How to sign a document

1. Open the invitation ("Please sign: ..." in your email) and select Review and sign. The link is only for you: do not forward it.
2. Read the document. The top of the page shows its title, who sent it, and which signer you are (for example "signer 1 of 2").
3. Before you start. Read the electronic records disclosure (Read the electronic records disclosure), check "I agree to use electronic records and signatures for this signing request", and select Continue. See Withdraw your consent if you prefer paper.
4. Say who you are, then start. A card at the top of the document says how you confirm who you are. With Google, Microsoft or Apple, select Sign in with Google (for example) there: a window opens at that company's own sign-in page; sign in with the account of the email address the invitation was sent to. With a code sent by email, nothing happens yet: the code comes when you finish. Other ways are under Other ways. Then select Start.
5. Fill in your fields. Next field in the bar goes from one field to the next. Fields for other people show their name and stay empty. The bar at the bottom counts them, for example "2 of 3 fields done". Date fields fill themselves when you sign.
6. Adopt your signature. At the first signature field, select Click to sign (Tap to sign on a phone). The window opens on Type with your name filled in: check it and pick one of the four styles. Or choose Draw and draw it. Then select Adopt and continue. The field shows your signature as you adopted it, and the signed document shows it the same way. If a style cannot write a letter of your name, it says so: pick another style. Names in scripts such as Hebrew or Arabic cannot be typed yet: draw your signature. Your other signature fields use the same signature. Initials fields show your initials, for example AM: the initials of your name as the sender entered it (for a name in another script, or no name, the initials of the address you sign in with), which anyone can check in the signed document. If the document has initials fields but no signature field, the window adopts your initials instead: typed, they are made from your name in the style you pick; to use other letters, draw them.
7. Check before you sign. When every required field is done, the page lists your answers. You can change them until you sign.
8. Finish and sign. Select Finish and sign in the bar. The company you signed in with confirms it once more for this exact document: with Google and Microsoft a window opens for a moment and closes by itself; with Apple, sign in again. With the email code, enter the code we send you. See Why you sign in.
9. Your browser signs. It makes a one-time key for this document, signs with it, and sends only your signature to Sovrasign, which checks the whole document before accepting it.

Several documents in one request. When the sender put several documents in one envelope, the page lists them under Documents in this envelope, with Go to ("Document 2 of 3: Schedule A") and a heading before each document's first page. You sign them all at once: one signature covers the whole combined PDF. Download a copy next to a document gives that document alone, as a convenience: it is not signed, and its name and first page say so. The combined PDF is the one that verifies.

You then see ✓ Signed, with Download what you signed and Check it yourself. When everyone has signed, everyone gets the signed PDF by email: see Get your copy.

The drawing or typed name is how your signature looks. Who signed is proved by the sign-in recorded beside it. After you sign, nothing in the document can change without breaking your signature.

Not signing? Use Other actions, then Decline: see Decline to sign.

If the page says the document contains hidden text

After the document opens, the signing page checks it in your browser. If it contains text you cannot see on the page (for example white text on a white background), or text that reads like instructions to an AI assistant, a notice above the pages says on which pages. What you see on the page is what you sign: the hidden text is not shown to you and is not signed differently. If something seems wrong, ask the sender before you sign, or decline.

If something gets in the way

• "It is not your turn yet; you can read the document." (error code not_your_turn) The sender chose a signing order and someone before you has not signed yet. You get an email when it is your turn.
• "... is signing right now. This takes a moment; you continue automatically." (error code signing_locked) Several people may sign at the same time, but the document takes one signature at a time. Stay on the page.
• "Someone else signed just before you, so the document changed." Your answers are kept. Confirm who you are again to sign the new version.
• "You have already signed this document (in another tab or window)." (error code already_signed) Nothing more to do.
• "The electronic records disclosure has changed since you agreed to it." (error code disclosure_changed) Read the new version and agree again to continue.
• "You signed in as ..., but this document is for ..." (error code identity_mismatch) The account you signed in with is not the one of the invited address. Sign in with that address's account, or use the email code: see Why you sign in.
• The signature does not fit your place in the document (error code wrong_signer). Open the link from your invitation email again and sign again. If it happens again, ask the sender.
• The page stopped working after a while. The page keeps working for two hours after you open the link. After that, open the link from the email again. See The signing link does not work.
• The sign-in window did not open. Allow pop-ups for the signing page and try again.

• The sign-in does not work, or you have no account with that company. Use Other ways in the card at the top, then Use a code sent by email: see Sign with a code sent by email.

Other actions

Under Other actions: Decline, Withdraw consent (withdraw your consent), Ask a question (a question or a paper copy, sent to the sender) and I need help to sign (accessibility). The page is in ten languages: choose yours at the top.

Questions about the document itself? Contact the sender: their name and email address are in the invitation and at the top of the signing page. Sovrasign cannot change the document or give legal advice.