Fix the document, then send it for signature

The document is almost never right when it arrives. The date is wrong, there is a salary in it that the other side should not see, two pages are in the wrong order, or the form fields were flattened by whoever scanned it. The usual answer is to fix it in one tool, export, upload the result into an e-signature product, and place the fields there.

Penstead is the same two jobs in one place. You open the file, correct it, and send it — and the thing you send is the thing you were just looking at, not an export of it.

What “fix it” actually covers

• Edit the text in place, matched to the original font, rather than stamping a correction on top.
• Redact what should not be there — and genuinely remove it, rather than covering it with a box the text survives underneath.
• Merge in the attachments, reorder the pages, or drop the ones that do not belong.
• Fill in the form, including flat scans with no real fields in them.
• Convert it from Word if that is how it arrived.

Editing, merging, redacting and filling all run in your browser — the file is not uploaded, there is no account, and there is no daily cap. Converting Office files uses our server and is capped at 5 an hour and 10 a day on the free plan, because that format is converted on our server, then discarded straight away. Sending needs an account.

Then send it

Place a signature, initial or date field for each person, and send. Every signer gets their own private link and signs in their browser without creating an account. You can require a signing order, watch who has opened and who has signed, and nudge whoever is holding it up.

When the last person signs, the executed document comes back with a Certificate of Completion: names, the address each link went to, the time each person opened and signed, their IP address, and SHA-256 hashes of both the original and the signed bytes.

Sending is the one part that uses our servers, so it is the one part that is metered: 5 requests a month on the free plan, and Pro when you outgrow it.

Common questions

Do I need an account?

To edit, redact, merge or fill in the document, no — that all runs in your browser and needs nothing. Sending it to somebody else for signature needs a free account, because we are emailing a document on your behalf and have to know the sender is real. Your signers never make an account.

Can I change the wording, not just add a signature?

Yes. Click any line of text and rewrite it in place, matched to the original font. That is the difference between this and an e-signature tool: most of them treat the document as fixed and only add fields on top of it.

What do I get back when everyone has signed?

The signed PDF with a Certificate of Completion attached: who signed, the address each link went to, when each person opened and signed it, their IP address, and SHA-256 hashes of the original and the signed bytes.

What happens to the document in the meantime?

Preparing it happens entirely on your device. Once you send, the document is stored so your signers can open it — behind an unguessable link that is never listed or searchable — and you can delete it whenever you like.