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Set the Completion Deadline (Document Expiration)

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Adobe Acrobat Sign Guide

What's New

  1. Pre-Release Notes
  2. Release Notes
  3. Important Notifications

Get Started

  1. Quick start guide for administrators
  2. Quick start guide for users
  3. For Developers
  4. Video tutorial library
  5. FAQ

Administer

  1. Admin Console Overview
  2. User Management
    1. Adding users
      1. Add a User
      2. Add Users in Bulk
      3. Add Users from your Directory
      4. Add Users from MS Azure Active Directory
    2. Create function-focused users
      1. Technical accounts - API driven
      2. Service accounts - Manually driven
    3. Check for users with provisioning errors
    4. Change Name/Email Address
    5. Edit a user's group membership
    6. Edit a user's group membership through the group interface
    7. Promote a user to an admin role
    8. User Identity Types and SSO
    9. Switch User Identity
    10. Authenticate Users with MS Azure
    11. Authenticate Users with Google Federation
    12. Product Profiles
    13. Login Experience 
  3. Account/Group Settings
    1. Settings Overview
    2. Global Settings
      1. Account tier and ID
      2. New Recipient Experience
      3. Self Signing Workflows
      4. Send in Bulk
      5. Web Forms
      6. Custom Send Workflows
      7. Power Automate Workflows
      8. Library Documents
      9. Collect form data with agreements
      10. Limited Document Visibility
      11. Attach a PDF copy of the signed agreement 
      12. Include a link in the email
      13. Include an image in the email
      14. Files attached to email will be named as
      15. Attach audit reports to documents
      16. Merge multiple documents into one
      17. Download individual documents
      18. Upload a signed document
      19. Delegation for users in my account
      20. Allow external recipients to delegate
      21. Authority to sign
      22. Authority to send
      23. Power to add Electronic Seals
      24. Set a default time zone
      25. Set a default date format
      26. Users in Multiple Groups (UMG)
        1. Upgrade to use UMG
      27. Group Administrator Permissions
      28. Replace recipient
      29. Audit Report
        1. Overview
        2. Allow unauthenticated access on the transaction verification page
        3. Include reminders
        4. Include view events
        5. Include agreement page/attachment count
      30. Transaction Footer
      31. In Product Messaging and Guidance
      32. Accessible PDFs
      33. New authoring experience
      34. Healthcare customer
    3. Account Setup
      1. Add logo
      2. Customize company Hostname/URL    
      3. Add company name
      4. Post agreement URL redirect
    4. Signature Preferences
      1. Well formatted signatures
      2. Allow recipients to sign by
      3. Signers can change their name
      4. Allow recipients to use their saved signature
      5. Custom Terms of Use and Consumer Disclosure
      6. Navigate recipients through form fields
      7. Restart agreement workflow
      8. Decline to sign
      9. Allow Stamps workflows
      10. Require signers to provide their Title or Company
      11. Allow signers to print and place a written signature
      12. Show messages when e-signing
      13. Require signers to use a mobile device to create their signature
      14. Request IP address from signers
      15. Exclude company name and title from participation stamps
    5. Digital Signatures
      1. Overview
      2. Download and sign with Acrobat
      3. Sign with Cloud Signatures
      4. Include metadata for Identity Providers
      5. Restricted Cloud Signatures Providers
    6. Electronic Seals
    7. Digital Identity
      1. Digital Identity Gateway
