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Managing signature requests

Once you have sent a document out for eSignature, the For signature tab on your Documents page is where you track it through to completion. It is your documents list, filtered to the files that are in signing: from here you can see how far each one has got, open it to check who has signed and who has not, cancel a request that is no longer needed, and archive finished ones. The finished files (a clean copy of the signed document and the Certificate of Completion) are collected from the document's own page.

This page covers the firm side of signing: the list, the request detail, the cancel/void and archive actions, and how a request is finalized into a sealed PDF. For placing fields and sending a document out in the first place, see Requesting eSignatures. For what the signer sees, see How clients sign documents.

Before you begin

For signature is a tab on your Documents page. To open it, you need View access for documents. If your role does not include document access, the tab shows a "no access" message instead of the list.
Actions that change a request (cancelling, voiding, archiving, generating a new link, signing in app) require Update access for documents. If your role is view-only, you will still see the list and can open requests and download completed documents, but the management actions will not appear.
Firm owners always have full access regardless of role.

Note: Esqase uses a single set of document permissions to control documents, templates, and signatures together. There is no separate "signatures" permission to grant.

Tip: To track requests for a single matter instead of the whole firm, open the matter and use the For signature tab on its Documents tab. It works the same way, narrowed to that matter's documents. See The matter workspace.

View the For signature tab

The signatures list shows every document your firm has put into signing, most recently updated first. It is the same table as your documents list, with the same columns and the same row actions, narrowed to files that have a signature request on them.

In the sidebar, click Documents.
Click the For signature tab, immediately to the right of My documents.
Directly below the tab strip, four stat cards summarize your firm's signing activity: Draft (not sent yet), Awaiting signature (sent and still open), Completed (everyone has signed), and Declined or cancelled (closed without signatures).
Use the Status filter in the table toolbar to narrow the list to a specific status, including Voided and Archived requests. Leave it clear to see every status at once.
To find a specific document, type in the Search signatures box. When a search or filter is active, a Clear filters button appears so you can reset it.

The For signature tab with its stat cards below the tab strip, the Status filter in the table toolbar, the search box, and the table of documents below.

Each row in the table shows:

Name - the document name, with a signing badge beside it (see Statuses below).
Signers - a stack of the request's signer avatars, each carrying its own status.
Sent - when the request went out.
Status - a badge repeating where the request stands, so you do not have to decode the name badge alone.
Record time - the timer control, so you can bill the time you spend chasing or reviewing a signing.
Owner - the member the document belongs to.
Updated by - the person who last acted on the document.
Last updated - how long ago that happened.

You can sort by Name or Last updated by clicking the column header. Use the table's view options (the control at the top right) to show or hide columns or to refresh the list.

Note: A row is a document, not a request. If a document has been through more than one round of signing, it appears once, and the row's actions apply to its current request (the open one, or the most recent if none is open).

Statuses explained

The badge next to the document name tells you exactly where its signing stands:

Draft - the request has been set up but not yet sent or signed. A request also sits here when your firm requires the document to be approved before it goes out. See Approvals for invoices and documents.
Awaiting signatures, or Signed 2 of 3 - the request is out for signing and one or more signers still need to act. Once someone has signed, the badge counts the progress for you.
Signed - every signer has signed and the document has been finalized.
Declined - a signer chose not to sign. A declined request cannot proceed.
Voided - the request was cancelled by your firm before it finished.
Archived - the request was tidied away after it was completed, declined, or voided.

The same badges appear on your documents list, so you can spot a file that is out for signature without leaving Documents.

Open a request and check signer status

You can open a request from the list to see the document, or open its detail to see exactly who has done what.

Open the document

On the For signature tab, find the document you want.
Click Open at the start of the row, or click the document name. The document opens on its own page so you can read it as it stands. Click the X in the top right (or use your browser's Back button) to come back to the For signature tab, with your search and filters as you left them.

Tip: The document's page is where the per-signer detail lives: the Signatures tab on the right shows each signer's status and timestamps, the signing actions, and the completed files.

See per-signer status and progress

Every signer's progress is shown on their own row in the Signers list, on the document's own page.

