided in the Templates section is:

• Title - Provides the literal name for the library template
  • Templates created in (or copied to) the sandbox environment will have the string [DEMO USE ONLY] prepended to the template name in the Manage view
    
• Status - the status of the template can be:
  • Active - Active templates are available to send to recipients or attach to workflows
    
  • Authoring - This is a Draft template that hasn't been completed to the point it can be sent for signature
    
• Sharing Mode - This value asserts the scope of the template. A template may only have one sharing mode:
  
  • Account - Account sharing indicates that all users in the account can use the template for agreements or workflows
    
  • Group - Group sharing indicates that anyone in the group the template is associated with will be allowed to use it for creating agreements or workflows
    
  • User - User sharing mode indicates that only the creating user has access to the asset. These can only be copied if you are the owner of the template
    
    • If you attempt to copy a template with a User share mode, and the owner of that template is not you, an error message will trigger (Error executing request!)
      
• Template Types - Templates have two types. One or both can be referenced:
  • Document - A file containing viewable content with a form field layer applied. The document type is used for static documents with defined field placement
    
  • Form Field Layer - A form field layer without the underlying document containing the viewable content.  Used when the content of the document is variable, but the field requirements are constant

Actions that can be taken with library templates are:

• Copy - This action copies a version of the template to the local environment with the same name value
• Copy As - This action allows the admin to change the name of the asset when it is copied to the local environment

User Groups

The column data provided in the Groups section is:

• Name - Provides the literal name for the group
  
• Is Default - Identifies if the group is the default group for the account
  
  • True - This value identifies the account's default group.
    • There must be one, and only one, default group
  • False - All groups that are not the default group
    

The only action that can be taken with a Group is Copy.

When a group is copied to the other environment, a new group is created with the same Name value as the copied group.

• No settings or users are imported when the group is copied. The group will be empty and configured to inherit all settings from the account level just as any new group would be
• Copying groups is in place to support other objects that reference groups (eg: Workflows)
  

Web Forms

The column data provided in the Web Form section is:

• Title - Provides the literal name for the web form
  • Web forms created in (or copied to) the sandbox environment will have the string [DEMO USE ONLY] prepended to the name in the Manage view
• Status - What is the current status of the web form:
  • Active - The web form URL is available to the public and can be signed by a recipient
    
  • Disabled - The web form is disabled. The URL will either redirect recipients, or provide a terminal message depending on how the web form was configured at the time it was disabled
    

• Copy - This action copies a version of the web form to the local environment with the same name value
• Copy As - This action allows the admin to change the name of the web form when it is copied to the local environment

Custom Workflows

The column data provided in the Workflows section is:

• Name - Provides the literal name for the workflow.
• Scope - Defines the scope of the workflow in terms of access to the account.
  • Group - The workflow is currently configured to be accessible to only one group.
    
  • Account - The workflow is currently configured to be accessible to the whole account.
    
• Status - The current availability status of the workflow.
  
  • Active - Workflows that are currently available to users in the account.
  • Draft - The Draft status is used when the workflow hasn't been set to Active.
    • Workflows that have been deactivated will reflect a Draft status.  
      

Actions that can be taken are:

• Copy - Copies the workflow from the remote environment to the local environment.
  • Automatically updates the workflow if the local environment has the same workflow already.    
• Copy As - Copies the workflow from the remote environment and allows the admin to rename it.
  

API Applications

The column data provided in the API Applications section is:

• Display Name - Provides the literal name displayed for the application.
• Domain - Defines the scope of the application in terms of access to the account.
  • CUSTOMER - The application is configured to have access to data within your Acrobat Sign account only.
    
  • PARTNER - The application is configured to have access to any authorized Acrobat Sign account.
    
• Status - The current availability status of the application.
  
  • Active - Applications that are currently available to users in the account.
    • Applications are created in Active status.
      
  • Disabled - Applications that are no longer available.
    

Actions that can be taken are:

• Copy - Copies the application from the remote environment to the local environment.
  
• Copy As - Copies the application from the remote environment and allows the admin to rename it.
  

Configuring Settings

By and large, the option to configure account or group level settings matches the setting options that you find in your production environment, the excepting being any new/updated settings that are pending release.

Adding user and group-level admins to the sandbox

Users and Group-level admins can be added to the sandbox to allow for testing through the Adobe Admin Console.

Users will be sent an email to establish a password prior to login just like in the production environment:

Sending agreements from the sandbox

Sending an agreement produces a signable document that is watermarked as Adobe Sign Sandbox Test.

Keep in mind that outbound email to recipients is disabled, but can be enabled upon request to your success manager.

Common questions