      2. Identity Check policy
    8. Report Settings
      1. New report experience
      2. Classic report settings
    9. Security Settings
      1. Single Sign-on settings
      2. Remember-me settings
      3. Login password policy
      4. Login password strength
      5. Web session duration
      6. PDF encryption type
      7. API
      8. User and group info access
      9. Allowed IP Ranges
      10. Account Sharing
      11. Account sharing permissions
      12. Agreement sharing controls
      13. Signer identity verification
      14. Agreement signing password
      15. Document password strength
      16. Block signers by Geolocation
      17. Phone Authentication
      18. Knowledge-Based Authentication (KBA)
      19. Allow page extraction
      20. Document link expiration
      21. Upload a client certificate for webhooks/callbacks
      22. Timestamp
    10. Send Settings
      1. Show Send page after login
      2. Require recipient name when sending
      3. Lock name values for known users
      4. Allowed recipient roles
      5. Allow e-Witnesses
      6. Recipient groups
      7. CCs
      8. Recipient Agreement Access
      9. Required fields
      10. Attaching documents
      11. Field flattening
      12. Modify Agreements
      13. Agreement name
      14. Languages
      15. Private messages
      16. Allowed signature types
      17. Reminders
      18. Signed document password protection
      19. Send Agreement Notification through
      20. Signer identification options
        1. Overview
        2. Signing password
        3. One-Time Password via Email
        4. Acrobat Sign authentication
        5. Phone authentication
        6. Cloud-based digital signature
        7. Knowledge-based authentication
        8. Government ID
        9. Signer Identity reports
      21. Content Protection
      22. Enable Notarize transactions
      23. Document Expiration
      24. Preview, position signatures, and add fields
      25. Signing order
      26. Liquid mode
      27. Custom workflow controls
      28. Upload options for the e-sign page
      29. Post-sign confirmation URL redirect
    11. Message Templates
    12. Bio-Pharma Settings
      1. Overview
      2. Enforce identity authentication
      3. Signing reasons
    13. Workflow Integration
    14. Notarization Settings
    15. Payments Integration
    16. Signer Messaging
    17. SAML Settings
      1. SAML Configuration
      2. Install Microsoft Active Directory Federation Service
      3. Install Okta
      4. Install OneLogin
      5. Install Oracle Identity Federation
    18. Data Governance
    19. Time Stamp Settings
    20. External Archive
    21. Account Languages
    22. Email Settings
      1. Email header/footer images
      2. Permit individual user email footers
      3. Customize the Signature Requested email
      4. Customize the To and CC fields
      5. Enable Linkless Notifications
      6. Customize email templates
    23. Migrating from echosign.com to adobesign.com
    24. Configure Options for Recipients
  4. Guidance for regulatory requirements
    1. Accessibility
      1. Accessibility Compliance
      2. Create accessible forms with Acrobat desktop
      3. Create accessible AcroForms
    2. HIPAA
    3. GDPR
      1. GDPR Overview
      2. Redact a user
      3. Redact a user's agreements    
    4. 21 CFR part 11 and EudraLex Annex 11
      1. 21 CRF part 11 validation pack
      2. 21 CFR and EudraLex Annex 11 handbook
      3. Analysis of shared responsibilities
    5. Healthcare customers
    6. IVES support
    7. "Vaulting" agreements
    8. EU/UK considerations
      1. EU/UK Cross-border transactions and eIDAS
      2. HMLR requirements for deeds signed electronically
      3. The impact of Brexit on e-signature laws in the UK
  5. Download Agreements in Bulk
  6. Claim your domain 
  7. Report Abuse links

