DEV Community: Aniket Chaturvedi

Sign a PDF in PHP with a green tick — PAdES, timestamp & LTV

Aniket Chaturvedi — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 08:51:23 +0000

Signing a PDF from PHP so that Adobe Reader shows the green tick — "Signed and all signatures are valid" — with a trusted timestamp and long-term validation (LTV) is normally a lot of work.

ATick does it in one call — free under AGPL-3.0.

Install

composer require aniketc068/atick

Sign with a green tick, timestamp and LTV

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use Aniketc068\ATick\Atick;

$pdf = file_get_contents("doc.pdf");
$pfx = file_get_contents("my.pfx");

$signed = Atick::signPfx($pdf, $pfx, [
    "password" => "your-password", "cn" => "Axonate Tech", "reason" => "Approved",
    "green_tick" => true, "page" => 1, "rect" => [300, 55, 575, 175],
    "pades" => true, "timestamp" => true, "ltv" => true,   // PAdES-B-LT
]);

file_put_contents("signed.pdf", $signed);

Open signed.pdf in Adobe Reader — with a trusted certificate it shows the green tick and "Signed and all signatures are valid."

green_tick → the validity mark Adobe greens for a valid + trusted certificate
pades / timestamp / ltv → PAdES-B-LT (add lta for B-LTA)

More than the basics

USB token / smart-card / HSM via PKCS#11 — Atick::signPkcs11(...).
Deferred / remote-key / eSign — Atick::prepareDeferred(...) then Atick::embed(...).
Certified (no-changes) signatures, encrypted output, and a fully customizable appearance.

The same API exists in Python, Java, .NET and Node.js — one engine, five languages.

Sign a PDF in Node.js with PAdES, LTV and a green tick

Aniket Chaturvedi — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 08:45:50 +0000

Signing a PDF in Node.js so that Adobe Reader shows the green tick — "Signed and all signatures are valid" — with a trusted timestamp and long-term validation (LTV) has always been awkward in the Node ecosystem.

ATick makes it a few lines.

Install

npm install atick

Sign with a green tick, timestamp and LTV

const atick = require("atick");
const fs = require("fs");

const pdf = fs.readFileSync("doc.pdf");
const pfx = fs.readFileSync("my.pfx");

const signed = atick.signPfx(pdf, pfx, JSON.stringify({
  password: "your-password", cn: "Axonate Tech", reason: "Approved",
  green_tick: true, page: 1, rect: [300, 55, 575, 175],
  pades: true, timestamp: true, ltv: true,           // PAdES-B-LT
}));

fs.writeFileSync("signed.pdf", signed);

TypeScript works the same (import * as atick from "atick"). Open signed.pdf in Adobe Reader — with a trusted certificate it shows the green tick and "Signed and all signatures are valid."

green_tick → the validity mark Adobe greens for a valid + trusted certificate
pades / timestamp / ltv → PAdES-B-LT (add lta for B-LTA)

More than the basics

USB token / smart-card / HSM via PKCS#11 — atick.signPkcs11(...).
Deferred / remote-key / eSign — atick.prepareDeferred(...) then atick.embed(...).
Certified (no-changes) signatures, encrypted output, and a fully customizable appearance.

The same API exists in Python, Java, .NET and PHP — one engine, five languages.

Sign a PDF in C# / .NET with a green tick and true LTV

Aniket Chaturvedi — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 08:44:28 +0000

Getting a .NET-signed PDF to show Adobe Reader's green tick — "Signed and all signatures are valid" — and to stay valid long-term (LTV) usually takes a lot of manual work: PAdES, a trusted timestamp, the DSS, and the in-document appearance.

ATick gives you all of it in one call — free under AGPL-3.0.

Install

dotnet add package ATick

Sign with a green tick, timestamp and LTV

using System.IO;
using Aniketc068.ATick;

byte[] pdf = File.ReadAllBytes("doc.pdf");
byte[] pfx = File.ReadAllBytes("my.pfx");

byte[] signed = Atick.SignPfx(pdf, pfx,
    "{\"password\":\"your-password\",\"cn\":\"Axonate Tech\",\"reason\":\"Approved\"," +
    "\"green_tick\":true,\"page\":1,\"rect\":[300,55,575,175]," +
    "\"pades\":true,\"timestamp\":true,\"ltv\":true}");   // PAdES-B-LT

File.WriteAllBytes("signed.pdf", signed);

Open signed.pdf in Adobe Reader — with a trusted certificate it shows the green tick and "Signed and all signatures are valid."

green_tick → the validity mark Adobe greens for a valid + trusted certificate
pades / timestamp / ltv → PAdES-B-LT (add lta for B-LTA)

More than the basics

Windows certificate store, built in — Atick.SignWinStore(...) with a thumbprint (or the system picker).
USB token / smart-card / HSM via PKCS#11 — Atick.SignPkcs11(...).
Deferred / remote-key / eSign — Atick.Prepare(...) then Atick.Embed(...).
Certified (no-changes) signatures, encrypted output, and a fully customizable appearance.

The same API exists in Python, Java, Node.js and PHP — one engine, five languages.