Open the document. From the For signature tab, click Open; from My documents, click the PDF; from a matter, open its Documents tab and click the PDF there.
The right-hand panel opens on the Signatures tab, showing the Signers list.

Each signer's row shows:

Their name, in the color used for the fields assigned to them.
Their email address, how many fields they have, and when they last acted.
A status badge: Pending (has not opened it yet), Viewed (opened the document but has not signed), Signed, or Declined.

The Signers list on the document's page with mixed Signed / Viewed / Pending badges, each row showing the signer's email, field count, and timestamp.

Note: Everyone can sign at the same time; there is no fixed order. Each signer only sees the fields assigned to them. Once the last one signs, Esqase produces the sealed PDF and the Certificate of Completion.

Note: Esqase notifies your firm when someone signs, when someone declines, and when a document becomes fully signed, so you do not have to watch this list. Choose which of these reach you in your notification preferences. See Notifications.

Generate signing links for a draft

A request sitting in Draft has signers and fields set up but no live links yet. You can activate it straight from the list, without opening the document first.

On the For signature tab, find the draft document.
Open the more actions menu (the ... button) on its row and click Generate signing links.
In the Generate signing links? confirmation, read the note that this activates the request and makes every signer's link live straight away, then click Generate links to confirm.
The request moves to Awaiting signatures (or further, if it can complete immediately), and every signer now has a working link.

Tip: This is the same activation that happens when you click Save on the document's own Signatures panel. Use whichever is more convenient: Generate signing links from the list when you just want to flip a draft live, or Save on the document itself when you are already there setting up signers and fields. See Save the signers.

Note: Running Generate signing links on a request that is already Awaiting signatures re-issues links using the existing setup rather than activating anything new. It does not resend any emails; use Send to signers, or Resend signing email for one person, for that. See Track and manage each signer.

Copy a signing link

While a request is still open, you can hand a signer their link directly instead of emailing it.

For one signer: in the document's Signers list, open the actions menu on their row and choose Copy signing link. If your browser blocks the copy, Esqase shows the link so you can select it by hand. The same menu has a Resend signing email item that emails that person their link again, for when a first email was missed; it needs an email on file and only shows while the signer's link is still live and unsigned. See Track and manage each signer.
For everyone: on the For signature tab, open the more actions menu (the ... button) on a document whose request is still open and choose Copy signing links. Expand each signer to copy their personal link.

Note: Copying a link never issues a new one, so links you have already emailed keep working.

Important: Each link is personal to one signer. To open and sign, the signer confirms the email address shown on their link, so links are not interchangeable. There is no separate password to send.

Cancel a single signer

If one person should no longer sign, you can remove just them without cancelling the whole request.

In the document's Signers list, open the actions menu on their row.
Click Cancel signing and confirm.

Their link stops working immediately and their fields come off the document. The remaining signers are unaffected, and if they have all already signed, the document completes. Someone who has already signed cannot be cancelled, because their signature is part of the finished document.

Cancel or void a request

If a request was sent in error, superseded by a new version, or is simply no longer needed, you can stop it. Cancelling and voiding are the same action: the request is marked Voided and can no longer be signed.

Important: Voiding is permanent. A voided request cannot be reopened or signed, so you would need to create a new request to collect signatures again. You can only void a request that is still Draft or Pending; once it is Completed or Declined it can no longer be voided.

Note: A request can also be voided automatically, without you opening the For signature tab at all. Moving the document to Trash, uploading a new version over it, or otherwise changing its content, each cancels any request still in progress on it, so nobody ends up signing stale content. See Trash a document and restore it from Trash and Upload a new version of a file.

Cancel from the For signature tab

On the For signature tab, open the more actions menu (the ... button) on a document whose request is still open.
Click Cancel request.
In the Cancel signature request? confirmation, review the warning that the request will be cancelled and can no longer be signed, then click Cancel request to confirm. The badge changes to Voided.

The row "..." menu open on a document awaiting signatures, showing the usual document actions above Copy signing links and the red Cancel request item.