Send, Sign, and Manage Agreements

  1. Recipient Options
    1. Cancel an email reminder
    2. Options on the e-signing page
      1. Overview of the e-sign page
      2. Open to read the agreement without fields
      3. Decline to sign an agreement
      4. Delegate signing authority
      5. Restart the agreement
      6. Download a PDF of the agreement
      7. View the agreement history
      8. View the agreement messages
      9. Convert from an electronic to a written signature
      10. Convert from a written to an electronic signature 
      11. Navigate the form fields
      12. Clear the data from the form fields
      13. E-sign page magnification and navigation
      14. Change the language used in the agreement tools and information
      15. Review the Legal Notices
      16. Adjust Acrobat Sign Cookie Preferences
  2. Send Agreements  
    1. Send (Compose) page
      1. Overview of landmarks and features
      2. Group selector
      3. Adding files and templates
      4. Agreement name
      5. Global Message
      6. Completion Deadline
      7. Reminders
      8. Password protect the PDF
      9. Signature type
      10. Locale for the recipient
      11. Recipient signature order/flow
      12. Recipient roles
      13. Recipient authentication
      14. Private message for the recipient
      15. Recipient agreement access
      16. CC'd parties
      17. Identity check
    2. Send an agreement only to yourself
    3. Send an agreement to others
    4. Written Signatures
    5. Recipient signing order
    6. Send in Bulk
      1. Overview of the Send in Bulk feature
      2. Send in Bulk - Configure a parent template
      3. Send in Bulk - Configure the CSV file
      4. Cancel a Send in Bulk transaction
      5. Add reminders to Send in Bulk
      6. Reporting for Send in Bulk
  3. Authoring fields into documents
    1. In-app authoring environment
      1. Automatic field detection
      2. Drag and drop fields using the authoring environment
      3. Assign form fields to recipients
      4. The Prefill role
      5. Apply fields with a reusable field template
      6. Transfer fields to a new library template
      7. Updated authoring environment when sending agreements
    2. Create forms with text tags
    3. Create forms using Acrobat (AcroForms)
      1. AcroForm creation
      2. Creating accessible PDFs
    4. Fields
      1. Field types
        1. Common field types
        2. In-line Images
        3. Stamp Images
      2. Field content appearance
      3. Field validations
      4. Masked fields values
      5. Setting show/hide conditions
      6. Calculated fields 
    5. Authoring FAQ
  4. Sign Agreements
    1. Sign agreements sent to you
    2. Fill & Sign
    3. Self-signing
  5. Manage Agreements
    1. Manage page overview
    2. Delegate agreements
    3. Replace Recipients
    4. Limit Document Visibility 
    5. Cancel an Agreement 
    6. Create new reminders
    7. Review reminders
    8. Cancel a reminder
    9. Access Power Automate flows
    10. More Actions...
      1. How search works
      2. View an agreement
      3. Create a template from an agreement
      4. Hide/Unhide agreements from view
      5. Upload a signed agreement
      6. Modify a sent agreement's files and fields
      7. Edit a recipient's authentication method
      8. Add or modify an expiration date
      9. Add a Note to the agreement
      10. Share an individual agreement
      11. Unshare an agreement
      12. Download an individual agreement
      13. Download the individual files of an agreement
      14. Download the Audit Report of an agreement
      15. Download the field content of an agreement
  6. Audit Report
  7. Reporting and Data exports
    1. Overview
    2. Grant users access to reporting
    3. Report charts
      1. Create a new report
      2. Agreement Reports
      3. Transaction Reports
      4. Settings Activity Report
      5. Edit a report
    4. Data Exports 
      1. Create a new data export
      2. Web form data export
      3. Edit a data export
      4. Refresh the data export content
      5. Download the data export
    5. Rename a report/export
    6. Duplicate a report/export
    7. Schedule a report/export
    8. Delete a report/export
    9. Check Transaction Usage

Advanced Agreement Capabilities and Workflows

  1. Webforms 
    1. Create a web form
    2. Edit a web form
    3. Disable/Enable a web form
    4. Hide/Unhide a web form
    5. Find the URL or script code 
    6. Prefill web form fields with URL parameters
    7. Save a web form to complete later
    8. Resize a web form
  2. Reusable Templates (Library templates) 
    1. US Government forms in the Acrobat Sign library
    2. Create a library template
    3. Change a library template's name
    4. Change a library template's type
    5. Change a library template's permission level
    6. Copy, edit, and save a shared template
    7. Download the aggregate field data for a library template
  3. Transfer ownership of web forms and library templates
  4. Power Automate Workflows 
    1. Overview of the Power Automate integration and included entitlements
    2. Enable the Power Automate integration
    3. In-Context Actions on the Manage page
    4. Track Power Automate usage
    5. Create a new flow (Examples)
    6. Triggers used for flows
    7. Importing flows from outside Acrobat Sign
    8. Manage flows
    9. Edit flows
    10. Share flows
    11. Disable or Enable flows
    12. Delete flows
    13. Useful Templates
      1. Administrator only
        1. Save all completed documents to SharePoint
        2. Save all completed documents to OneDrive for Business
        3. Save all completed documents to Google Drive
        4. Save all completed documents to DropBox
        5. Save all completed documents to Box
      2. Agreement archival
        1. Save your completed documents to SharePoint
        2. Save your completed documents to One Drive for Business
        3. Save your completed documents to Google Drive
        4. Save your completed documents to DropBox
        5. Save your completed documents to Box
      3. Webform agreement archival
        1. Save completed web form documents to SharePoint Library
        2. Save completed web form documents to OneDrive for Business
        3. Save completed   documents to Google Drive
        4. Save completed web form documents to Box
      4. Agreement data extraction
        1. Extract form field data from your signed document and update Excel sheet
      5. Agreement notifications
        1. Send custom email notifications with your agreement contents and signed agreement
        2. Get your Adobe Acrobat Sign notifications in a Teams Channel
        3. Get your Adobe Acrobat Sign notifications in Slack
        4. Get your Adobe Acrobat Sign notifications in Webex
      6. Agreement generation
        1. Generate document from Power App form and Word template, send for signature
        2. Generate agreement from Word template in OneDrive, and get signature
        3. Generate agreement for selected Excel row, send for review and signature
  5. Custom Send workflows
    1. Custom Send Workflow Overview
    2. Creating a new Send Workflow
    3. Edit a Send Workflow
    4. Activate or Deactivate a Send Workflow
    5. Send an agreement with a Send Workflow
  6. Share users and agreements
    1. Share a user
    2. Share agreements

