Send notifications through SMS or WhatsApp in Adobe Acrobat Sign

Deliver agreement notifications using SMS or WhatsApp to reach recipients outside of email.

Adobe Acrobat Sign allows senders to notify recipients through SMS or WhatsApp in addition to email. This helps ensure recipients receive and act on agreements, even when email delivery is delayed, filtered, or ignored.

Using SMS or WhatsApp notifications can improve delivery rates and reduce delays in time-sensitive workflows by reaching recipients on devices they actively monitor.

Before you begin

• SMS and WhatsApp message transactions must be purchased and available to send messages prior to being enabled by an administrator.
• Sending notifications through SMS or WhatsApp consumes phone transactions from your account.
• Recipients must have a valid phone number capable of receiving messages.

Configuration

Availability

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

Configuration scope

• This setting can be configured at the account and group levels.
• Group-level settings override account-level settings.

Default value

• Disabled.

Impact on in-flight agreements

• Changes to notification settings apply only to agreements sent after the setting is updated.
• When the transaction pool is depleted, mobile link delivery and phone authentication will be paused until more credits are available.

To access this setting

• Navigate to Send Settings > Send Agreement Notifications through

Enable SMS or WhatsApp notifications

These options control whether senders can use SMS or WhatsApp as notification channels when sending agreements.

Transaction usage and limits

• Each recipient consumes phone transactions when SMS or WhatsApp notifications are used.
• A single transaction bundle through WhatsApp typically includes:
  • One initial "Please sign" message.
  • One reminder message.
  • One completion or delegation message.
• Additional reminders consume additional transactions:
  • Each additional reminder consumes another transaction.
  • Only one message is sent per reminder event. Recurring schedules (for example, daily or weekly) are not followed.
• SMS or WhatsApp delivery and phone authentication draw from the same transaction pool.
• Transactions are consumed when messages are sent, not when they are delivered or completed.
• If the transaction pool is depleted:
  • SMS or WhatsApp delivery is paused.
  • Phone authentication is paused.
  • Email delivery continues unaffected.

Delivery behavior

• The system attempts to deliver messages through the selected channel using the available messaging infrastructure.
• Delivery depends on carrier availability, regional support, and recipient device capabilities.
• In rare cases, delivery confirmation from the messaging provider may be delayed or not received.

A reliability safeguard ensures recipients receive at least one SMS rather than none in cases where APO retains messages in the SENT status indefinitely. A known side effect is that duplicate messages may occur when the original message was delivered but APO did not confirm delivery within 5 hours.

• Notification activity is recorded in the agreement’s audit report and activity log. These records reflect when notifications are sent and can be used to verify delivery attempts.

Monitor transaction usage

Administrators can monitor phone-based transaction usage:

• You can monitor SMS usage and transaction consumption using the SMS Consumption report in Adobe Acrobat Sign.
• Go to Send Settings > Send Agreement Notifications through
• Hover over the Track Usage link.

The tooltip shows usage for:

• SMS or WhatsApp delivery usage.
• Phone authentication usage.

Once the transaction pool is depleted, mobile link delivery and phone authentication will be paused until more credits are available.

What shows on the sender's Manage page

• If email delivery is used, the recipient’s name or email appears normally.
• If using SMS or WhatsApp notifications only:
  • The recipient appears as a partially masked phone number (for example, XXXXXX1212@sms.adobesign.com).
  • The full phone number is shown only in recipient settings, such as when editing authentication.
• Agreements sent only by SMS or WhatsApp do not appear on the recipient’s Manage page if they have an Acrobat Sign account.

When viewing individual recipient records (for example, when replacing the recipient or editing the authentication type), the phone number is presented unmasked.

When viewing the individual recipient records (when replacing the recipient or editing the authentication type), the phone number is presented unmasked:

Audit Report and Activity log

SMS/WhatsApp delivery is clearly recorded in:

• The Audit Report.
• The Activity log.

Only the last four digits of the phone number appear for privacy

How senders use SMS or WhatsApp notifications

When enabled:

• Senders can include a recipient’s phone number when preparing an agreement.
• Acrobat Sign sends a notification message to the recipient through the selected channel.
• The recipient receives a message containing a secure link to access the agreement.

Notifications are delivered in addition to standard email messages.

Recipient experience

• Recipients receive a message through SMS or WhatsApp with a link to the agreement.
• Selecting the link opens the agreement in a browser for review and signing.
• If multiple reminders are triggered, additional messages may be sent based on reminder settings.

Things to know

• Delivery success may vary by region and carrier.
• Duplicate messages may occur under certain delivery conditions.
• Recipients must be able to receive messages on the provided phone number.
• SMS and WhatsApp notifications are supplemental to email delivery and do not replace email notifications.
• SMS and WhatsApp delivery does not support delegation. If a recipient delegates an agreement, the new recipient receives notifications only by email, even if SMS or WhatsApp was enabled for the original recipient.
• WhatsApp delivery does not include private messages in either the Please Sign notification or any Reminder notifications.

Related articles

• Configure SMS authentication
• Configure WhatsApp authentication
• Transaction consumption rates
• SMS consumption report