Remove recipients from in-flight agreements

Allow senders to remove eligible recipients from agreements that are already in progress.

Enable recipient removal so senders can update supported Request Signature agreements without canceling and recreating them. The control is configured independently from the option to modify an agreement's files.

Configuration

Availability:

• Acrobat Standard and Acrobat Pro: Not Supported
• Acrobat Sign Solutions: Supported
• Acrobat Sign for Government: Not Supported

Configuration scope:

The setting can be configured at the account and group levels.

• Group-level settings override account-level settings.

To access the setting:

1. Navigate to Send Settings > Modify agreements.
2. Enable Allow senders to remove recipients after the agreement is sent.

How it works

When enabled, senders can remove eligible recipients from supported in-progress Request Signature agreements.

Only recipients who haven’t participated can be removed. Removing a recipient also removes their assigned fields and records the change in the agreement’s Activity list and Audit Report.

For the sender workflow and detailed behavior, see Remove a recipient from an in-progress agreement.

Agreement behavior

• Under revision: The agreement shows an Under revision status while the sender is modifying it. Recipients can’t act on the agreement until the revision is complete.
• Workflow constraints: Acrobat Sign blocks changes that would alter the agreement’s underlying sequential, parallel, or hybrid routing.
• Notifications:
  • Recipients who already completed their action don’t receive new notifications.
  • A removed recipient who already received a request to participate is notified that their access has ended.
  • If the routing change makes another recipient next to participate, Acrobat Sign sends that recipient the appropriate notification.
  • If removing the final required recipient completes the agreement, Acrobat Sign sends the sender a completion notification. 

Audit trail

Recipient removal remains part of the agreement record. Acrobat Sign records who made the change, when it occurred, and which recipient was removed in the Activity list and Audit Report. The agreement history continues to include removed participants.

Limitations

Recipient management for active agreements applies only to Request Signature workflows. The following are not supported:

• Digital signatures and electronic seals - Dynamic participation cannot be used to remove recipients from an in-flight agreement that contains a digital signature or electronic seal. Removing recipients can require changes to form fields or document structure, and those changes can invalidate the digital signature or electronic seal.
  • Agreements that include digital signatures or electronic seals can still be completed when recipients are not removed. If a recipient must be removed, cancel the agreement and send a new agreement with the correct recipients.
• Shared access — Removing recipients from an in-flight agreement is available only to the original sender. Shared users can’t remove recipients from an agreement, regardless of their shared access permissions.
• Agreements with two or fewer recipients
• Agreements using Notary Signers.
• Agreements created through Send in Bulk and Custom Workflow processes.
• Fill & Sign, Structured Self Sign, Web forms, and Written Signature workflows.
• Agreements with Limited Document Visibility. 
• Salesforce client versions older than v25.5 are not compatible. Integrations using versions of Salesforce older than 25.5 won't break, but they won't be able to use the feature.

Known issues and troubleshooting

Core workflow change error
When removing recipients, Acrobat Sign checks whether the change would alter the agreement’s workflow (for example, reducing a sequential flow to a single recipient). If so, the operation is blocked and an informational message appears. To proceed, cancel the agreement and create a new one with the correct routing.

In Revision visibility
While an agreement is being revised:

• Senders and previous recipients see it under the In Progress filter on the Manage page with the status Under revision.
• Recipients waiting to sign see it under Waiting for Me with the same status.
• Removed recipients can no longer access or download the agreement.

Document visibility conflicts
Agreements with Limited Document Visibility (LDV) or per-recipient restrictions may fail when recipients are removed. If removal fails, review document visibility settings or disable LDV before retrying.

Stuck in the In Revision state
If the browser closes during modification, the agreement may remain in In Revision. To resume, locate the agreement under Drafts or In Progress and select Modify Agreement to continue editing or finalize the update.