UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE

1. Security settings

Before you sign a PDF document electronically using Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat, please check your security settings first.

1. Navigate on the menu-bar to 'Edit' then 'Preferences' and select the category 'Signatures' on the left hand side of the window. Find 'Identities & Trusted Certificates' and click 'More...'. [Picture 1].

2. Then select 'Trusted Certificates' in the left-hand navigation bar [Picture 2].

3. Mark all certificates listed there; this may take a few seconds. Then select 'Remove' and confirm the following message [Picture 3].

4. The 'Adobe Root CA G2' certificate will remain untouched after the procedure or will reappear as soon as the program is reopened [Figure 4].

5. Now close the 'Digital ID and Trusted Certificate Settings' window.

6. Click under 'Verification' on 'More...'. [Picture 1] and define the following settings [Picture 2]:

• 'Verify signatures when the document is opened': Check the box
• 'Verification Time': Please select the item 'Secure time (timestamp) embedded in the signature' here.

7. Confirm the settings with 'OK' [Picture 2].

2. Set up the root certificate