How to send a PDF for someone else to sign
Signing your own copy of a contract is one job. Getting a client, a landlord or three colleagues to sign the same document, in the right order, is another. This guide walks through sending a PDF for signature, what each signer sees, and how to make sure the signed file you get back is the one you sent.
Updated September 15, 20266 min read
On this page
Signing it yourself or asking others to sign
If the only signature a document needs is yours, there is nothing to send: open Sign PDF, draw or type your signature, place it and download the file.
When other people have to sign, the job changes. Each person needs the document, a clear place to sign, and a way to return it that you can trust. That is what a signature request does: one document goes out, each signer fills in the fields meant for them, and the signed file comes back with a record of who signed and when.
How to send a PDF for signature, step by step
You need to be logged in to send a request. The people you invite do not need a DocuGrip account.
- Open Request signatures and choose the PDF you want signed.
- Add each signer with their name and email address, in the order they should sign.
- Pick a signer and a field type — signature, initials, name, date or text — and click on the page where it belongs. Every signer needs at least one signature or initials field.
- Give the request a title, add a short message if you like, choose how many days signers have, and send it.
Signers sign one after another. The next person receives their personal link as soon as the previous one has signed, and you get an email when everyone has.
What each signer sees
Each signer receives an email with a personal link. Opening it shows the document with their fields highlighted. They adopt a signature by drawing or typing it, fill in any name or text fields, confirm that they agree to sign electronically, and finish. If something is wrong with the document, they can decline instead, optionally with a reason, which closes the request and lets you know.
Each link is created for one signer when it is their turn. The document itself never changes while it is being signed: each signer sends only what they entered in their own fields. Before anything is shown, the signer’s browser checks the document against the fingerprint recorded when you sent it, then places each earlier signature inside the box you drew for that person, so nobody along the way can alter the rest of the page.
Following up and getting the signed file
Your requests page shows who has opened the document and who has signed. If someone is slow to respond, you can send a reminder once a day, and you get a heads-up email three days before a request closes. If you need to stop, cancelling closes the request and deletes the document.
When the last person signs, everyone receives an email with a link to the signed PDF. The final file ends with a signing record page that lists each signer and the time they signed. Download a copy to keep: the encrypted file is deleted 30 days after the request is completed.
Keeping the document private
A document that has to reach other people has to be stored somewhere they can open it. With DocuGrip that copy is encrypted before it is sent, and the key that opens it travels inside the signing links instead of being kept with the file. Links are personal, so ask signers not to forward their invitation email.
Ready to send a document?
Add the PDF, place the fields for each signer and send it. You get an email when everyone has signed.
Request signatures