Sign For Free Help Center

Completed documents

Save your completed PDF and audit certificate

Preserve both completion attachments in storage you control before the Envelope reaches the end of its short lifecycle.

Role
Sender and Recipient
Plan
Free and Basic
Platform
Email and your chosen file storage

Before you start

  • Wait for the completion email sent after every required party has signed and final document processing succeeds.
  • Locate both attachments: the completed PDF and audit_trail.pdf.
  • Choose durable storage you control, such as a company document management system or an approved cloud-storage folder.

Save the completion files

  1. Open the completion email

    Confirm that the message refers to the correct Envelope and includes both PDF attachments.

  2. Download the completed PDF

    Save the signed document without opening it in an editor or exporting a new copy.

  3. Download the audit certificate

    Save audit_trail.pdf from the same message. Keep it with the completed PDF because the files are verified as a pair.

  4. Store both original files together

    Move the unchanged attachments into the same protected folder in your approved storage system.

  5. Record useful context

    In the folder name or your records system, note the Envelope purpose, parties, and completion date without modifying the PDF contents.

  6. Test your saved copies

    Use the Sign For Free verifier to confirm that the stored completed PDF still matches its audit certificate.

What happens next

You can retain the two files according to your legal, contractual, and organizational recordkeeping requirements. The audit certificate helps a later reviewer check the completed PDF's recorded evidence with the browser-based verifier.

Warnings and limitations

  • An Envelope expires 72 hours after it is created. Completing an Envelope does not restart the 72-hour clock.
  • Server copies are scheduled for deletion roughly 72 to 96 hours after creation, not after completion. Save both files as soon as you receive them.
  • The dashboard is not a long-term completed-document archive and does not promise downloads at any time.
  • Keep the original file bytes unchanged. Editing, optimizing, printing to PDF, or re-exporting a file may cause verification to fail.

Troubleshooting

The completion email is missing
Check spam and filtered folders. Ask the Sender to confirm that the Envelope reached Completed and to use the completed-document resend option promptly if it is available.
Only one attachment is present
Do not rely on an incomplete pair for verification. Ask the Sender for a fresh completion email containing both PDFs.
Your stored copy fails verification
Return to the original email attachment and compare it with your stored file. Save a fresh unchanged copy and run verification again.
The Envelope has already been deleted
Sign For Free may no longer be able to provide a server copy. Check the original completion emails received by the Sender and all Recipients.

Still need help?

Ask the Sender and other Recipients to check their completion emails for the original attachments before the Envelope lifecycle ends.