You have been asked to sign a document
Someone sent you a link and asked for your signature. Here is exactly what happens when you open it, what gets recorded, and how to sign — on a phone or a computer. It takes about two minutes.
§01Before you open it
You will have an email titled “✍️ Please sign: …” with a green Review & sign button. Three things are worth knowing before you tap it.
The document is not attached, and that is deliberate. An attachment is a copy nobody can withdraw or update. The link always shows the current, correct version.
If you were not expecting it, do not open it. Contact the sender through a channel you already trust and check they sent it. Opening the link is recorded as you having viewed the document.
§02The four steps
Everything happens on one page in your browser. There is nothing to install, no account to create, and no password.
§03What the signing page looks like
The whole document is there to scroll through, with your fields marked. Nothing you do is final until you press Finish signing.
At the foot of the page is a document fingerprint — a long string of letters and numbers derived from the exact file you are looking at. Change one character of the contract and it changes completely. It appears again on the certificate you receive at the end, so you can check that the document you signed is the document you got back.
§04Step by step
It renders in the page — you do not have to download anything. Scroll through every page. Nothing is recorded as agreed simply by reading.
Before you can enter anything, you are shown the electronic-signature consent: a short list of what you are agreeing to, a checkbox, and a box for your full legal name. The checkbox starts unticked. Nothing is pre-agreed for you.
Type renders your name in a signature face. Draw gives you a pad for your finger, stylus, or mouse, with Clear to start over. Either way you press Adopt and sign to place it.
The counter along the bottom bar tells you how many required fields are left. A date field needs one tap — it fills in today’s date itself.
This is the moment it counts. Up to here you can change anything or close the page and come back. After it, your part is done and your link stops accepting changes.
§05Typing versus drawing
Both carry the same weight. What matters legally is your intent to sign and the record of the session — not how the mark looks. Choose whichever you would rather see on the page.
| Type | Draw | |
|---|---|---|
| How it looks | Your name in a flowing signature face | Exactly what you drew |
| Best on | Anything, including a laptop with no touchscreen | A phone or tablet, with your finger |
| If you slip | Retype it | Clear and draw again |
§06What is recorded about you
Signing produces a record, because a signature nobody can vouch for is not worth much. This is the whole of it:
| Recorded | Why |
|---|---|
| Your name and email | They came from the sender when they invited you |
| The exact consent wording you accepted, in the language you saw it, and when | A consent that cannot show what was agreed to is not evidence |
| When you opened, signed, or declined | The timeline of the signing |
| Your signature mark and printed name | They go on the document itself |
| Your browser, and your IP address as a one-way hash | Enough to show two actions came from the same place, without storing where you were |
Every entry is chained to the one before it, so the log cannot be quietly rewritten afterwards — a changed entry breaks the chain and shows up. The record is attached to the finished document as a completion certificate, which every party receives.
§07If you do not want to sign
Declining is a normal outcome, not a failure. Use Decline to sign, in the bar at the top of the page — it is there from the moment you open the link, and stays there. You can add a reason — a sentence about what needs to change is more useful than none — and it goes to the sender along with the notification.
Declining does not delete the document or end the conversation. The sender can revise it and send a fresh request. If you simply want a change first, decline and say so, or reply to the sender directly.
§08When something goes wrong
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| “This signing link is no longer valid.” | The link was cancelled, or the document was withdrawn. Ask the sender for a new one. |
| “This signing link has expired.” | The deadline passed. The sender can reissue it. |
| “You have already completed this document.” | Your signature is in. This is what you get if you tap the link twice — it is not an error, and you have not signed twice. |
| “This document is already fully signed.” | Everyone has signed. The executed copy is on its way to your inbox. |
| The page will not load | Open the link in your phone or computer’s normal browser. Some corporate mail apps open links in a stripped-down viewer that cannot run it. |
| You cannot find your fields | They are further down the document. The counter in the bottom bar shows how many are left. |
Reading it in 中文
The signing page is available in Chinese, including the consent wording. Add ?lang=zh to the end of your link, or ask the sender to send it that way. Whichever language you accept the consent in is the one recorded.
§09After everyone has signed
When the last party finishes, the executed document is produced: the contract with every signature placed on it, plus the completion certificate listing the parties, the timestamps, the document fingerprint, and the full event log.
It arrives in your inbox as an attachment, addressed to you as a party to it. That is your copy — keep it. There is no signer login and no download page to come back to, so file the email rather than relying on the link.
§10Honest limits
You should know what this record is and is not, before you rely on it.
- It is a signing record, not a legal guarantee. Whether an electronic signature binds you depends on the document and the law where you and the sender are — not on anything this page can promise.
- It shows control of an email address. The link went to your inbox and was used from a browser. That is the identity check. It is not government-ID verification, and nobody claims it is.
- The log is tamper-evident, not tamper-proof. Changing an entry breaks the chain and becomes visible; it does not become impossible.
- If the stakes are high, say so. For a document where the identity of the signer really matters, ask the sender for a method with stronger identity checks. Declining and asking is always available to you.
This page explains an electronic signing workflow. It is not legal advice, and PitchStation makes no claim about enforceability in any jurisdiction.