Empty Signature Field created corrupted PDF

[Michael]

Good Afternoon, 

I am trying to create a PDF with an empty signature field. It was working a few months ago, when the site was first built, but now when a user opens the PDF in Acrobat to sign the document, they get an error saying the document could not be read (23).

I have stripped away all the code so it's now only generating an empty signature field. It's still refusing to work properly in Adobe Acrobat.  When attempting to sign, there is a message about constructs that could affect appearance with a 4000 code for Unrecognized PDF Content. When I proceed, I get the error messages attached.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I have been struggling with this for hours!

I am using Telerik Version 2025.3.806. I have updated Adobe Acrobat to the latest version and restarted my computer several times. 

This code is taken directly from the Telerik docs, so I expected it to work. I've included the produced PDF, as well.

public void PdfExportSignatureTest()
{
    // Create a new PDF document and a page
    RadFixedDocument document = new RadFixedDocument();
    RadFixedPage page = document.Pages.AddPage();

    // Define the rectangle for the signature field
    Rect signatureRect = new Rect(50, 700, 200, 50);

    // Create the signature field (do not assign a certificate or signature)
    SignatureField signatureField = document.AcroForm.FormFields.AddSignature("SignatureFieldUniqueName");

    // Add a widget for the signature field and set its position and size
    SignatureWidget signatureWidget = signatureField.Widgets.AddWidget();
    signatureWidget.Rect = signatureRect;

    // Add the widget to the page's annotations
    page.Annotations.Add(signatureWidget);

    PdfFormatProvider provider = new();

    // Save the document
    string filePath = "EmptySignatureWidget.pdf";
    File.Delete(filePath);
    using (var output = new System.IO.FileStream(filePath, System.IO.FileMode.Create, System.IO.FileAccess.Write))
    {
        provider.Export(document, output, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10));
    }
}

 

 

[Yoan]

Hi Michael,

Thank you for reaching out and for the provided resources.

The results you are experiencing are caused by a regression issue that is already resolved in the 2025.4.1216 (2025 Q4) version - PdfProcessing: Resaving a document with Acrobat throws an error due to invalid Info dictionary in document trailer.

If you update to that, or the latest 2025.4.1319 version of PdfProcessing, you should be able to successfully sign and save the document.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Yoan
Progress Telerik