--- title: "Closed your account? Proving what you signed · Attest" description: "Your plan lapsed or you closed your e-signature account: what vendors keep, how to still prove what you signed, and why Attest copies need no account." url: https://attest.datahubz.com/guides/closed-account-prove-signed-documents updated: 2026-10-12 --- [Attest](https://attest.datahubz.com/)/[Guides](https://attest.datahubz.com/guides) # Closed your account? Proving what you signed You can still prove what you signed if you kept the signed PDF with its certificate or audit trail; what the vendor still holds depends on its terms, which range from a read-only account to documents it may delete once your account or subscription ends. An Attest signed copy doesn't depend on your account at all: it carries the evidence and an open-source verifier inside the file, and anyone can check it for free, with no account. By DataHubz · Updated October 12, 2026 · 6 min read ## Your account, not the company This page is about your own account: a plan you stopped paying for, an account you closed, or a signer who never had an account at all. The service is still running; your access to it has changed. If the whole company disappears, see [what happens if your e-signature company shuts down](https://attest.datahubz.com/guides/what-happens-if-e-signature-company-shuts-down), and for records you must keep for decades, [whether a signed document will still verify in 20 years](https://attest.datahubz.com/guides/signed-document-verify-in-20-years). ## What vendors keep when your plan ends or your account closes Each service's terms or help pages, as published on October 11, 2026, split your account's life into two moments: the paid plan ending, and the account itself closing or being deleted. | Service | When your paid plan ends | When your account is closed or deleted | | ------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Dropbox Sign | The account becomes a free account: "You can still log in to access your signed documents" | "your account and all documents related to it will be permanently deleted" | | SignNow | The account becomes read-only, with "no time limit on how long you can keep accessing them", and you can still download documents | Your "documents, templates, and personal data stored in SignNow are permanently removed in line with our retention policies" | | PandaDoc | "Signed documents are retained within PandaDoc for the duration of the customer relationship" | "Documents can be downloaded and exported at any time, including upon account termination" | | DocuSign (eSignature terms, version September 15, 2025) | Completed documents are stored for the subscription term, unless you delete them first, and you can retrieve them at no additional cost during the term | For up to two years after the term ends, you can ask DocuSign for Professional Services to help retrieve completed documents that remain stored; after those two years, if you didn't, DocuSign "shall have the right to delete" the account and its documents | | Adobe Acrobat Sign | "Upon expiration or termination of a Customer's license to Acrobat Sign, Adobe is under no obligation to retain the Customer's agreements, audit reports, or other Customer data" | The same sentence covers termination of the license | DocuSign's terms of that version apply to subscriptions started on or after September 15, 2025; older subscriptions are on its earlier terms. Two practical points follow. If your plan only lapsed, log in now and download what you need while you still can. If you are about to delete an account, export first: Dropbox Sign and SignNow both say deletion removes your documents permanently. ## If you were the signer, not the sender Signers usually have no paid account, so they depend on the copy they were sent or downloaded. Vendors set limits here too. PandaDoc, for example, says, as published on October 11, 2026: "A completed document is public (available for a recipient/signer) for 6 months after completion." On Attest, when the last signer signs, every signer can view and download the signed copy. A signer's own link opens it for 30 days after completion, and after that, signing in with their email opens it. Every signer is also emailed a link to the certificate when the agreement completes. The people who sign never pay and need no plan. ## What still proves a document after the account is gone Whatever service you used, these are what you can still rely on: 1. **The signed PDF** you downloaded, exactly as downloaded. 2. **The certificate of completion or audit report**, which records who signed and when. 3. **Any seal in the file.** Open it in a PDF reader and check what it reports. 4. **Your correspondence** about the agreement: emails, invoices and payments. 5. **The other party's copy.** If you've lost yours, ask the people you signed with. Some evidence can't be recovered from a file. When proof of integrity lives in the vendor's database, as with Dropbox Sign's offer to "provide you with the two unique document records" (as published on October 11, 2026), it depends on the vendor still holding your records. ## Attest: signed copies don't depend on your account Attest was built so the proof travels with the document, not with an account. - **Every party gets the same sealed PDF.** It holds the signed pages, with a "Signed with Attest" stamp on each signature and a seal line at the foot of every page, a certificate of completion, the audit trail up to completion and a "Verify it yourself, without us" page, and three files attached inside: the full evidence, the original document exactly as signed, and a standalone verifier. - **Anyone can verify it, free, with no account,** at [attest.datahubz.com/verify](https://attest.datahubz.com/verify) or verify.datahubz.com. A dropped file is fingerprinted in the visitor's browser, never uploaded, and found if it is the exact file that was recorded and anchored. - **The verifier inside the file works without Attest.