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You have been asked to sign: what happens now

A walkthrough of the whole signing process, from the email in your inbox to the signed copy, including why you are asked to prove your identity.

Support

Someone used swipesign to send you a document for signature. You do not need an account, you will not be asked to pay, and nothing is installed on your computer. The whole process runs in your browser and usually takes a few minutes.

Signing is legally binding, so the law requires that we can prove who signed. That is the reason for the identity step in the middle: it is the part most people have questions about, and it is covered below.

What the process looks like

  1. 1
    Open the link in your email. The invitation comes from swipesign on behalf of the sender, and names both the sender and the document. If you are not sure the email is genuine, see Is this email really from swipesign?.
    The swipesign invitation email in an inbox: from Swipesign <support@swipesign.io>, headed "Ready to swipe & sign", naming the sender and the document, with a "Sign here" button.
  2. 2
    Unlock the document, if the sender protected it. Some documents ask for a code sent by text, a PIN, or a password before they open. See Opening a protected document.
  3. 3
    Land on the welcome screen. It names the sender, names the document, and carries any message they wrote you. Nothing is signed yet.
    The signing welcome screen, naming the signer and the sender, with a Sign button, a Download document link and a How it works summary.
  4. 4
    Read the document. Scroll through the whole file. The fields you need to fill in are highlighted, and you can move between them without hunting through the pages.
    The signing view: the document on the left, a page rail, a Document Signatures panel on the right, and a Swipe to sign control along the bottom.
  5. 5
    Confirm you want to sign. Swipe the button at the bottom of the screen. This is the point of no return for the content: after it, you are only confirming your identity.
  6. 6
    Prove who you are. Choose your country and the service you already use, or verify online in a few minutes if you have none. This is explained in the next section.
    The "Initiating signature process" dialog with a country dropdown set to Austria, a provider dropdown, and a "Verify my identity online" button underneath.
  7. 7
    Done. The signature is applied and everyone on the document is notified.
    The "Signature successful!" screen with View document and Download document options.

Why you have to prove your identity

swipesign only issues signatures that carry real legal weight: an Advanced Electronic Signature (AES) or a Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) under EU law. Both seal the document against later changes, and both identify you: an AES through your email address and a code sent to your phone, a QES through a proper identity check.

For a Qualified signature you will be asked for more. If you hold a national eID, ID Austria, Smart-ID, itsme, BankID, MitID and many others, you use it and the step takes under a minute. If you do not, you can verify online with a short video or photo check of your ID document. For an Advanced signature there is no such step. See Advanced or Qualified.

swipesign never sees your ID document
The identity check is run by a qualified trust service provider. They confirm to swipesign that the check passed and who you are: the images of your passport or ID card stay with them.

What it costs you

Nothing. The person who sent the document pays for it. There is no account to create, no subscription, and no card details at any point. If a page ever asks you to pay to sign a document, it is not swipesign: close it and tell the sender.

Getting your copy

Once everyone has signed, you can download the completed document together with its audit trail, a record of who opened, viewed and signed it, and when. See Getting your signed copy and the audit trail.

Save your copy: documents are deleted after 14 days
swipesign is not a storage service. Uploaded documents are automatically deleted 14 days after the process completes, without exception. Download your copy and keep it somewhere safe.

If you do not want to sign

You are never obliged to. There is no Decline button though, and closing the tab tells the sender nothing: reply to them instead, and they can close the workflow. See If you do not want to sign. If you were asked to review rather than sign, the flow is different: Reviewing and approving instead of signing.

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