🔒 Completion, The Final PDF And The Certificate

The moment the last signer finishes, and with no action from you, four things happen in order.

1. The final PDF is built, with the agreement text laid out and every signature image rendered in place. For uploaded PDFs, an Execution Certificate is generated instead, referencing the original file by its fingerprint.
2. A Certificate of Completion is appended to the end of the file.
3. The whole file is hashed with SHA-256 and that fingerprint is stored against the document, along with a sealed event in the audit trail.
4. The sealed PDF is emailed as an attachment to every signer, to the WordPress user who created the document, and to anyone on the CC list. The email body also prints the SHA-256 fingerprint with a note to keep it with your records.

What the Certificate of Completion contains:

• The document title and ID, plus creation and completion timestamps in UTC
• The sending site and the signing mode that was used
• Every signer, with name, email, consent time, first view time, signing time, IP address and device
• Each signer's signature image
• The original file's SHA-256 fingerprint, on uploaded PDF documents
• An evidence hash covering the agreed content, the signer identities and the signature images
• The complete chronological audit trail with a plain English label for every event
• A closing note explaining that the hash of the PDF is recorded at sealing and will no longer match if the file is modified

The audit trail printed on the certificate covers document creation, each invitation emailed, links generated for manual sharing, each first view, each consent, each signature, any decline, any void, expiry, completion, sealing, reminders and downloads.

Because the certificate is part of the PDF itself, it travels with the document wherever it goes. This is what you produce if a signature is ever questioned.

Timestamps on the certificate are recorded in UTC, which removes arguments about whose timezone a signature happened in. The dates rendered inside the agreement body use the date format you chose in Settings.