Integrate with other products

  1.  Acrobat Sign integrations overview 
  2. Acrobat Sign for Salesforce
  3. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft
    1. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft 365
    2. Acrobat Sign for Outlook
    3. Acrobat Sign for Word/PowerPoint
    4. Acrobat Sign for Teams
    5. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft PowerApps and Power Automate
    6. Acrobat Sign Connector for Microsoft Search
    7. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft Dynamics 
    8. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft SharePoint 
  4. Other Integrations
    1. Acrobat Sign for ServiceNow
    2. Acrobat Sign for HR ServiceNow
    3. Acrobat Sign for SAP SuccessFactors
    4. Acrobat Sign for Workday
    5. Acrobat Sign for NetSuite
    6. Acrobat Sign for VeevaVault
    7. Acrobat Sign for Coupa BSM Suite
  5. Partner managed integrations
  6. How to obtain an integration key

Acrobat Sign Developer

  1. REST APIs 
    1. Methods documentation
    2. SDK/Developer Guide
    3. API FAQ    
  2. Webhooks 
    1. Webhook overview
    2. Configure a new webhook
    3. View or edit a webhook
    4. Deactivate or reactivate a webhook
    5. Delete a webhook
    6. Two-way SSL certificates
    7. Webhooks in the API
  3. Sandbox
    1. Sandbox overview
    2. Link your Production and Sandbox
    3. Sandbox asset types

Support and Troubleshooting

  1. Customer Support Resources 
  2. Enterprise Customer Success Resources 

Define a signature deadline that automatically cancels the agreement after a defined number of days.

The Completion deadline feature in Acrobat Sign allows senders to set a time limit for recipients to complete their signatures before the agreement is automatically canceled. This helps control signing deadlines, particularly for time-sensitive agreements, such as seasonal contracts or special offers. It also streamlines agreement management by removing old or unlikely-to-complete agreements from the In Progress list, making active agreements easier to track.

Availability:

  • Acrobat Standard and Acrobat Pro: Not Supported
  • Acrobat Sign Solutions: Supported; Disabled by default
  • Acrobat Sign for Government: Supported; Disabled by default

Configuration scope:

The configurable options for this feature can be found here >

Note:

The expiration date can be manually set for up to 180 days in the future.

Agreements that don't have an expiration date set automatically expire after 365 days.

The sender experience for Document Expiration will vary depending on if you are configuring a commercial Acrobat Sign Solutions account, or an Acrobat Sign for Government account.

Please select the tier of service you are using from the below options to review the configuration options in their respective environments:

If the Document Expiration feature is disabled, the option in the Agreement settings section of the Compose page will be locked down and uneditable. The note in the Agreement settings summary displays None.

A view of the Request Signature page highlighting the "Completion deadline" control greyed out and locked.

If Document Expiration is enabled with only the default value option turned on, the Completion deadline option is visible on the Compose page in the Agreement settings section. The option displays the deadline date, set to whatever the admin has stored as the default length of time an agreement should remain signable. The date picker to select a new date is greyed out and locked, preventing the sender from editing it. 

A view of the Request Signature page highlighting the "Completion deadline" control configured, but not editable.

When the Document Expiration feature is enabled and the option to allow the sender to set the deadline is also turned on, the Completion deadline option is available and editable. The sender is free to enter any number of days (up to 180) that the agreement should remain viable for signature.