** It runs in any browser, on the device, reading only a public blockchain node. It checks the original document inside the signed copy against what every signer signed, each signer's passkey signature and entries, Attest's anchored record of the agreement on Horizen, and that nothing was added to the PDF after it was sealed. It also re-makes every page you see from what was signed and compares the result with the copy byte for byte, so pages drawn with anything else fail. It pins its trust root (the chain, Attest's registry and the keys it checks against are built into the verifier, never read from the file being checked) and accepts only anchors from Attest's registered wallets. It is open source under the MIT license, and the current version is at [attest.datahubz.com/attest-verifier.html](https://attest.datahubz.com/attest-verifier.html). - **Each signature is the signer's own.** Every signer approves with a **passkey**, a cryptographic key only the signer controls, unlocked with Face ID, Touch ID, Windows Hello or the device PIN. The passkey signs a statement that names the document's fingerprint (a short code calculated from its contents) and their entries, and the signed state, which includes that fingerprint, is anchored on the Horizen public blockchain. Paid plans are monthly, and you can cancel any time from Manage subscription on the Plan & usage page. Your signed copies keep verifying either way, because checking them needs no Attest account and no Attest service. If an agreement's certificate is private, anyone who looks it up is told it exists and is private. Its signers can still prove it with a zero-knowledge proof that shows that they signed it and the date it was completed, without the document: see [how to prove you signed without sharing the contract](https://attest.datahubz.com/guides/prove-you-signed-without-sharing-contract). ## Before you close an account or let a plan lapse 1. **List the agreements you may need later:** contracts in force, NDAs, leases and offer letters. 2. **Download each signed PDF with its certificate or audit report.** On Attest, there is also a "Signed pages only" version for filings that must keep the page count, and a certificate of completion PDF that carries the evidence and the verifier without the document. 3. **Open each file once** to confirm it is complete and readable. 4. **Store the files in two places you control,** such as your own drive and a separate backup. 5. **Delete the account last,** after everything is saved. For agreements still to come, choose a signed copy that proves itself. On Attest, your first 2 documents are free, in total, and the Signing plan is $5 a month for 20 documents. ## Questions people ask Can I get my documents after my DocuSign subscription ends? Under DocuSign's current eSignature terms (version September 15, 2025), you can retrieve stored documents at no additional cost during the subscription term. For up to two years after it ends, you can ask DocuSign for Professional Services to help retrieve completed documents that remain stored; after those two years, if you didn't, DocuSign "shall have the right to delete" the account and its documents. Subscriptions started before September 15, 2025 are on DocuSign's earlier terms. I closed my Dropbox Sign account. Are my documents gone? It depends on whether you cancelled or deleted. After cancelling a paid plan, the account becomes free and you can still log in to your signed documents. If you deleted the account, Dropbox says the account and all its documents are permanently deleted, so the copies you downloaded are what you have. I signed with Attest but never made an account. How do I get my copy? Your signing link opens the signed copy for 30 days after the agreement completes. After that, sign in with the email address the request was sent to and open it there. Does an Attest signed copy stop verifying if I cancel my plan? No. The signed copy carries the original document, the evidence and an open-source verifier, and verification needs no account and no Attest service. Anyone can check it for free. Can someone check my Attest document without an account? Yes. They can drop the PDF on attest.datahubz.com/verify, where it is fingerprinted in their browser and never uploaded, or save the verifier from the PDF's attachments and drop the PDF on it. Verification is free. ## Sources 1. [Cancel or delete a Dropbox Sign account](https://help.dropbox.com/plans/cancel-or-delete-dropbox-sign-account), Dropbox, read October 11, 2026 2. [Dropbox Sign legal](https://www.dropboxsign.com/about/legal), Dropbox, read October 11, 2026 3. [Keeping your documents after your plan expires](https://helpcenter.signnow.com/en/articles/15850883-keeping-your-documents-after-your-plan-expires), airSlate SignNow, read October 11, 2026 4. [Delete your account](https://helpcenter.signnow.com/en/articles/13186479-easily-delete-your-account), airSlate SignNow, read October 11, 2026 5. [PandaDoc eSignature compliance](https://support.pandadoc.com/en/articles/16640382-pandadoc-esignature-compliance), PandaDoc, read October 11, 2026 6. [Signature certificate of completed documents](https://support.pandadoc.com/en/articles/9714781-signature-certificate-of-completed-documents), PandaDoc, read October 11, 2026 7. [Docusign eSignature Service Schedule (version September 15, 2025)](https://www.docusign.com/legal/terms-and-conditions/schedule-docusign-signature), Docusign, read October 11, 2026 8. [Acrobat Sign data and document retention (help page, last updated August 6, 2023; Internet Archive copy)](https://web.archive.org/web/20250622023200/https://helpx.adobe.com/sign/using/data-document-retention.html), Adobe, read October 11, 2026 ## Read next - [What if your e-signature company shuts down?](https://attest.datahubz.com/guides/what-happens-if-e-signature-company-shuts-down) What happens to signed documents and their proof when an e-signature vendor shuts down or deletes data, what vendors' terms say, and how to protect yours. - [How to verify that a signed document is genuine](https://attest.datahubz.com/guides/verify-signed-document) Check who signed, that nothing changed and when. How e-signature services verify documents, and how to check an Attest document free, even without Attest. - [Verify](https://attest.datahubz.com/verify) Check a signed document, receipt, certificate or proof for free, with no account. Drop the file, or enter its ID or fingerprint: it is checked in your browser. - [Document signing](https://attest.datahubz.com/sign) Electronic signatures with a passkey: no account or password for signers, documents encrypted in the browser, and a signed copy anyone can verify. --- Source: https://attest.datahubz.com/guides/closed-account-prove-signed-documents