Opening a protected document

Some documents do not open straight from the link. Instead you get a screen headed This document is protected, asking you to confirm who you are before anything is shown to you.

That means the sender switched on protected access when they set the workflow up. Without it, anyone who got hold of the link could read the document. With it, only the person the link was meant for can.

The screen will not tell you who sent it

It says "Signature collection owner" and "this document" rather than naming either. That is deliberate: nothing about the document is revealed until you have proved you are the right person. Check the email the link came from if you need to know who it is.

Which challenge you get

You do not choose, and neither does the sender. swipesign asks for whichever factor it can already tie to you:

If you are…	You are asked for
A guest: no swipesign account	A 6-digit code texted to the phone number the sender put on your card
A swipesign user who signs in with ID Austria	A 6-digit verification PIN, sent to you by text
A swipesign user who signs in with a password	Your own swipesign password

The protected-document screen asking the signer to confirm via SMS, with a "Request SMS code now" button. — **Guest signers** get a code by text: nothing is sent until you ask for it.

The protected-document screen asking for a six-digit verification PIN, with six empty boxes and a disabled Verify code button. — **ID Austria users** get a six-digit PIN instead.

The protected-document screen asking the signer to confirm their password, with a password field, Cancel and Continue. — **Password users** confirm with their own swipesign password.

There is no password the sender can give you

This is a common misunderstanding. The password branch means your swipesign password: the sender never sets one, never sees one, and cannot look one up for you.

The code by text

Nothing is sent until you ask for it. Click Request SMS code now and the message goes to the number the sender holds for you. Type the six digits and you are in.

A short counter runs before Resend code becomes available, so a second tap does not fire off another message immediately. Request several codes in a row and a help note appears telling you to contact the sender: the right move, because only they can correct the number on file.

Nothing arriving?

Almost always the sender typed the wrong number, or your phone is on a network that drops automated messages. If the code by text is not arriving covers what to check.

If you have a swipesign account

When the address the document was sent to is also a swipesign account, you are asked to sign in before anything else. That is deliberate: the account is the stronger claim to that address, so it takes precedence over the emailed link.

Sign in first and open the link again. If you signed in only moments ago, the password screen is skipped altogether: you have just proved the same thing it would have asked for.

This is not the signing step

Unlocking only opens the document. Reading it commits you to nothing. Signing comes later, after you have swiped, and identifies you separately: see You have been asked to sign.

So a document that opens with a text message may still ask for a text message again on the way out. The first proves you are the right recipient; the second is part of the signature itself.