FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the questions we are asked most. For step-by-step guides, the help centre has the full detail.
Getting started
What is CecurSign?
CecurSign sends documents out for signature and gives you back a signed PDF, a certificate saying who signed it and when, and a record anyone can check. You add a file, mark the places people need to sign, name the people and press send.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial, and the current plan terms are shown before you confirm. No credit card required. A trial is the full product rather than a cut-down version, and everything you produce during it, including the signed documents and their certificates, stays yours.
What kinds of file can I send?
PDF and Word documents (.pdf, .doc and .docx). A Word document is turned into a PDF before anyone signs it, so every recipient sees the same pages. Every plan accepts files up to 100 MB.
What counts as an envelope?
An envelope is a single signing request, which can contain several documents and several recipients. A five-document onboarding pack sent to one person is one envelope, not five.
Does it work for Ireland as well as the UK?
Both are first-class. You can pay in euro or pounds, the dates read the same way round wherever the document is opened, and the evidence is written the same way for either jurisdiction. Northern Ireland companies are already using it.
Sending and signing
Do the people I send documents to need an account?
No. They open the link in the email and sign in their browser, on a phone or a computer, with nothing to install and nothing to register for. It costs them nothing.
How does someone sign?
They can draw their signature with a finger, mouse or stylus, type their name and pick a signature style, or use a picture of their own handwritten signature. Once they have signed one field, the same signature can be applied to the rest in a tap.
What happens if someone declines?
The document stops, you are told, and the reason they gave is recorded in the audit trail along with everything else. Nothing is silently abandoned.
Fifty new starters in a week. Is that fifty sends?
No. One template, one list, and every person gets their own pack with their own link, their own signature and their own certificate. They are separate records rather than one document with fifty names on it, which is what makes each one usable on its own afterwards.
Can the people I send to send documents back to us?
No. A recipient can read what you send and sign what you ask them to sign, and there is no way for them to return a file through us. If your process depends on getting a passport scan or a certificate back, keep using whatever you use today for that step.
Why not just attach our policies to the email?
Because an attachment tells you nothing afterwards. Six months later the question is not whether you sent your terms of business, it is whether that person opened them, and an email with four PDFs stapled to it cannot answer that. Sent as supporting documents instead, each one is served to that named recipient behind their own link and each read is recorded against them.
Is a supporting document signed, or agreed to?
Neither. Supporting material is never merged into the signed file, never named on the completion certificate and never carries a signature field. What is recorded is that a named person opened it, at a time, which is a different claim and an honest one. If something has to be agreed rather than read, it goes in as a document to be signed.
Self sign
Can I sign a document myself without sending it to anyone?
Yes. Self sign is for a document only you need to sign: add it, place your fields, sign it and download it. It has its own monthly allowance on every plan and never uses an envelope.
Does anybody get an email?
Only you: a copy of the signed document arrives in your inbox. Nobody else is emailed, because there is nobody to send it to. From the screen you signed on you can also view it, download it, or send a copy to someone yourself.
What if somebody else has to sign it too?
Then send it in the ordinary way with both of you named on it, and tick yourself as a signer: your saved signature can be applied to your part while the other person gets their own link, their own reminders and their own line on the certificate. Self sign is for the document where you genuinely are the only party, and it is not a way to sign on somebody else’s behalf.
Is the record any weaker than a document I send to a client?
No. The same audit trail is written, the same certificate of completion is produced, the same fingerprint of the file is recorded, and the completed document can be checked by anyone you give it to. The only thing missing is the part about a recipient, because there was not one.
Can I move a field after I have placed it?
Yes, right up until you sign. Fields can be moved, resized and removed while you are placing them, and nothing is created until you press Sign and finish. From that moment the document is signed and fixed, which is what makes "could this signature have been moved after it was signed?" a question with an answer.
Do I need to have saved a signature first?
No. If you have one saved, it goes onto the document the moment you place a signature field. If you have not, you are asked to draw one the first time you place one.
Can I do this on a phone?
Not yet. You place your fields and sign on the same screen, and placing them needs room to see a page and put something on it accurately, so it asks for a screen at least 1024px wide: a laptop, a desktop or a large tablet in landscape.
