Sign For Free Help Center

Verification

Verify a completed document

Use the browser-based verifier to check whether a completed PDF matches its Sign For Free audit evidence.

Role
Sender, Recipient, Signer, or document reviewer
Plan
Free and Basic
Platform
Modern web browser

Before you start

  • Download the completed PDF and audit_trail.pdf from the same completion email.
  • Keep the original attachments unchanged. Editing or re-exporting either PDF may cause verification to fail.
  • The unsigned source PDF is optional. Add it only if you want the verifier to check it against the recorded source-document hash.

Run verification

  1. Open the verifier

    Go to signforfree.com/verify in a current browser.

  2. Add the completed document

    Under Completed document (PDF), select the signed PDF from the completion email.

  3. Add the audit certificate

    Under Audit Trail (PDF), select audit_trail.pdf from the same email.

  4. Add the original document if needed

    Under Original document (optional), select the unsigned source PDF only if you want that additional integrity check.

  5. Start the checks

    Select Verify and keep the page open while the browser examines the files.

  6. Review the result

    Read the overall result and every individual PASS, FAIL, or SKIPPED check. If needed, select Export result JSON to save the technical result.

What happens next

PASS — authentic means the supplied files passed the verifier's applicable integrity and audit-evidence checks. FAIL / INCOMPLETE means at least one required check failed or could not be completed; review the individual check cards before relying on the files.

Warnings and limitations

  • Your PDF files are processed in your browser and are not sent to the Sign For Free backend. The verifier may contact a whitelisted external source to look up a public key.
  • A passing result supports file-integrity and audit-evidence review. It does not establish a Signer's legal identity, legal enforceability, notarization, or qualified electronic signature status.
  • Where shown by the result, certificate-chain trust, an independent trusted timestamp, and certificate revocation status may remain unestablished. Do not interpret those results as a higher PAdES level than the checks report.
  • Verify the original emailed attachments. A visually identical PDF that was printed, edited, optimized, or re-exported may have different bytes.

Troubleshooting

No embedded audit payload was found
Confirm that you placed audit_trail.pdf, not the completed document, in the Audit Trail (PDF) field.
A check reports FAIL or INCOMPLETE
Do not treat the files as verified. Use fresh attachments from the same completion email and follow Troubleshoot a failed verification.
Public key required
Use only a trusted published 32-byte Ed25519 public key whose fingerprint matches the one shown. Paste its Base64 value, then select Use this key.
The browser is unsupported
Update your browser or try a current version of another modern browser.

Still need help?

Keep both original attachments and the exported result JSON, then ask the Sender for fresh completion files if any required check still fails.