Understand activity and verify a PDF
Interpret signing activity and verify PDF contents or legacy document identifiers without confusing the different evidence checks.
Reviewed 2026-10-30 · Formesign guides
Use a request's activity to understand who has acted, then verify a downloaded PDF when you need to check its relationship to the stored signed record. These answer different questions: activity describes the workflow; file verification checks the document offered to the verifier.
Read signature activity
Open the matching signed record and its activity view. A signer can be shown as Request sent, Not signed, or Signed with a date. An optional signer skipped for that response can be Signature not required.
An invitation does not establish that the recipient opened or signed the request. Check the actual action and signer identity shown. If a request is waiting, follow the pending-step guide instead of treating the entire process as complete.
Verify the downloaded original
Open Verify your document. Use Browse or drag a file here and choose the original signed PDF you downloaded. Selecting a file submits its contents for verification, so use a document you are authorized to check.
The result can show document details, generation time, envelope identifier, a fingerprint, and the recorded signers. Verification dates are displayed in UTC. Compare those details with the request you intended to examine.
Interpret the result
| Result | What it establishes |
|---|---|
| Valid document. File contents verified. | The file contents match a generated document indexed by Formesign. |
| Valid document ID with a legacy warning | The embedded document identifier matches a record, but the file predates content fingerprint comparison. |
| This document has been modified after signing | The submitted file's fingerprint does not match the retained signed output. |
| Unrecognized document or verification failure | The service could not verify the file; this alone does not explain whether it is an unsupported file, missing record, or another error. |
Do not describe legacy ID verification as the same check as byte-for-byte content verification. A file can also be changed by ordinary editing, page merging, or printing to a new PDF. Preserve the original file when a later integrity check matters.
Keep the surrounding evidence
Store the signed original together with the related response and certificate information available for that form. Verification does not decide whether a document's wording is legally sufficient or whether a person's authority to sign is appropriate for your situation.
For missing files, see record troubleshooting. For file access and your archive process, see sharing and retention.