Help center › Account and billing
Lost access, sign-in methods and your email address
Lost your Google, Microsoft or Apple account or your passkey? Sign in with a code to your email address and recover the account; with a passkey it waits 72 hours. Change your address or sign-in methods in Settings.
You lost the account you sign in with
If you can no longer use the Google, Microsoft or Apple account you signed up with, but you can still read your email:
- On the sign-in page, enter your account's email address under Email me a code.
- Enter the code. Sovrasign says the address already has an account and offers Recover my account.
- Select it. You are signed in, every other device is signed out, and from now on a code to this address signs you in. We email you that the account was recovered.
Then add a passkey in Settings, so you have a second way in.
You lost your passkey
If your account has a passkey, a code to your email address is not enough on its own: anyone who can read your email could use it. So recovery waits 72 hours:
- Ask for a code and enter it as above. Sovrasign offers Start the 72-hour recovery.
- We email your account's addresses with the date the recovery completes.
- After that date, sign in with a new code to the same address. The account opens, its passkeys are removed and every other device is signed out. Add a new passkey.
If you did not ask for a recovery, sign in with your passkey or another sign-in method and select Cancel the recovery in Settings > Sign-in and security. Then secure your email account: someone else can read it.
If you lost both your sign-in account and your mailbox, a free account cannot be recovered: open a new account (documents you received by email still verify).
If a paid account lost both, support can help: you give two different proofs, a second person at Sovrasign approves, then the recovery waits 7 days and every known address is told. Support never adds a sign-in method itself.
Sign-in methods
Settings > Sign-in and security lists the ways you sign in: Google, Microsoft, Apple or an email code. Select the unlink icon next to one to remove it; the devices it signed in are signed out. Your account always keeps at least one sign-in method.
Change your email address
- In Settings > Sign-in and security, select Change next to your email address.
- Enter the new address and select Send code.
- Enter the code from the email sent to the new address and select Confirm.
If the page says "This code request is not valid. Ask for a new code.", ask for a new code: select Send code once more, then enter the new code.
Sign-in codes and account emails now go to the new address. Documents you already sent or signed keep the address they recorded. Your old address gets an email with a link to undo the change for 72 hours: the address goes back and every device is signed out.
Sign in again first
Removing a sign-in method, removing a passkey, changing your address and deleting your account need a sign-in from the last 15 minutes. If yours is older, Sovrasign asks you to Sign in again, then you try once more.
If you own or manage a workspace (owner or admin), changing your email address or your sign-in methods also needs a second factor first: a passkey or an authenticator app. Without one, Sovrasign shows Add a second factor; see Add a second factor.
Error codes
If the app or the page names an error code, it is one of these.
| Code | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
account_exists | "There is already a Sovrasign account for this email address": you used another way to sign in than the account's. | Sign in the way the message names, or select Recover my account if you lost access to it. |
passkey_required | "This account has a passkey or an authenticator app": a code to your email is not enough on its own. | Sign in with your passkey, or start the 72-hour recovery. |
recovery_expired | "This recovery request has expired." | Ask for a new sign-in code. |
no_recovery | "No recovery of your account is waiting": there is no recovery to cancel or finish. | Nothing to do. |
identity_taken | This email address, or this Google, Microsoft or Apple account, already signs in to another Sovrasign account. | Sign in with it to that account instead. |
sign_in_again | The change needs a sign-in from the last 15 minutes. | Select Sign in again, then try once more. |
last_sign_in_method | "This is your account's only sign-in method." | Add another one before removing it. |
email_same | "This is already your account's email address." | Enter the new address. |
email_taken | "Another Sovrasign account uses this email address." | Use another address, or sign in to that account. |
email_invalid | "Enter a valid email address." | Check the address and type it again. |
code_unknown | "This code request is not valid. Ask for a new code.": the request for this code is not valid any more. | Ask for a new code: select Send code once more, then enter the new code. |
undo_unknown | The undo link is not valid: "Open the newest email about the change." | Use the link in the newest email about the change. |
undo_expired | "The time to undo this change is over": the 72 hours have passed. | Sign in and check your account in Settings. |
undo_superseded | "The address changed again since." | Sign in and check your account in Settings. |