Read the certificate of completion and verify a signed PDF

What the Certificate of Completion shows, where the audit trail is, and how anyone can check that a signed PDF is the file Plutosign stored.

When everyone has signed, Plutosign makes a Certificate of Completion. It lists who signed, when, and from which IP address, and the history of the document. Anyone with the signed PDF can check it at plutosign.com/verify, without an account.

Plans: Free, Growth, Agency, Scale, TrialRoles: Sender, Signer

Before you start

The certificate exists only for a completed document (every required signer has signed).
The verify check works only on the final signed PDF, unchanged. An original upload, a printout or a re-saved copy does not match.

Get the certificate

Open the completed document and select Certificate of Completion.

Open the downloaded PDF.

Other places to find it:

The signed PDF. The signed PDF normally ends with the Certificate of Completion. The verify check tells you if a copy has it (Attached to this PDF).
The completion email. The completion email has a Download Certificate button.

What the certificate shows

Read the first page.

First page

The title Certificate of Completion and the line "All required signers have completed this document electronically."
Document Title, Document ID and Completed At.
Content fingerprint, when present. It identifies the document content or signing configuration at sending. It is not the hash of the signed PDF file.
Signing Details: one row per signer, with Name, Email, Role, Signed At, IP Address and Method. With a signing order, each name also shows its place, for example "Signer 2 of 3 (signed in order)".
In-Person Signing, when a signer signed on the sender's device: the host, whether the host attested that the signer was present and identified, and how the signer proved their email.
Signed Version Check, when the signer was shown changes before signing.
Disclosure Versions Per Signer: the ERCD Version and Intent Text Version each signer was shown.
A statement section and the Certificate template version.

Evidence pages

Read the pages that follow.

Captured Signatures: each signer's name or email and the signature they drew, uploaded or typed.
Document History: the signing events in time order, with Timestamp (UTC), Event, Actor and IP Address.
Signed PDF integrity (only in the certificate you download separately): the stored SHA-256 hash of the signed PDF, and how to check it.

All times on the certificate are in UTC, to the second.

Events in the Document History

The certificate shows only signing events. Internal activity, such as comments and tracked-link visits, is never on it.

Event	When
Created	The document was made.
Sent for signature / Sent for approval	The document was sent. "Sent for approval" means it went to an approver first.
Viewed / Viewed in person	A recipient opened it.
Accepted electronic signature terms / Consent withdrawn	A signer accepted or withdrew consent.
Opened unseen changes before signing	A signer opened each change before signing.
Signed / Signed in person / Approved / Rejected / Declined	A recipient acted.
Delegated / Reassigned	A signer passed the request to someone else.
Recipient email corrected	The sender corrected an address. The old link was revoked.
Access passcode verified / Access passcode attempt failed / Access locked	Passcode activity.
Identity verified in person (email code) / In-person signing started by host / In-person signing session ended	In-person signing.
Expiry extended / Expiry changed / Reopened	The sender changed the deadline or reopened the document.
Completed	Everyone finished.

The audit trail in the app

The document page also has an Audit Trail card. It lists every event with the actor, time and IP address. It can include internal activity that the certificate leaves out. The Recipient Activity card shows, for each recipient, when they opened and signed.

Verify a signed PDF

Anyone can do this. You do not need an account.

Go to plutosign.com/verify.

Drop the signed PDF on the page, or select Choose a PDF.

Read the result.

Your browser calculates the file's SHA-256 fingerprint. The file does not leave your device. Only the fingerprint goes to Plutosign, which compares it with the fingerprint it stored for each completed document.

Match: this is the file Plutosign stored. The page shows:

Signing completed: the date (UTC).
Signers: how many signed.
Certificate of Completion: Attached to this PDF or Not attached.

It does not show the title, names, email addresses or the sender's company. To see who signed and when, open the Certificate of Completion at the end of the PDF.

No match. Plutosign has no completed document with exactly this file. This does not prove that the file is fake. The page lists the common causes.

The verify page says what a match proves: "A match proves that this exact file is the one Plutosign stored when signing completed. If one byte of the file changes, the fingerprint changes and the check shows no match." It also says: "A match does not prove who signed, beyond what the audit trail records."

Check the hash yourself

The certificate you download separately has a Signed PDF integrity page with the stored SHA-256 hash. Calculate SHA-256 over the complete downloaded signed PDF, including its embedded certificate, and compare. The hash identifies the signed PDF, not the separate certificate file.

What happens next

The certificate is ready when the document status becomes Completed. Every party gets the completion email.
The document page shows the toast "All signatures collected" if you are watching it.

Limits

The verify check accepts PDF files only. The page tells you if a file is too large.
Documents completed before Plutosign started to store file fingerprints do not match.
The verify page limits how many checks one network can make in a short time.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
No Certificate of Completion button	The document is not completed yet.	Wait for every required signer. Check Recipients for who is left.
Verify shows No match	The file was re-saved, printed, compressed or is the original upload.	Use the signed PDF from the completion email or the Plutosign download.
"This file is not a PDF. Choose the signed PDF that you received."	Wrong file type.	Choose the PDF.
"Too many checks from your network. Wait one minute, then try again."	Rate limit.	Wait one minute.
"Your browser cannot calculate the file fingerprint."	Old browser.	Use a current version of Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
Verify says Not attached	That copy of the PDF has no certificate at the end.	Download the certificate from the document page or the completion email.