In-Person Signing Events in the Audit Trail
A host-led session is not a shortcut around the record. Every step of an in-person signing session is written into the same tamper-proof audit trail as the rest of the document, in sequence with the uploads, sends, views, and signatures around it.
You will find these events on the sign request detail page, alongside the rest of the recipient activity history.
The Five In-Person Events
Inkfree records five distinct events for a host-led session. Each is timestamped and carries the IP context of the device it happened on.
In-person started The host opened a session on this document. Written once when the session begins, naming the host.
In-person handoff The device was passed to a named signer. One row per signer, so a session where three people sign produces three handoff rows.
Signed in person The signer completed their fields and signed on the host's device. This row names both the signer and the host who was running the session.
In-person returned The host took the device back without that signer completing. The signer's status is untouched, so the document remains live for them.
In-person abandoned The host cancelled the hand-off outright. Recorded separately from a normal return so an incomplete session is visible on the record rather than silent.
Who the Trail Names
Most events on an Inkfree document name one party: the person who acted. In-person events name two.
That is the distinguishing feature of a host-led signature. A signature collected through an emailed link tells you the signer opened a private link and signed. A signature collected in person also tells you which member of your team was physically present and responsible for the device at that moment. If you are ever asked to account for how a signature was obtained, that attribution is already in the record.
Tip: If several members of your team collect signatures at a counter or a desk, the host named on each signed-in-person event is how you tell their sessions apart later.
Reading a Multi-Signer Session
A session with more than one in-person signer reads top to bottom as a single sequence. A typical three-signer session leaves a trail like this:
- In-person started, naming the host.
- In-person handoff, naming the first signer.
- Signed in person, naming the first signer and the host.
- In-person handoff, naming the second signer.
- Signed in person, naming the second signer and the host.
- In-person handoff, naming the third signer.
- In-person returned, if the third signer stopped without signing.
Only one host can run a session on a document at a time, so these rows always belong to a single continuous session rather than two overlapping ones.
After the Session
Once every party has signed, whether in person or by email, the document completes and a Certificate of Completion is generated. The in-person events remain in the trail as part of the permanent record of how the document was executed, which is part of why an Inkfree signature is legally binding.
For the steps that produce these events, see how to run an in-person signing session.
Questions, answered.Everything you need to know about In-Person Signing Events in the Audit Trail
Yes. The signed-in-person event names the staff member who was hosting when the signature was applied, alongside the signer. A signature collected through an emailed link has no equivalent host record.
No. In-person events are written into the same tamper-proof trail as every other action on the document and appear in the same place, in sequence with everything else.
Yes. A cancelled hand-off is recorded as an in-person abandoned event and is deliberately distinct from a normal return, so an incomplete session is visible rather than silent.
One handoff event is written per signer. A session where three people sign on the same device produces three handoff rows, each naming a different signer.