Sending a document for signature: the complete walkthrough

This guide walks you through the full e-signature workflow in GingerDocs: adding recipients, placing fillable fields, sending the document, how signing works for your recipients, how progress is reflected in real time, and the Certificate of Completion you receive at the end.

1. Add recipients

Recipients are the people who will fill in fields and sign your document. You add them from the document editor:

1. Open your document in the editor.
2. In the right-hand Add fillable fields panel, click the assignee picker at the top (it shows your own name by default).
3. Search your saved contacts by name or email — or click Add recipient to enter someone new.
4. Fill in the recipient’s details. Email is required — the signing invitation is sent there. Name, phone, company, and address are optional, but the name appears on the signature certificate, so it is worth adding.
5. Click save. The recipient now appears in the picker with their own color.

Every recipient gets a unique color. Any field you assign to them is shown in that color on the page, so you can see at a glance who is responsible for what.

Recipients you add are also saved to your Contacts, so next time you can pick them from search instead of retyping their details.

Signing order: all at once, or one by one

By default, all recipients are invited at the same time and can sign in any order (parallel signing).

If your document needs to be signed in a specific sequence — for example, the client signs first, then your manager countersigns — open the Recipients view and turn on Sign in order:

• Each recipient gets a numbered position (1, 2, 3, …).
• Use the up/down arrows to reorder them.
• Only the first recipient is emailed when you send. Each subsequent recipient is automatically invited as soon as the person before them has signed.
• A recipient who tries to sign before their turn is blocked until everyone ahead of them has finished.

Link expiry

While the document is still a draft you can set how many days the signing links stay valid (default: 2 days, up to 365). Once the document is sent, the expiry is locked in.

2. Place input fields and signature fields

Fields are the boxes your recipients interact with — signatures, dates, text answers, checkboxes, and more. Eight field types are available:

1. In the Add fillable fields panel, select who the field is for using the assignee picker — yourself, a team member, or one of your recipients.
2. Drag a field type from the panel onto the page (or click it to drop it on the current page).
3. Move and resize the field so it sits exactly where it should on the document.
4. Mark fields as required where appropriate — recipients cannot finish signing until every required field assigned to them is filled.
5. Repeat for each recipient. Switch the assignee in the picker and keep placing fields — the color coding shows you whose is whose.

Fields assigned to you can be filled in immediately, right in the editor. Fields assigned to recipients stay empty until they open their signing link.

Before you send, use the Review data panel to see every field on the document grouped by owner, and jump straight to any field that still needs attention.

3. Send the document

1. Click Review and send in the editor’s top bar.
2. The review step shows exactly who will receive a signing link. Double-check names, emails, and (if you enabled it) the signing order.
3. Click send.

Each recipient receives an email with a personal, secure signing link. The link is unique to them, expires on the schedule you set, and can be revoked at any time.

The document status changes from Draft to Sent, and editing is locked so the version everyone signs is identical.

4. What your recipients see

Recipients don’t need a GingerDocs account — the email link is all they need.

Opening the link shows the document in a clean, read-only signing view. If the recipient is on a new device, GingerDocs first emails them a 6-digit verification code to confirm they own the mailbox before showing the document.

Only the fields assigned to them are active, and a progress badge at the top shows how many fields are left (“3 fields remaining” → “All fields filled”). Clicking a signature field opens the signature dialog with three options: draw with a mouse, trackpad, or finger; type their name and pick a signature style; or upload an image of their signature.

Once every required field is filled, the Complete signing button activates. One click submits everything, and the recipient sees a confirmation screen.

A recipient can also Reject the document instead of signing. They must provide a reason, you are notified immediately, and you can make changes and resend.

If a document is sent to someone only for acknowledgment (no fields assigned to them), they see an Acknowledge & complete button instead, and the certificate records them as having acknowledged the document.

5. How progress is reflected

You never have to guess where a document stands — every action a recipient takes is reflected back to you automatically. A document moves through these statuses: Draft → Sent → Viewed → Partially signed → Completed. Updates arrive in real time — if you have the document open, the status panel updates the moment a recipient views or signs, with no page refresh.

Once a document is sent, the editor’s right-hand panel switches to a Document status view showing:

• A live status card (Sent / Partially signed / Completed).
• Every recipient with their individual state — Invited, Viewed, Signed, or Declined — including timestamps (“Invited · 2:14 PM”).
• A Resend button next to any recipient who hasn’t signed yet, to nudge them with a reminder email.
• The option to remove a recipient — only while nobody has signed yet. Once any signature is in place, the recipient list is locked to protect the integrity of the document.

Every event — sent, viewed, signed, declined, reminded, completed — is recorded in the document’s Timeline, backed by a tamper-evident audit log. Each entry is cryptographically chained to the one before it, so the history cannot be altered after the fact.

When the last person signs

As soon as the final recipient completes their fields:

1. GingerDocs automatically generates the final signed PDF — your original document with every signature, date, and field permanently embedded.
2. The document status changes to Completed.
3. Everyone gets a copy: each recipient and the document owner receive a completion email with access to the signed document.
4. The status panel turns green: “Document completed! All recipients have signed.”

The original uploaded PDF is never modified — the signed version is produced as a new, separate file, and every previously signed version is preserved permanently.

6. The Certificate of Completion

Every completed document automatically includes a Certificate of Completion, appended as the final page(s) of the signed PDF. It is the document’s proof of execution — who signed, when, and from where. The certificate shows:

• Reference number — a unique, permanent identifier for the document. It never changes, even if the document is later amended and re-signed.
• Completion date and time — when all parties finished signing (UTC).
• Document title and page count.
• Verification code — a 16-character code derived from the document’s tamper-evident audit trail. It acts as a fingerprint of the document’s full history at the moment of completion.
• A card for every signer — name and email, signing order and final status (Signed, Acknowledged, or Declined), a full timeline of when the invitation was sent, when they viewed, and when they signed (all in UTC), the IP address the signature was made from, and a reproduction of their actual signature as captured during signing.

Verifying authenticity

Anyone holding a signed GingerDocs PDF can verify it is genuine: the reference number printed on the certificate can be shared with the document sender, who can match it against the document record and its verification code in GingerDocs.

Getting the signed document

• Owners can download the completed PDF (certificate included) from the editor or dashboard at any time.
• Recipients can download their signed copy directly from their signing link, and also receive the completion email when the document is finalized.

Quick reference