Decline to sign a document

To decline, open More options on the signing page, choose Decline to sign, type a reason of at least 10 characters and click Decline and cancel. The document is cancelled for every recipient and the sender gets an email with your reason.

Who can do this

Any signer whose turn is open can decline. No plan requirement, no account needed.

How to decline to sign

1. Open the signing link from your email.

2. Choose Decline to sign. On the consent page it sits next to Agree & continue. On the signing page it is inside More options at the bottom of the field list (on a small screen, the three-dot button labelled More signing options).

3. On the Decline to sign page, answer Why are you declining? in the text box. The button stays disabled until you have typed 10 characters. A counter under the box shows how much of the 500-character limit you have used.

   

4. Click Decline and cancel. Not sure? Keep signing takes you back to the document with nothing changed.

   

What happens next

You land on a page that says Signature declined and you can close the tab. Behind it, three things happen at once:

• The document's status changes to Declined for the sender, and it stops accepting signatures from anyone, including people who had not opened it yet.
• An email goes to the sender naming you and quoting your reason, and the audit trail records the same text with your email address and the time.
• Your signing link is retired. Opening it again shows the expired-link page rather than the document.

Nothing you filled in before declining is stamped onto the PDF. The sender keeps the original file and can send a corrected version as a brand-new request.

If something goes wrong

• The Decline and cancel button will not enable. Your reason is under 10 characters. Add a few words and watch the counter under the box update.
• You cannot find Decline to sign on the signing page. It lives inside the More options menu, not on the main button. On mobile, open the three-dot button in the bottom bar.
• You declined by mistake. Reply to the sender's email and ask them to send the document again. The declined copy cannot be revived.
• You only wanted to pass the document to a colleague. That is a forward, not a decline, and it is offered when the sender allows forwarding. See Forward a document to someone else. If you have already declined, the sender has to send a new request to the right person.
• The page says the document is already signed or cancelled. Someone else's action got there first, or you had already submitted. Nothing further is needed from you.