Dropbox & Adobe Team Up, Make Editing PDFs In The Cloud Easier

Users previewing PDF files in Dropbox on their iOS devices can mark up, comment, eSign, and take other actions on their documents with Adobe Acrobat Reader. iOS integration will be available in the coming months. Any changes they make to these files – no matter whether that’s on the web, desktop or in the Acrobat mobile apps – are automatically synced back to Dropbox. And to help assure customers that their documents reside within preferred geographic boundaries, Adobe is opening two new data centers in Germany and Ireland in 2016.

The company said it is adding support for digital signatures, the more secure form of e-signature, which is due to be adopted across Europe next year.

Edit and collaborate on PDF files from the Dropbox website, iPhone or iPad app, and edit with Acrobat DC on desktop or – soon we’re told – Acrobat Reader mobile. As such, digital signature and advanced workflow capabilities now available in Document Cloud e-sign services deliver enterprise-grade signing to businesses worldwide.

Leveraging on Dropbox’s massive user base, Adobe will be able to reach larger audiences with its Document Cloud and set it on a better pedestal against competitors like Google and Microsoft.

“Our work with Dropbox, as our first file sync and share partner, will help Adobe Document Cloud customers and people around the world to be more productive with the documents at the centre of their daily lives”.

To reduce this friction, Adobe is adding mobile-friendly drag and drop Workflow Designer capabilities into its product. Plus, use new Advanced Workflows to build custom apps and a web experience that automates steps in a business process, like onboarding new hires or finalising a sales contract, before, during, and after signing.

As for Adobe’s eSign Services, the company also had a few updates to announce there today.

Adobe eSign Manager DC is designed as an upgraded mobile app companion for Document Cloud eSign services and Acrobat DC, letting you sign documents and forms or send them for signature, track responses in real-time and get instant signatures with in-person signing.

Document Cloud eSign Services now allows admins to manage employee apps and devices via Android for Work. Employees can use their mobile device camera to take a photo of their handwritten signature once, then use it to sign documents thereafter. The latest eSign services integration enables users to add multiple signers, define signing order, and verify signers with multi-factor authentication. The new capabilities can help customers visually create easy-to-follow workflow templates so senders can follow a consistent signing process every time.

Adobe plans to work on similar integrations with other storage providers in the future, and it’s been cultivating a partner ecosystem around its Document Cloud beyond that, too.