Signed copies and checking a document

Who gets the signed copy

• You: emailed with the signed PDF attached and a button to open it in Docket Secure. It is also on the document page under Download signed PDF.
• Each signer: emailed a copy, unless they unticked Email me a copy when they signed.
• People you copied in: emailed a copy.

Very large files, and every confidential document, are sent as a secure download link instead of an attachment. The link works for 30 days.

The activity trail page

The signed PDF ends with an extra page: the activity trail. It lists the document, each person, and every step (sent, opened, signed, approved, signed in person) with its date and time in UK time. It is the record that shows who signed and when. It never includes IP addresses or locations.

The fingerprint

Every finished document has a fingerprint: a long code worked out from the exact contents of the file (a SHA-256 hash). If even one character of the PDF changed, the fingerprint would be completely different. We keep the fingerprint of the original and of the signed copy, and they are shown on the document page.

Check that a copy is genuine

1. Go to Check a signed document, or choose Check a signed document in the account menu inside the app. Anyone can use it, without an account.
2. Drop the PDF in, or choose the file.
3. You are told whether it is the genuine signed copy (with its title, completion date and who signed), the original unsigned file, or a file we don’t recognise.

The file never leaves your device: your browser works out the fingerprint and only that short code is sent to us. Renaming the file doesn’t matter, but re-saving it in another PDF program, printing it to PDF or compressing it changes the contents, so it will no longer match.

Keep the PDF exactly as you received it. If you need to share it, send the file itself rather than a re-saved copy.