How to Run an In-Person Signing Session
Once a document has been prepared with an in-person recipient, the signature is collected in a host-led session: you start it, hand your device to the signer, and take it back when they are done. You are the host throughout, and the record reflects that.
Starting the Session
- Open the document from your dashboard, on the sign request detail page.
- Start the in-person session for the signer who is with you.
- Enter the signer's full name and email address. If you left these blank while preparing the document, this is where they are captured. If you filled them in earlier and something has changed, what you type here replaces it.
- The signer's view of the document opens on your screen.
Inkfree records that the session has started and that the device has been handed to that named signer before the view opens.
What the Signer Does
Hand the device over and let them work through the document themselves. They will:
- Review the document in full.
- Complete the fields assigned to them, such as text boxes, dates, and checkboxes.
- Draw or type their signature and confirm it.
If you gave this signer an access code while preparing the document, they enter it before their fields unlock. Your own saved signature is never applied on their behalf. The signature captured in the session belongs to them.
Tip: Stay within reach but let the signer scroll and read at their own pace. The point of a face-to-face session is that they can ask you a question before signing, not that you fill it in for them.
Moving On to the Next Signer
If more than one person on the document is signing in person, take the device back and move the session on to the next signer. Inkfree picks up the next one that is eligible to sign, following any signing order you set. Where several in-person signers sit at the same level in that order, you can choose which of them goes next.
Each new signer is a fresh hand-off: you enter that person's name and email, and their view opens.
Taking the Device Back Without a Signature
A signer may need to stop. Perhaps they want to read the terms overnight, or they are not the right person after all. Take the device back and end the hand-off rather than leaving the document open.
Inkfree treats this in two ways, and both are recorded:
- Returned, where you have simply resumed control and the document is still live for that signer.
- Cancelled, where the hand-off was abandoned.
Either way the signer's status is left as it was, so nothing is lost and the document can be sent, handed over again, or voided later.
When the Session Ends
The session finishes once there is no in-person signer left to act. If the document also has emailed signers, they are notified in the normal way when their turn comes.
When every party has signed, the document completes exactly as any other Inkfree document does, with a signed copy and a Certificate of Completion going to everyone involved. See what happens after everyone has signed for the full picture, and in-person signing events in the audit trail for how the session itself is recorded.
Running into a message you did not expect? See troubleshooting in-person signing.
Questions, answered.Everything you need to know about How to Run an In-Person Signing Session
No. They sign in the session you open on your own device. There is no account to create, nothing to install, and no password for them to set.
Take the device back without them signing. Inkfree records whether the hand-off was returned or cancelled and leaves that signer's status unchanged, so the document can be picked up again later.
No. Only one host can run a session on a document at a time. A second person trying to start one is told a session is already in progress.
Yes. The completed copy goes to the email address you entered when you handed the device over, which is one reason that email is required.
Yes. A session runs in the browser, so any phone, tablet, or laptop you are signed in on works. The device needs an internet connection throughout.