Completing Signatures
This page covers what happens from the signatory's perspective and what happens when all signatures are collected.
The signing experience
When a signatory clicks the signing link in their email:
- Document review — the signatory sees the full document with their assigned fields highlighted.
- Fill in fields — the signatory completes each of their assigned fields:
- For signature and initials fields, they draw using their mouse, trackpad, or touchscreen.
- For text, date, number, and other fields, they type or select values.
- Submit — once all required fields are completed, the signatory clicks Submit to finalise their signature.
info
Signatories do not need a Docu Ninja account to sign. They access the document through the secure link in their email.
After a signatory signs
When a signatory submits their signature:
- Their signature and field values are embedded into the document.
- An intermediate PDF is generated showing all signatures collected so far.
- The signatory's invitation is marked as Signed with a timestamp and IP address.
- If there are more signatories with a later signing order, the next one is automatically notified.
Document completion
A document is marked as Completed when all invited signatories have signed. When this happens:
- Final PDF — a completed PDF is generated with all signatures and field values embedded.
- Audit log — a PDF audit trail is created documenting the entire signing process.
- Notifications — all parties (the document owner and all signatories) receive an email notification.
- Downloads — the signed document and audit log become available for download.
Signature integrity
Docu Ninja ensures document integrity through:
- SHA hashes — both the original and completed documents are hashed. Any tampering would change the hash.
- Audit trail — every action is recorded with timestamps, names, and IP addresses.
- Immutability — once completed, the document cannot be modified.
Troubleshooting
A signatory hasn't received the email
- Check that the signatory's email address is correct.
- Ask them to check their spam/junk folder.
- You can resend the invitation from the document page.
A signatory's link has expired
- If the document has passed its expiration date, the link will no longer work.
- Consider creating a new document with a later expiration date.
Need to make changes after sending
If you need to modify a document that has already been sent:
- Void the current document.
- Clone it to create a new copy.
- Make your changes on the new document.
- Send the new document to signatories.
Alternatively, you can Reset the document to Draft status, but this clears all existing signatures.