Can I change my mind halfway through?
Yes. Nothing is created until you press Sign and finish, so going back before then leaves nothing behind to cancel.
Legal standing and evidence
Is a document signed this way legally valid?
Electronic signatures are recognised in the UK under UK eIDAS and the Electronic Communications Act 2000, and in Ireland under EU eIDAS. What matters when something is questioned is evidence: who signed, when, from where, and that the document has not changed since. That is what the audit trail and certificate are for.
What kind of electronic signature is it?
A simple electronic signature, which is the ordinary, accepted form for most business documents. We do not provide qualified electronic signatures. If a document has special formality requirements, wills and certain deeds among them, take your own advice on it first.
What happens if a signature is ever challenged?
You can download an evidence pack: the original documents, the signed version, the certificate of completion, the full audit trail and every signature image. The certificate carries a QR code that anyone can use to check the document independently, without an account and without asking you.
Data protection and GDPR
How do you handle GDPR and people’s data?
For the documents you send and the people you send them to, your company is the data controller and Cecur Limited is your processor. Our Data Processing Agreement, Privacy Notice and full list of sub-processors are published on this site, so a supplier review can start without asking us for anything. Our own servers, database and document storage are hosted in the European Union; email is delivered by a United States provider, which is named with what it processes. We do not sell personal data, use it for advertising, or send documents to any AI service.
The documents themselves: the Data Processing Agreement, the Privacy Notice and the list of sub-processors.
Where is my data stored?
Your documents, signed copies, certificates and audit trails are held on our own servers and database in the European Union. That is where we host; it is not a promise that every piece of data stays there, because signing emails are delivered by a United States provider. Every outside company we rely on is named on the sub-processor list with what it handles.
Can I get a Data Processing Agreement?
Yes, it is published and you can send it on to your reviewer as it stands. If your organisation needs a countersigned copy rather than the published one, contact us early in your review.
What if someone asks for their data to be deleted?
Signing records are deliberately permanent, because they are the evidence of an agreement. Where they are needed to establish or defend a legal claim they can be kept despite an erasure request, and processing is restricted instead. For your own documents the decision is yours as controller, and we help you carry it out. Deleting a whole account, including its documents and audit trails, is set out in the Data Processing Agreement.
Is our data used to train AI models?
No. Documents are never sent to any AI service.
Plans and billing
Do you charge per user?
No. Every plan includes unlimited team members, so you can invite everyone who sends or signs documents at no extra cost. You pay for the envelopes you send, not the people who send them, and the plans you can buy online differ only in how many envelopes you can send each month. Unlimited team members and templates are subject to the fair use clause in our terms, which only comes into play for use far beyond a normal business.
Can I change plans?
Yes. An upgrade applies straight away, so the extra allowance is there as soon as you need it. A downgrade takes effect at the end of the period you have already paid for, and you keep the plan you are on until then.
What happens if I run out of envelopes?
Sending pauses until your next billing period, and we tell you which plan covers the volume you are using. We never charge per envelope over the limit, so your bill cannot go up without you choosing it. Upgrading applies straight away and releases anything waiting. On any plan you can buy a booster pack instead: it is only drawn on in a month that goes over, and its credits never expire: they stay available for as long as your account is on a paid plan.
Do booster credits expire?
No. Booster credits never expire, so there is no pressure to use them up. They stay available for as long as your account is on a paid plan, and your monthly allowance is always spent first, so a booster is only drawn on in a month that goes over.
Can I review the terms before subscribing?
Yes. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial, and the current plan terms are shown before you confirm.
What happens when a trial ends?
The account becomes read-only rather than being switched off. You can still sign in, open everything you have sent and download every signed document and certificate; nothing is deleted. Sending stops until you choose a plan, and anyone part-way through signing one of your documents can still finish.
What payment methods do you accept?
Visa, Mastercard and American Express through Stripe.
Did not find your question?
The help centre has a guide for every part of the product, written to be read at the moment you need it. If your question is not there either, get in touch and a person will answer it.
Try it on a real document
Send one, sign it, and look at the certificate that comes out.
No credit card required.