Control whether internal recipients can delegate their signing role, and whether delegation is limited to users in the same Adobe Acrobat Sign account.
Acrobat Sign lets recipients delegate their role on an agreement to another person. This setting limits that capability for internal recipients, recipients who exist as users in the same Acrobat Sign account as the sender, and helps you prevent unexpected reassignment of signing responsibility.
Before you begin
- You must be an Account Admin or Group Admin to configure this setting.
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 level.
- Group-level settings override account-level settings.
Default value:
Delegation for users in my account: Yes, can delegate to anyone.
Changing this setting does not affect existing agreements that are in flight.
The controls for this feature can be assessed by navigating to Global Settings > Delegation for users in my account
Controls
- Can users in my account delegate their signature?
- Yes, can delegate to anyone: Internal recipients can delegate their role to any email address.
- Yes, but only to other users in my account: Internal recipients can delegate only to users in the same Acrobat Sign account.
- No, delegation is not allowed: Internal recipients cannot delegate their role.
Impact: This setting changes whether authenticated internal users can reassign signing responsibility during an active signing session.
How the setting works
- This setting applies only to internal recipients, recipients who exist as users in the same Acrobat Sign account as the sender.
- Delegation changes who can complete the current recipient action (for example, sign, approve, acknowledge, or fill).
- External recipients can still delegate based on your other delegation controls and sending configuration.
Best practices
- Set Yes, but only to other users in my account to allow coverage for PTO and role changes without allowing delegation outside your organization.
- Use No, delegation is not allowed for higher-control workflows where the assigned recipient must complete the action.
- If you allow delegation, document who is permitted to delegate within your organization and when it is appropriate.
Things to know
Accessing an agreement link with an active Acrobat Sign session
When a user accesses a signing link while already authenticated in Acrobat Sign, the service evaluates the userID attempting access and compares it to the userID assigned to the link (i.e., the next recipient in the signature cycle).
For email-based signing links, one of three outcomes occurs:
Matching UserID – Access Granted:
- If the authenticated userID matches the signing userID, access is granted.
- If additional authentication is required, the user must still complete it before proceeding.
Mismatched UserID – Internal Delegation Disabled:
- If the authenticated userID does not match the signing userID and internal delegation is disabled, an error appears.
- The message instructs the user to log in as an authorized signer to access the agreement.
Mismatched UserID – Internal Delegation Enabled:
- If internal delegation is enabled, the service displays the email addresses of both the authenticated user and the assigned signer.
- The authenticated user has two options:
- Delegate the agreement to themselves and proceed with signing.
- Sign out and authenticate as the assigned user to complete the signing process.
For API-based links, the response is always the Please log in as an authorized signer message.