  • If the option to set the default number of days is enabled, the default date on a new agreement will reflect that default value.
  • If the option to set a default date is not enabled, the default expiration value will be 180 days from the sending date.
A view of the Request Signature page highlighting the "Completion deadline" control configured and editable.

If the Document Expiration feature is disabled, the option on the Compose page will be absent.

Two images of the Compose page, one showing the Completion Deadline feature, and the other highlighting where the feature is missing.

If Document Expiration is enabled with only the default value option turned on, the Completion Deadline option is visible on the Compose page. The option shows as checked to show the deadline is configured, but greyed out, preventing editing by the sender. 

A view of the Request Signature page highlighting the "Completion deadline" control in a locked state. locked down

When the Document Expiration feature is enabled and the option to allow the sender to set the deadline is also turned on, the Completion Deadline option is available and editable. The sender is free to enter any number of days (up to 180) that the agreement should remain viable for signature.

A view of the Request Signature page highlighting the "Completion deadline" control with no entered value.

Expiration timing

Document expiration always occurs during off-peak hours based on the server that sent the agreement. Off-peak hours are 7 PM to 7 AM in the server's local time zone.

By default, agreements sent through the modern Request Signatures process are assigned an expiration time of 11:59 PM, though senders may be allowed to set custom expiration dates and times. However, agreements sent through the API, integrations, or legacy interfaces don't default to 11:59 PM; instead, they adopt the timestamp of when the agreement was initially sent.

If an agreement is set to expire during peak hours, it's queued for expiration but automatically delayed by 12 hours, ensuring the expiration event is processed during off-peak hours.

Status and Editing During Expiration Queuing

  • While an agreement is queued for expiration, its status remains In Process on the Manage page and API responses.
  • Recipients cannot sign a queued agreement and will receive an error message stating that the agreement cannot be signed.
  • During the 12-hour queuing window, the sender can edit the Expiration Date on the Manage page to extend the deadline and allow recipients additional time to sign.

Things to know and Frequently asked questions:

Non-peak hours are from 7 PM to 7 AM based on the most central time zone for the shard group from which the agreement was sent. The time zones used for each shard group are:

Shard Group

Time Zone for Peak Hours (7 AM - 7 PM)

NA1, NA2, NA3, NA4

America/Chicago

EU1, EU2

Europe/Berlin

AU1

Australia/Sydney

JP1

Asia/Tokyo

IN1

Asia/Kolkata

SG1

Asia/Singapore
Note:

Some shard groups include multiple shards that span multiple time zones. All shards in the group apply the same non-peak expiration window.
For example, the NA1, NA2, NA3, or NA4 all observe the same non-peak hours based on Central Time (GMT -6).

The agreement will expire as scheduled, typically within a few minutes of the set expiration time.

It refers to the shard where the agreement was sent, based on the sender’s environment. (Find out what shard you are on >)

The signer will not be able to sign after the expiration time, even if the agreement has not yet transitioned to EXPIRED status. They will see an error message:

foo

If an agreement has been queued for expiration but the expiration has not yet been processed, the sender may still be able to edit the expiration date. This allows the recipient additional time to sign the agreement before it is expired.

 Until the system processes the expiration (within 12 hours), the agreement remains in the IN_PROCESS state. It transitions to EXPIRED once the expiration event is processed.

Yes, you can edit the expiration time at any time until the expiration is processed. There are no restrictions on modifying the expiration time before the agreement transitions to EXPIRED status.

Yes, but the delay may vary by a few minutes depending on the system load.

When setting the expiration date/time on the Request Signatures page, it defaults to 11:59 PM, ensuring the expiration occurs during non-peak hours and is processed at that time or soon after. You can adjust this in the Agreement Settings section.

The "Agreement settings" section of the Request Signature page highlighting the Completion Deadline setting.

The agreement will continue to appear as In Progress until the expiration is processed, typically 12 hours later.

Data governance starts only after the agreement transitions to a terminal state (e.g., EXPIRED). A delayed expiration also delays the start of the retention period.

The expiration event is logged once the expiration is processed, which may be delayed by up to 12 hours if the expiration time falls within peak hours.

This update optimizes system performance to accommodate increasing demand.

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