Host an in-person signing session

In-person signing is for the signer sitting in front of you: a customer at a counter, a tenant at a viewing, a new hire on their first morning. Tick them as in-person on the recipients step, name the workspace member hosting the session, and hand that person your device instead of emailing them a link.

Who can host an in-person signing session

Senders on Business and above. The host has to be a workspace member who has accepted their invitation, and cannot be the signer. A CC never signs, so a CC row cannot be marked in-person. Read more on the in-person signing feature page.

Set up an in-person signing session while composing

1. On the recipients step, add everyone as normal.

2. Below the recipient rows, switch on In-Person Signing. A note explains what ticking does: those people sign on your device, with you present, and get no email.

3. Pick the session's host in Hosted by. It defaults to you and lists every joined member of the workspace.

4. Tick each signer who will be in the room. A confirmation line appears underneath, naming them and repeating that no email is sent.

   

5. Place fields and continue to review as usual. When the in-person signer is first in line, the send button changes to Send and hand over.

6. Click it. Your device goes straight to the handoff screen, which reads "Hand the device to" and their name.

7. Pass the device across. They tap the button with their own name on it and work through the same consent and signing steps an emailed signer sees.

On a sequential envelope, an in-person signer only goes live when their turn arrives, and the review step warns you before you send. Their host is emailed at that point instead.

What the host gets

Whoever you named receives an email titled "You're hosting a signing", with a Start the session button. That link opens a page in the app, not a signing link, so nothing that could sign on someone's behalf is sitting in a colleague's inbox.

On that page the host sees who is signing, which document it is, and a reminder that their name goes on the completion certificate as having witnessed the signing. Start the session and hand over opens the same handoff screen, on their device.

Switching to in-person after sending

Open the document, find the signer in the recipients list, and click In person, any time before they sign or decline. Whoever clicks becomes the host if none was named earlier, and the handoff screen opens straight away on that device.

Nothing is announced. The signer gets no new email telling them the plan changed, and a host you named at compose time is not emailed either, so the session is yours to arrange in the room.

The important caveat: if their signing request already went out, that link keeps working. Switching someone to in-person does not kill the email sitting in their inbox, so they could still open it later and sign on their own device. When that matters, cancel the envelope and send a fresh one with the signer marked in-person from the start.

What happens after the in-person session

Their row on the document page reads In person, hosted by and the host's name, with no Remind button, because there is no inbox to nudge. Once they tap Finish signing on the last screen, which reads Sign now on a desktop-sized display, the row flips to Signed and the envelope moves to the next signer, or completes if they were last.

On the certificate of completion that signer's card says "Signed in person" and names the host, and the history lists the moment the session was started.

If something goes wrong

• The In-Person Signing switch carries a small padlock next to the label. Your plan does not include the feature. The switch still takes a click, and clicking it opens a panel naming the plan you need. The panel sits over the wizard, so nothing you have set up so far is lost.
• The person you want as host is not in the Hosted by list. They have been invited but have not joined yet, so they cannot sign in and cannot run a session.
• "An in-person signer is not first in the signing order." On a sequential envelope only the first signer is live at send time. Send as normal and their host is emailed when the turn comes round.
• The session will not start for you. A host was named at compose time, and only that person or a workspace admin can open it. Ask them to run it, or have an admin start it.
• "Document sent, but the in-person session could not start." The envelope went out fine. Open it from Documents and click In person on that signer's row to pick the handoff back up.