Consigne
I've signed — do I get a copy?
Yes, and it is worth keeping your own: alongside the document comes the evidence of when and how it was signed.
**Yes, you get a copy, and you should keep your own in your own files.** Trusting that whoever sent it will have it is not enough: those are their files, not yours, and in three years that company may no longer exist or the person handling it may have left.
What to keep — and it is not only the document
| What | What it is for |
|---|---|
| The signed document | It says what you agreed |
| **The signature evidence** | **It says who signed, when and how** |
| The email it came with | It sets the context if doubts ever arise |
Important
**Keep both together, in the same folder, from day one.** A signed document without its evidence is a PDF with a name typed on it: if someone disputes the signature, what answers that dispute is the record of how it was made, not the document. It is precisely the part people do not download because it does not look important, and the only one needed on the day it matters.
If you cannot find it
- 1
Look for the email from when signing finished
Usually the shortest route, and it is in your inbox.
- 2
Try the original link
While it is still live, it can sometimes be downloaded again.
- 3
And failing that, ask whoever sent it to you
They have it, and it is not an odd request: it happens daily.
Watch out
An oversight with consequences years later: **keeping it only on your phone or in the downloads folder**. That document survives a change of handset less often than you would think, and it is exactly the one you will be asked for when you no longer remember who you signed with. Two minutes moving it to where you keep important things is worth more than anything else you do with it today.
›Do I have to register to download it?
No. It downloads from the link or arrives by email.
›What if I lose the email?
Ask whoever sent it to sign: they keep it.
›Is a screenshot enough?
To remember, yes. As evidence, no: download the document.
A real case
The situation
Someone signs on their phone and leaves the document in the handset's downloads folder.
What you do
- Moves it the same day to where they keep important things, along with the signature evidence
What you get
The document survives the next change of phone.
The situation
Two years later a clause is disputed and only the PDF turns up, with no evidence.
What you do
- Asks whoever sent it for the record of how the signature was made
What you get
The dispute closes on who signed and when, not on a loose PDF.
The situation
It is signed and closed without downloading anything.
What you do
- Saves the copy that arrives after signing
What you get
Your own record depends on nobody else.
The situation
Only a screenshot of the signing screen is kept.
What you do
- Keeps the complete signed file
What you get
The proof is the document rather than an image.
The situation
The copy is kept in a personal mailbox.
What you do
- Keeps it where the team can see it
What you get
It is not lost when people change.
The situation
The copy is requested months later from whoever sent it.
What you do
- Saves the copy at the moment of signing
What you get
No favours have to be asked later.
This article answers
- do i get a copy of the signed document
- where do i download what i signed
- i signed and dont have the document
- how do i get the signed pdf