User guide

1. Create an account & sign in

1. Go to Create an account. You need an email address and a password of at least 10 characters. A name is optional and, if given, appears in your signature's metadata.
2. You land on your dashboard immediately. There is no invite code, no card and no approval step.
3. To sign in later, use Log in. After your password is accepted, a 6-digit security code is emailed to you. It is valid for 10 minutes, allows 5 attempts, and you can request a fresh one after 60 seconds.
4. You can also sign in with the code alone — leave the password blank and choose Send me a code.

2. Add your signature or emblem

Your dashboard has a Your marks panel. A "mark" is anything you place on a document — a handwritten signature or a company emblem/stamp.

1. Sign on plain paper with a dark pen, and photograph it straight-on in even light. The paper does not need to be white; it needs to be plain.
2. Choose the type:
   • Signature — the paper, shadows and lighting are removed and the ink is recoloured to a natural blue-black. Best for handwriting.
   • Emblem / stamp — the background is removed but the colours are kept. Use this for logos and stamps.
3. Give it a label (e.g. "Signature", "Company stamp") and upload. Images up to 12 MB in any common format.

You can keep as many marks as you like and remove any of them at any time. Marks are yours; unlike documents they are not deleted on a timer.

3. Upload a document

1. On the dashboard, choose Upload a PDF. Only PDF is accepted; the limit is 25 MB.
2. You are taken straight into the signing workspace.

4. Place your signature

The workspace shows the page on the right and your controls on the left. Works with a mouse, a trackpad, or a finger on a phone or tablet.

1. Choose a mark from the list.
2. Set Width and Tilt. A degree or two of tilt stops a signature looking pasted on.
3. Press Place on page, then click or tap where the signature should go. It is centred on that spot.
4. Drag it to move. Use the corner handle to resize. The sliders adjust whichever mark is selected.
5. Use the ← → buttons for multi-page documents; you can place marks on several pages. − + zooms the view.
6. Remove a placement from the Placed list on the left.

Optionally set a Reason and Location — both are recorded inside the signature and shown by PDF readers.

5. Sign & seal

Press Sign & seal. A progress bar runs while two things happen in order:

1. Your marks are drawn onto the pages — the visible signature.
2. A PAdES cryptographic signature (ETSI EN 319 142; RSA-3072 with SHA-256) is embedded, covering every byte of the file including the marks. From this point any change to the file breaks the seal, and a PDF reader will say so.

Sealing takes a few seconds. A document can be sealed once; to sign again, upload a fresh copy. See the FAQ for what a reader will and won't show about the certificate.

6. Download, verify, and the certificate of completion

• Download signed PDF — the file is named <original> - SIGNED.pdf. Do this before the timer runs out.
• Certificate — opens the certificate of completion: the document's SHA-256 before and after signing, the signature re-read and re-validated from the file on disk (not from our log), and the full audit trail — upload, signing, downloads — with UTC times and the IP address each came from.
• Verify it yourself — open the signed PDF in Adobe Acrobat/Reader and look at the signature panel. It will report the document as unmodified.

7. The 60-minute rule

Every uploaded document, and its signed copy, is deleted 60 minutes after upload. Two mechanisms enforce it: a background sweeper removes the files, and every page that would show or serve a document re-checks its expiry first — so an expired document is refused even in the gap between sweeps.

What survives is the certificate of completion: who signed what, when, from where, and the document's digest. It holds no document content, so it can outlive the file without keeping your data.

You can also delete a document immediately with Delete on the dashboard.

8. Developer API

Everything above can be driven programmatically. Create an API key on your dashboard; the key is shown once. Send it as X-API-Key: <key> or Authorization: Bearer <key>.

The same 60-minute rule and monthly document limit apply to API uploads as to the web app.

9. Deleting things

• A document — Delete on the dashboard. Immediate; the audit record is kept.
• A mark — Remove beside it. Documents already sealed with it are unaffected.
• An API key — Revoke beside it. Takes effect on the next request.
• Your account — Delete my account and all data at the bottom of the dashboard. Removes your account, marks, documents and audit records: files first, then database rows. This is the POPIA / GDPR right to erasure, and it is not reversible.

10. Install it on your phone

eSignature installs from the browser as an app — its own icon, full screen, no address bar. Nothing to download from a store.

You stay signed in for 30 days on an installed app. It is the same product as the website — same account, same documents, same 60-minute rule.