How to sign a DocuSign document

First, make sure the email is real

DocuSign's name is a favorite of phishing emails, so it's worth ten seconds. A genuine DocuSign notification has a long security code near the bottom. Instead of clicking the button, you can go to docusign.com yourself, choose Access Documents and paste that code. If the email has no code, comes from someone you don't deal with, or asks you to log in to your bank or email, don't open it. Call the sender on a number you already have.

Sign it, step by step

1. 1

   Open the document

   Click Review Document in the email (some emails say Review Documents). The document opens in your browser. On a phone it opens in the phone's browser; the DocuSign app is optional.

2. 2

   Agree to sign electronically

   Read the disclosure, tick I agree to use electronic records and signatures, then click Continue. If the sender added an access code, a code by text message or an ID check, you'll get through that first.

3. 3

   Click Start

   Click Start and DocuSign jumps to the first field that needs you. Fill in any text it asks for, such as your address or job title, and use Next to move on.

4. 4

   Adopt your signature

   The first time you click a Sign tag, DocuSign asks you to adopt a signature. Check your name and initials, then pick a ready-made style or draw your own with a mouse, finger or stylus. On a phone you can also photograph a signature on paper. Click Adopt and Sign.

5. 5

   Sign every tag, then Finish

   Click each remaining Sign and Initial tag once and your adopted signature drops in. When every required field is done, click Finish.

6. 6

   Keep your copy

   The confirmation screen lets you download or print the document, and DocuSign emails a completed copy once everyone has signed. It may offer you a free account at the end; you can skip it.

The Other Actions menu

Beside the Finish button is a small arrow that opens Other Actions. What's in it depends on what the sender allows:

• Finish Later saves what you've entered so far. Come back through the same email link.
• Decline to Sign refuses the document, with an optional note to the sender. Anyone who already signed is told by email, and signers after you can no longer open it.
• Assign to Someone Else hands your turn to a colleague, when the sender permits it. Check that the sender expects that person to sign.
• Print & Sign lets you sign on paper and return it, but only if the sender switched it on.

When something goes wrong

• The link has expired or won't open. Try the security code at docusign.com under Access Documents, or ask the sender to resend.
• It insists that you log in. Some senders' accounts require signers to have a DocuSign account. Ask the sender whether that's needed.
• An option is missing. Print & Sign or Decline only appear when the sender allows them. Use Finish Later and ask.
• You spot a mistake after finishing. A completed envelope can't be edited by you. Tell the sender, who can send a corrected version.
• It isn't meant for you. Don't sign it. Decline with a short note saying so, or tell the sender.

If you send documents yourself

Signing in DocuSign is free; sending documents for other people to sign takes a paid DocuSign plan. If you're a contractor or small business that needs customers to sign, SignMaster works the same way for your signers, with an email link and no account, and its Free plan sends 3 envelopes a month. Compare SignMaster and DocuSign for the full picture.