Adobe Sign: Understanding Sharing, Permissions, and Template Access

This article explains how sharing and permissions work in Adobe Acrobat Sign, with a focus on templates and who can create, use, share, and publish them.

Understanding Template Access

When working with templates, there are several different actions that may require different permissions.

Create

You may have permission to create a template.

This allows you to take a document and configure it as a reusable template.

For example:

You create an "Employee Acknowledgment Form" and add the required signature and date fields.

However, creating the template does not necessarily mean everyone in your department can use it.

Use

A user may have permission to use an existing template to create an Agreement.

For example:

Your department has an approved "Employee Acknowledgment Form" template. You can use that template to send the form to an employee, but you don't necessarily have permission to modify the template itself.

This distinction helps protect standardized forms from accidental changes.

Share

Depending on your organization's configuration, templates may be shared with specific users or groups.

Sharing determines who can access the template.

For example, a template might be:

• Available only to its creator
• Shared with specific users
• Available to members of a particular group
• Made available more broadly within the organization

The exact options available to you may depend on your Adobe Sign permissions.

Publish / Make Available

Some templates may require an additional step before they become available for broader use.

This means there can be a distinction between:

Creating a template
→ Sharing the template
→ Making the template available for use

This is particularly important for organizational templates that need to be reviewed or approved before users can access them.

Why Can't I See a Template?

The template may not be shared with you
The template may belong to another user and may not have been shared with you or your group.

You may not have the appropriate permission
Your Adobe Sign role may allow you to use templates without allowing you to create, modify, or manage templates.

The template may not be published or available
A template can exist in the system without necessarily being available to the users who need it.

You may be in a different group
Adobe Sign uses groups to help manage users and access. A template or resource associated with one group may not automatically be available to users in another group.

Recommended Practice for Templates

For templates that will be used by multiple people, consider establishing a simple ownership and approval process.

Template creators should:

• Use an appropriate naming convention
• Confirm all fields are configured correctly
• Verify the recipient or signing order
• Identify the appropriate users or groups that need access
• Follow any departmental approval process before making the template available

Template users should:

• Use the approved template rather than creating their own copy when possible
• Avoid modifying standardized templates unless they have permission to do so
• Report missing or incorrect templates to the appropriate template owner or administrator

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