Note: When you cancel a request, no reason is requested from you. A reason is only recorded automatically when a signer themselves declines to sign (they are offered an optional reason on the signing page). Declined and voided are different outcomes: Declined means a signer refused, while Voided means your firm cancelled.

Tip: To stop just one person rather than the whole request, use Cancel a single signer instead.

Archive a completed or voided request

Archiving moves a finished request out of your active list so the page stays focused on work in progress. Archiving does not delete anything: the signed document and its certificate remain available from the matter and your documents.

You can archive a request once it is Completed, Declined, or Voided.

On the For signature tab, find the document whose request has finished.
Open the more actions menu (the ... button) at the end of its row.
Click Archive request.
In the Archive signature request? confirmation, confirm. The row's badge changes to Archived.

Tip: Archiving does not remove the document from For signature: it stays listed, and its badge shows Archived. Set the Status filter to Archived to see only archived requests, or clear the filter to see every status again. The signed PDF is still the current version of the document in your files, and the certificate is still one click away on the document's page, so archiving is safe housekeeping rather than a way to remove records.

View the signed document and the certificate

Once every signer has finished, the request becomes Completed and the signed files are ready. The document you sent out now carries the signatures itself: opening or downloading it from Documents gives you the signed copy, and the version from before signing stays in its version history. That completed copy is sealed and locked: it is filed as a finished, tamper-evident record, not a working draft, so keep using it for reference rather than editing over it.

Alongside that, a completed request offers four actions, on the document's own page:

Download signed document - the certified record. This is the original document with every signature stamped in, a faint SIGNED watermark on every page, and the Certificate of Completion appended at the end. Use it for your file, for court, or whenever the evidence needs to travel with the document.
Download clean copy - the same signatures with no watermark and no certificate pages. Use it for everyday distribution, for example the copy you send a client or a counterparty.
Certificate of Completion - the certificate on its own, as a separate PDF.
Verify integrity - checks that the signed document still matches the fingerprint Esqase recorded at completion (see below).

Important: The clean copy is produced when the request is finalized, so it only exists for requests completed from this release onward. On a request your firm completed earlier, Download clean copy appears but is greyed out. Everything else on those requests works exactly as before.

From the For signature tab

The For signature tab carries the standard document actions, so Download on a signed row gives you the signed PDF (it is the document's current version). For the clean copy, the certificate, and the integrity check, open the document.

From the document's page

When a request is Completed, the Signatures tab on the document's page shows the same actions as buttons: Download signed document, Download clean copy, Certificate of Completion, and Verify integrity.

The completed request's Signatures tab with all signers showing Signed badges and the Download signed document / Download clean copy / Certificate of

Tip: Not sure which to send? If the recipient needs proof of who signed and when, send the signed document. If they just need the executed agreement to read and file, send the clean copy.

Note: The Signatures tab swaps the field-placement editor for these actions once a request completes. The document's approval control is not on this tab: it lives in the top-right row of header actions on the document's page and stays available after signing, so you can still record a sign-off on the executed copy. See Approvals for invoices and documents.

What the Certificate of Completion shows

The certificate is the audit record for the signing. It opens with your firm named as the requesting firm, then sets out:

Document details: the file name, the request reference, when the request was completed, when the certificate was issued, and the fingerprints (hashes) of both the original and the signed file.
One card per signer: their name and email, whether they signed, and the times they signed, viewed the document, and accepted the consent disclosure, along with how they created their signature (drawn, typed, or uploaded), their IP address, and the device they used.
The consent to electronic signature: the full disclosure text the signers agreed to, reproduced word for word.

Every page carries the request reference and a page number in the footer, so pages stay identifiable if the certificate is ever printed or split up.

Note: You get the certificate in two places: appended to the end of the signed document, and on its own through Certificate of Completion. The two are identical except for one row. The signed fingerprint covers the whole signed document, certificate pages included, so the appended copy cannot print it: a file cannot contain its own fingerprint. That row instead points you to the standalone certificate, which carries the real value. Use the standalone download whenever you need the signed fingerprint itself.

The first page of a Certificate of Completion, showing the header, the document details, and the first signer card.