Sign a PDF in Java with a green tick — PAdES, timestamp & LTV in one call

Aniket Chaturvedi — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 08:38:47 +0000

Signing a PDF from Java so that Adobe Reader shows the green tick — "Signed and all signatures are valid" — usually means wiring up PAdES, a trusted timestamp, the DSS for long-term validation, and a signature appearance by hand. That's a lot of plumbing.

ATick does it in one call — free under AGPL-3.0.

Add the dependency

Maven:

<dependency>
  <groupId>io.github.aniketc068</groupId>
  <artifactId>atick</artifactId>
  <version>1.0.6</version>
</dependency>

Sign with a green tick, timestamp and LTV

import io.github.aniketc068.atick.Atick;
import java.nio.file.*;

public class Quickstart {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        byte[] pdf = Files.readAllBytes(Paths.get("doc.pdf"));
        byte[] pfx = Files.readAllBytes(Paths.get("my.pfx"));

        byte[] signed = Atick.signPfx(pdf, pfx,
            "{\"password\":\"your-password\",\"cn\":\"Axonate Tech\",\"reason\":\"Approved\","
          + "\"green_tick\":true,\"page\":1,\"rect\":[300,55,575,175],"
          + "\"pades\":true,\"timestamp\":true,\"ltv\":true}");   // PAdES-B-LT

        Files.write(Paths.get("signed.pdf"), signed);
    }
}

Open signed.pdf in Adobe Reader — with a trusted certificate it shows the green tick and "Signed and all signatures are valid."

green_tick → draws the validity mark Adobe greens for a valid + trusted certificate
pades / timestamp / ltv → PAdES-B-LT (add lta for B-LTA)

More than the basics

USB token / smart-card / HSM via PKCS#11 — Atick.signPkcs11(...).
Deferred / remote-key / eSign — Atick.prepareDeferred(...) then Atick.embed(...).
Certified (no-changes) signatures, encrypted output, and a fully customizable appearance.

The same API exists in Python, .NET, Node.js and PHP — one engine, five languages.

Sign a PDF in Python so Adobe shows a green tick (PAdES + LTV)

Aniket Chaturvedi — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 08:38:00 +0000

If you've ever signed a PDF from code and then opened it in Adobe Reader only to see a yellow question mark instead of a green tick, you know the pain. Getting Adobe to render "Signed and all signatures are valid" with the green check takes more than a CMS signature — you need PAdES, a trusted timestamp, long-term validation (LTV), and the right in-document appearance.

ATick does all of that in a few lines.

Install

pip install atick

One self-contained package — no system dependencies to chase.

Sign with a green tick, timestamp and LTV

import atick

pdf = open("document.pdf", "rb").read()
pfx = open("my_certificate.pfx", "rb").read()

signed = atick.sign_pfx(
    pdf, pfx=pfx, password="your-password",
    style=atick.Style(cn="Axonate Tech", reason="Approved"),
    placements=[(1, (300, 55, 575, 175))],   # page 1, rect (x1, y1, x2, y2)
    pades=True, timestamp=True, ltv=True,     # PAdES-B-LT
)
open("signed.pdf", "wb").write(signed)

Open signed.pdf in Adobe Reader — with a trusted certificate it shows the green tick and "Signed and all signatures are valid."

pades=True → an ETSI PAdES signature
timestamp=True → RFC-3161 trusted timestamp (PAdES-B-T)
ltv=True → embeds the chain + revocation for long-term validation (PAdES-B-LT)

Add lta=True for a document timestamp on top (PAdES-B-LTA).

More than the basics

ATick is batteries-included, so the hard parts are one option each:

The Adobe-valid green tick, built in — most libraries leave the visual appearance to you.
USB token / smart-card / HSM via PKCS#11 — atick.sign_pkcs11(...).
The Windows certificate store — atick.sign_winstore(...).
Deferred / remote-key / eSign — atick.prepare_deferred(...) then atick.embed(...).
Certified (no-changes) signatures, encrypted output, and a fully customizable appearance (logo, colours, layout).

And the same API exists in Java, .NET, Node.js and PHP — learn it once, use it everywhere.

Error handling

try:
    signed = atick.sign_pfx(pdf, pfx=pfx, password="wrong", style=style, placements=placements)
except atick.AtickError as e:
    print("signing failed:", e)

DEV Community: Aniket Chaturvedi

Sign a PDF in PHP with a green tick — PAdES, timestamp & LTV

Install

Sign with a green tick, timestamp and LTV

More than the basics

Links

Sign a PDF in Node.js with PAdES, LTV and a green tick

Install

Sign with a green tick, timestamp and LTV

More than the basics

Links

Sign a PDF in C# / .NET with a green tick and true LTV

Install

Sign with a green tick, timestamp and LTV

More than the basics

Links

Sign a PDF in Java with a green tick — PAdES, timestamp & LTV in one call

Add the dependency

Sign with a green tick, timestamp and LTV

More than the basics

Links

Sign a PDF in Python so Adobe shows a green tick (PAdES + LTV)

Install

Sign with a green tick, timestamp and LTV

More than the basics

Error handling

Links