--- title: "How to send a document for signature · Attest" description: "Send a PDF for signature step by step: add signers, set the order, place fields, send, track and remind, then get a sealed copy anyone can verify." url: https://attest.datahubz.com/how-to/send-document-for-signature updated: 2026-10-12 --- [Attest](https://attest.datahubz.com/)/[How-to](https://attest.datahubz.com/how-to) # How to send a document for signature Upload the PDF, add each signer's email address, place their fields and send: each signer gets a private link and approves with a passkey only they control, with no account and no cost to them. With Attest, the document is end-to-end encrypted in your browser before upload, and when the last person signs, every party gets the same sealed copy that anyone can verify. By DataHubz · Updated October 12, 2026 · 8 min read Video: Send a document for signature (1:48), recorded on the real app. ## Before you send: a one-time setup Sending needs a free account and a signing key, which you set up once with a passkey and a recovery phrase. A **passkey** is a cryptographic key only you control, created for one website and unlocked with Face ID, Touch ID, Windows Hello or the device PIN. Your signing key is what lets your browser encrypt documents so that only their parties can read them. 1. Go to attest.datahubz.com/sign, click **Start free**, type your email and click **Email me a sign-in link**. Open the link Attest sends you. 2. Open **Security** and click **Set up with a passkey**. Confirm with Face ID, Touch ID, Windows Hello or your PIN. 3. Save the recovery phrase somewhere safe, such as a password manager. It is the way to unlock your key if you lose your passkeys, and Attest can't recover it. Check **I saved my recovery phrase.** and click **Continue**. ## Send a document, step by step The video above follows these steps on the real app. 1. Open **Documents** in the menu (it reads **Agreements** on accounts that use every Attest tool) and click **New agreement**. 2. Give it a **Title** your signers will recognize. It appears in their email. 3. Click **Attach the document to be signed** and choose a PDF of up to 8 MB. Your browser encrypts it before upload, with a new key for this document. 4. Under **Signers**, type the first signer's email address. Click **\+ Add signer** for each additional person, up to 20. 5. If you sign too, check **Add me as a signer (sign in-app, no email)**. You sign in the dashboard, with no email to you. 6. Under **Signing order**, keep **Any order** (everyone is emailed at once and signs whenever they're ready) or choose **In order** to have people sign one at a time, in the order listed. If you are a signer and chose In order, choose whether **I sign** **First** or **Last**. 7. Under **Verification**, choose **Public certificate** or **Private**. A public certificate lets anyone with its link check who signed and when: it shows the title, the file name, the verification code, the fingerprints of the document, the signed copy and the signed state, each signer's name and signing time, the blockchain anchor and each signature's evidence, never the document, and it shows signers' email addresses only to the parties. Private keeps the certificate to the parties. The document itself is end-to-end encrypted either way. 8. Optionally, set **Expires (optional)** to a date up to a year ahead. 9. Choose **Reminders**: **Off**, **Every day**, **Every 2 days**, **Every 3 days** (the default) or **Every week**. 10. Add a **Message (optional)**: a note your signers see in their invitation email and on their signing page. 11. Click **Next: place the fields**. Choose who a field is for, choose the field type, and click the page where it goes. The [field placement tutorial](https://attest.datahubz.com/tutorials#fields) covers this step in detail. 12. Click **Create and send**, or **Save as draft** to send it later. 13. If a signer is new to Attest, Attest emails you once they have set up their key: click **Unlock it for …** in that email (or open the agreement in Attest), confirm, and approve with your passkey, so they can open it (see "Release the document to first-time signers" below). Signers who already have an Attest key can open it at once. ## Fields: show each signer where to sign There are five field types: **Signature**, **Initials**, **Date signed**, **Full name** and **Text**. Drag a field to move it, drag its corner to resize it, and click its cross to remove it. - Signature, initials, date and full name fields are always required. A text field carries a label telling the signer what to enter, and you choose whether it is required. - The date field fills in the signing date by itself, and the full name field fills in the name the signer adopted. - Once you place fields, every signer needs a signature field. Until each has one, Attest won't send the document. - A document holds up to 200 fields. You can also click **Send without fields**. Signers then review the document and sign with their passkey, and the signed copy carries no in-page stamps. ## What your signers do Each signer other than you gets an email with their own private link. The email names your email address and the document's title, and carries your note if you added one. The link acts on that one agreement only and never signs anyone in. 1. They click **Review and sign** in the email. 2. A first-time signer sets up a passkey. With most passkey providers it takes one prompt, and they create no account and no password. 3. They open the document, which is decrypted in their browser, and Attest guides them to each of their fields. 4. They approve with their passkey. It signs a statement that names the document's fingerprint and everything they entered. In order mode, only the current signer is emailed. The next one is emailed when the previous one signs, and anyone who opens their link early sees "Not your turn yet". ## Release the document to first-time signers Because the document is end-to-end encrypted, Attest can't open it for anyone. When a first-time signer sets up their key, Attest emails you, and your browser releases the document to them. 1. In the email, click **Unlock it for …** (or open the agreement in Attest). It opens the agreement with its "Needs your action" panel, works from your phone too, and signs you in first if needed. 