Verify integrity

Verify integrity confirms that the signed document has not been altered since it was finalized. Esqase compares the sealed file it recorded at completion against the fingerprint taken at the same moment:

If it matches, you see a confirmation that the signed document matches its recorded hash. When your firm has a cryptographic seal configured, the message also confirms the seal is valid.
If it does not match, you are warned that the document did not pass verification.

Note: Verification always checks the exact file that was sealed at completion. If someone later uploads a new version over the document, the check still passes, because it is not looking at whatever happens to be the current version.

Tip: Run Verify integrity before relying on a signed PDF as evidence, for example if a copy has been emailed around. It is your quick check that the version in hand is the authentic, unaltered original.

How completion is finalized

You do not have to assemble anything manually. The moment the last required signer signs, Esqase finalizes the request automatically. Here is what happens behind the scenes, so you know what is in the file you download.

Tamper check. Esqase re-reads the original document and compares it to the fingerprint taken when the request was created. If the source document changed in the meantime, finalization stops and reports a problem, so a signed copy is never produced from an altered original.
Signatures are stamped in. Every captured signature, set of initials, date, name, text, and checkbox is drawn onto the document at the exact spot it was placed.
A clean copy is set aside. Before any evidence markings are added, Esqase keeps a copy carrying the signatures alone. This is what Download clean copy gives you.
The document is marked as executed. Each page receives a faint diagonal SIGNED watermark and a footer noting that the document was electronically signed via Esqase with a Certificate of Completion attached, so a printed or forwarded copy is clearly identifiable as signed.
The Certificate of Completion is appended. A certificate is added to the end of the document, and the same certificate is also kept as a separate standalone PDF for evidence. See What the Certificate of Completion shows above for everything it records. The consent disclosure wording reflects your firm's country (the Philippines and the United States get country-specific legal language; other countries get a neutral statement), and the text on the certificate is the text each signer agreed to. See How clients sign documents for what signers see.
A sealed fingerprint is recorded. Esqase computes a fingerprint (hash) of the finished PDF and, where a signing key is configured, applies a cryptographic seal. This is what Verify integrity later checks against.
The signed copy becomes the document. The sealed PDF is filed as the newest version of the document you sent out, so from now on opening or downloading that document gives you the signed copy, and its "last updated" details move forward. The pre-signature copy stays in the document's version history. Esqase does not create a second, separate file for the signed version.
The request is marked Completed. The status flips to Completed, every signer shows as Signed, and the download, certificate, and verify actions become available.

Note: The signed PDF that you download already includes the Certificate of Completion as its final pages. The separate Certificate of completion download gives you that certificate on its own, which is handy when you need to share proof of signing without the full document.

Common questions

Why is my request still showing as awaiting signatures after someone signed? A request only finishes when every required signer has signed. The badge next to the document name counts the progress (for example Signed 1 of 2). With sequential signing, the next person cannot sign until the one before them is done.

A signer declined. What now? The request moves to Declined and cannot proceed. Review the optional reason the signer left (if any) in the matter's signing activity, fix whatever was wrong, and create a new request when you are ready. You can archive the declined request to clear it from your list.

Can I edit a request after sending it? No. To change signers or field placement, void the existing request and create a new one. See Requesting eSignatures.

Where do the signed files live? On the document you sent out, in the documents area and on the matter's Documents tab. The signed PDF is the document's current version, so there is no separate file to hunt for, and the copy from before signing is still in its version history. The clean copy and the standalone certificate are downloaded from the completed request rather than filed as documents of their own.

I used to get a second "(Signed)" file. Where has it gone? Esqase no longer creates one. The document itself now carries the signatures, which keeps your folders free of near-duplicate files. Any (Signed) file created before this change stays exactly where it is; nothing was moved or removed.

My request is stuck on Draft and will not send. Why? If your firm has document approvals turned on, the document needs internal sign-off before anything can be emailed or signed. Open the document and click the approval control in the top-right row of header actions on its page (the reviewer avatars, between the record-time control and Download) to request a review. The send actions become available once it is approved. See Approvals for invoices and documents.

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