Sign overview
Sign collects electronic signatures on documents. People who send documents for signature use Sign after they sign in to Cogneris. People who sign do not need a Cogneris account: they open a personal link received by e-mail.
What Sign does
- An envelope groups the documents to sign, the people who must sign them (signers) and the signature settings: jurisdiction, signature level and language.
- You create an envelope as a draft, review it and send it. Each signer then receives a personal signing link.
- The signer opens the link, confirms their identity with a one-time code sent to them, places their signature on every document and signs — or declines to sign, giving a reason.
- When every signer has signed, the envelope is finished and the signed package is sealed.
Envelopes can also be created by Workflow: when a process reaches a signature phase, Workflow raises the signature request for you. These envelopes are grouped into cases — one case per Workflow run. See the Workflow overview for how processes run.
Who uses it
| You want to | What you need | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Send a document for signature | Access to Sign through your profile | Send a document for signature |
| Follow envelopes and cases, send a reminder | Same as above | Follow up an envelope |
| Sign or decline a document you received | Only the signing link and access to the e-mail address it was sent to | Sign or decline a document |
Sign has no roles of its own. Every person with access to Sign in your company sees the same pages — Dashboard, Cases and Envelopes — and every envelope of the company, not only the ones they created. If Sign is missing from your menu, your profile does not include it; ask your company administrator, see Profiles.
Envelope status
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Created, not sent yet. |
| Running | Sent; at least one signer has not answered yet. |
| Finished | Every signer signed. |
| Refused | A signer declined. The envelope ended for every signer. |
| Expired | The envelope reached its expiry date before every signer signed. Envelopes created in Sign have no expiry date; envelopes raised by Workflow can have one. |
| Cancelled | Reserved. No action in Sign moves an envelope to this status today. |
Journeys in this part
- Send a document for signature — create an envelope with a document and a signer, review it and send it.
- Sign or decline a document — what the signer does after opening the signing link.
- Follow up an envelope — see who still has to sign, send a reminder, and follow the cases raised by Workflow.
Screens in this part
The Sign screens chapter describes each screen: the dashboard, the New envelope dialog, the Envelopes list and preview, the envelope page, Cases, the case page and the signing page.
Known limitations
- An envelope created in Sign has one document and one signer, both given in the New envelope dialog. The envelope page has no control to add a document or a signer later, so a draft created without them cannot be sent from the interface.
- The only signature level offered is Simple (SES).
- There is no way to cancel a sent envelope.
- The reason a signer types when declining is required, but Sign does not show it to the sender: the sender sees only that the envelope is Refused.
Last reviewed 2026-10-09 · Version 1.0.0 · Owner: product-documentation