2. In the panel, click **Unlock it for …** (**Unlock it for \[n\] signers** when several are waiting), check the addresses the confirmation names, confirm, and approve with your passkey. Your browser checks the signer's key against Attest's public key directory and encrypts the document key to it. 3. Attest emails the signer as soon as it is released, and their waiting page opens the document by itself. In Attest, nothing is released without that confirmation, and you can untick any address you don't recognize. If you haven't released it, Attest reminds you 1 hour and 6 hours after a signer is ready. Without your passkey on this device, approve with your recovery phrase instead. Signers who already have an Attest key can open the document at once. ## If you sign too Attest never emails you a signing invite: when it's your turn, the document moves to **Action needed** and a **Sign** button appears on its row. It opens the same guided signing page every signer uses. In order mode, if you chose to sign first, the next signer is emailed once you sign. ## Track, remind and void The page sorts your documents into tabs: **Action needed**, **Waiting on others**, **Completed**, **Drafts** and **All**. Each document shows its status, its signers, its steps and its **Activity**: every step with its time, in your time zone. (The audit trail inside the signed copy is a separate record, in UTC, up to completion.) - **Remind** emails the signing link again to the signers whose turn it is (in order mode, only the current signer). It restarts their automatic reminders and doesn't count toward the 5. - **Automatic reminders** go only to the signers whose turn it is, counted from when you sent the document (in order mode, from the start of each signer's turn), at most 5 times each, and state the expiry date when there is one. [Signing reminders and expiry](https://attest.datahubz.com/how-to/signing-reminders-and-expiry) covers the timing. - **Void** withdraws a document that isn't completed. Attest asks you to confirm, and signers who haven't signed are emailed that it was withdrawn. - **Declined:** any signer can decline. That closes the document for every party and emails you. - **Expired:** if the expiry date passes before everyone signs, the document closes, no one can sign it, and every party is emailed. ## The sealed copy at the end When the last signer signs, the signed state is fingerprinted, signed and anchored on Horizen, a public blockchain. Only fingerprints go on the blockchain, never the document. Every party, including you if you didn't sign, is emailed a link to the certificate. On the completed document, click **View the signed copy**. It is decrypted in your browser, and every party downloads the same sealed PDF, which holds: - the signed pages with every signer's entries, a **Signed with Attest** stamp around each signature (initials get a smaller Attest stamp), 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, which explains how to check each step without Attest - three files attached inside the PDF: the full evidence (attest-evidence.json), the original document exactly as signed (original-document.pdf) and a standalone verifier (attest-verifier.html) Click **Download signed copy** to save it. **Signed pages only** saves just the document's own pages, stamps included, for a filing that must keep its page count. Both are anchored, and both verify. [How to download the signed copy and certificate](https://attest.datahubz.com/how-to/download-signed-copy-and-certificate) covers every file and which one to share. Anyone can check the signed copy for free, with no account, at attest.datahubz.com/verify. The open-source verifier attached inside the PDF runs in any browser, even without Attest, and checks each signer's passkey signature, the original document, the pages you see and Attest's anchored record on Horizen. Change one byte of the document, of any signer's entries or of the signed pages, and verification fails. ## What it costs Each document you send uses one of your documents: 2 free in total, then the Signing plan at $5 a month for 20 documents. The people who sign never pay, on any plan. - A document you void before anyone signs, or a draft you discard, gives its document back. - Declined and expired documents, and drafts not yet discarded, count. ## Questions people ask Do the people I send a document to need an account? No. They open their private link and set up a passkey, with no account to create, no password and nothing to pay. Signing a document someone sends you through Attest is free on any plan. How many people can sign one document? Up to 20 signers. They can sign in any order, with every signer but you emailed at once, or one at a time in the order you list them. If you sign too and set an order, you choose whether you sign first or last. Why do I have to release the document to some signers? Every document is end-to-end encrypted in your browser, so Attest has no key that opens it and can't give a new signer access. When a first-time signer sets up their key, Attest emails you, and approving with your passkey lets your browser encrypt the document key to theirs. Signers who already have an Attest key can open the document at once. What happens if a signer doesn't sign? Attest reminds the signers whose turn it is on the schedule you chose (every 3 days by default, at most 5 times), and you can click Remind at any time. If you set an expiry date and it passes, the document closes and every party is emailed. You can also void it, which tells the signers who haven't signed that it was withdrawn. Can Attest read the document I send? No. Your browser encrypts the PDF before upload, and it is decrypted only in the browsers of its parties. Attest does see the information around it, such as the title, the file name, your note and the signers' emails and names. Does a voided document still count toward my plan? Not if no one had signed it: voiding it, or discarding a draft, gives its document back to your allowance. Once anyone has signed, it counts even if you void it. ## Read next - [How to sign a PDF on your iPhone, no app needed](https://attest.datahubz.com/how-to/sign-pdf-on-iphone) Sign a PDF on your iPhone in Safari with Face ID: no app to install, nothing to print, and a signed copy anyone can verify. Step by step. - [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. - [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. - [Tutorials](https://attest.datahubz.com/tutorials) Narrated video tutorials recorded on the real app: sending documents for signature, signing, and verifying a signed copy, step by step. --- Source: https://attest.datahubz.com/how-to/send-document-for-signature