SignSecure guides

Sending a document

Everything starts with an envelope: the documents, the people and the fields, kept together so the whole thing can be sent, tracked and recorded as one. A new envelope opens on the upload step.

A PDF goes in as it is. A Word .docx is converted here, in the browser tab you are already in, and so is a PNG or JPEG photograph of a page. Conversion is lossy beyond text, which is why the wizard says so and puts the converted pages in front of you twice before anything is sent. Your original file is kept either way and can be downloaded from the record.

Placing fields

Every field belongs to one person. Choose the recipient at the top left, choose a field, then click the page where it goes, or drag the field onto the page. Each person has a colour and their fields carry it, so a document going to three people does not become a puzzle.

Drag a field to move it, drag its corner to resize, or select it and nudge with the arrow keys, which is the only way to place one precisely and the only way at all without a pointer. A date signed field fills itself in when the signer opens the document; they are never asked what day it is.

Signing order

Parallel means everybody gets their link at once. Sequential means one at a time: the second signer hears nothing until the first has signed, which is what you want when somebody is countersigning rather than co-signing.

Recipients can also be marked as receiving a copy rather than signing. They get the finished document and its fingerprint when everyone is done, and are never asked to do anything.

After it has gone out

You choose how long the links live when you send, from a week to ninety days. There is no "never": a signing link is a bearer token, and one that never expires is a bearer token sitting in an inbox forever.

A reminder can be sent from the envelope record, and one goes automatically after three days to anyone holding things up, up to three times. Reminders say they are reminders and carry a fresh link on the same expiry.

If a link went to the wrong address, correct the recipient and resend: the old link stops working before the new one is issued. If the whole thing should stop, withdraw it. Every outstanding link is revoked, everyone still waiting is told why, and the signatures already collected and the audit trail behind them are left exactly as they are.

Identity checks

Tick the box beside a recipient and they will be asked to prove who they are before the document opens, not after they have signed. They photograph a passport, driving licence or national ID card. Our verification partner collects and checks it; SignSecure never receives the photograph, only whether it passed.

Checks are an add-on at £25 a month for ten. One check is one attempt, because a document is read and charged for whether it passes or not, and anybody refused can try twice more. Your billing page lists every signatory checked, the document, how many attempts they used and how it turned out.

The record

Every envelope keeps its own audit trail: uploaded, sent, opened, signed, declined, reminded, corrected, withdrawn, each with a time, and where it is known, an address and a browser.

The entries are hash-chained, and the head of the chain is stored on the envelope row rather than in the table it protects, so removing an entry is detectable rather than merely discouraged. The record page says whether the chain is intact every time you open it.

When the last signature lands, the signed PDF is produced and its SHA-256 fingerprint is emailed to everyone who was on the envelope. Recompute the hash of your copy and compare: if it matches, your file is byte for byte the one that was signed, and that check does not depend on us being around to confirm it.