Send a Word document

On every plan, Free included, you can add a Word document (.docx) to a new envelope as it is. Sovrasign converts it to PDF, and you then place the fields on the PDF, which is what the signers sign.

Add a Word document

1. On Home, select New envelope.
2. Drag the document onto the page, or click to choose it (on a phone: Choose a file). One Word document at a time.
3. Wait while Sovrasign checks it: "Uploading", "Checking for malware", "Converting to PDF", "Checking the PDF". This usually takes a few seconds.
4. The PDF opens in the editor. Check every page before you place the fields: the PDF is what the signers see, so if something moved or a picture is missing, fix the document and add it again, or save it as PDF in Word yourself.

The format is Word's own, .docx. Older Word documents (.doc), OpenDocument text (.odt) and Rich Text (.rtf) are not converted: open them in Word, save them as .docx or as PDF, and add that (see Save a Word document as PDF). The file limit of your plan applies to the Word document and to its PDF: 10 MB on Free, 25 MB on Discover and Pro. Spreadsheets and presentations are not converted yet: save them as PDF.

A document with tracked changes is converted as if every change were accepted. To send the document with its changes shown, or with some of them rejected, decide them in Word first.

What Sovrasign does with your document

• The document is checked for malware first, and only then converted.
• It is converted on Sovrasign's own servers, by a converter that has no network access, runs no macros, cannot start other programs and cannot write files: each document is converted on its own and nothing of it is kept by the converter. No other company sees the document.
• The PDF then gets the same checks as a PDF you upload: malware, then scripts and hidden content.
• The Word file you uploaded is not kept: it is deleted once it is converted (or refused). Keep your own copy. Its name, size and fingerprint stay in the envelope's record, and both fingerprints, the Word file's and the PDF's, are in the envelope's activity log.

Messages you may see

• "Sovrasign converts Word documents saved as .docx." The file is an older Word document (.doc), an OpenDocument text (.odt), a Rich Text document (.rtf) or a Word document with macros (.docm). Open it in Word, save it as .docx or as PDF, and add that.
• "This document contains macros, which Sovrasign never runs." Save it in Word as a regular Word document (.docx, not .docm), or as PDF, and add that.
• "This document is protected by a password." Remove the password in Word, or save the document as PDF, and add that.
• "This document includes content from another file." The document pulls in text from a file (an included text, or a linked section or object). Sovrasign never opens other files. Copy that content into the document itself, or save it as PDF in Word, and add that.
• "This file is not a Word document (.docx)." The file's content is not a Word document, whatever its name says.
• "... linked from outside the document were not included." The document shows pictures or text from another file or a web address. Sovrasign never fetches them. Put them in the document itself, or save it as PDF in Word, if they are needed.
• "This document is too large or too complex to convert." Save it as PDF in Word and add the PDF.
• "The converted PDF is larger than ... MB, the limit of your plan." (10 MB on Free, 25 MB on Discover and Pro.) Make the document smaller, for example by compressing its pictures, or split it.

Error codes

If the app or the page names an error code, it is one of these.