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Signing a document on your own
The Self sign screen, and how it differs from signing an envelope you are sending out.
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Self sign in the menu is for a document only you need to put your name to: a form, a return, a declaration, anything nobody else has to see. Nothing is emailed to anybody, and you finish in one sitting.
The two ways to sign
They sound alike and they are for different jobs.
Self sign, its own screen in the menu, is a document with no other party. You upload it, mark where you sign, sign, and take the finished copy away. Nobody is emailed.
I am one of the signers, a tick box on a recipient's card in the envelope wizard, is for a document going out to somebody else that you also have to sign. Your saved signature is applied automatically when the envelope reaches you, so you get no email and nothing to open, and your client's copy carries both signatures. See Adding the people who need to sign.
If the document is going to anybody at all, you want the tick box, not this screen.
Signing one
- Open Self sign. Upload a document, or pick one from Choose from your library. PDF and Word files are both accepted.
- The document opens under the heading Place your signature and sign. Put your marks where you want them: a signature, initials, the date, a line of text, a tick.
- Fill each one in as you go. Nothing is placed for you, and there are no boxes to hunt for.
- Press Sign and finish. You are asked to tick the consent statement once, and that tick is the act of signing.
There is nothing to send afterwards. The screen goes to Signed and offers View, Download and Send, plus Sign another document if you have more than one.
What you get
The same record as any other signed document: a signed PDF, a certificate of completion and a full audit trail that cannot be edited afterwards. Anyone can check it on the public verification page.
Where you place your marks is fixed once you start signing, so if something is in the wrong place, start again with a fresh copy of the document rather than adjusting it afterwards.
Sending it on
Send on the finished screen emails a copy to somebody, over a link that expires. That is not the same as sending a document for signature: whoever you send it to reads a finished document and is never asked to sign anything.
Where it lives afterwards
Signed by you at the foot of the Self sign screen lists everything you have signed this way, newest first, and links to each one.
It is deliberately not in Envelopes, because it was never sent to anybody. If you would rather see it there, set the source dropdown on that screen to Signed by me or Everything. See Where each kind of envelope appears.
It costs you nothing
A document you sign this way is not counted against your monthly allowance. Nothing was sent, so nothing comes off the meter. See Allowances, and what happens when you reach one.