Audit trail
Ferdinand avatar
Written by Ferdinand
Updated over a week ago

📖 Table of content

When a signature request is finalized on Yousign, an audit trail is automatically generated for each signer. This is an essential component in guaranteeing the integrity of your simple and advanced electronic signatures.

Discover the audit trail


The evidence file, also known as the audit trail, is a comprehensive document containing all the crucial information that contributed to the successful completion of the signature. It acts as a guarantee in the event of a dispute, making it possible to technically retrace the sequence of the electronic signature.

A unique audit trail is generated for each signer.

For Qualified Electronic Signatures (QES), the creation of a audit trail is not legally required, and is not available on Yousign.

Understand the audit trail



The audit trail takes the form of a PDF document containing a range of information, providing a detailed overview of each stage in the electronic signature process.

The audit trail is a document in its own right, and cannot form part of the signed document, as it is only required in the event of a dispute.

An audit trail contains :

  • Sender information: Last name, first name, ID, e-mail address, telephone number, organization and IP address.

  • Information on the signer of the signature request (Signer) : Last name, first name, ID, e-mail address, telephone number and IP addresses.

  • Signer authentication information (Authentication): Authentication mode used (without code, with code sent by SMS or with code sent by e-mail) and validation time.

  • Signature information: Context of signature (signature made via signature link sharing, signature made in person or signature made from link sent by e-mail), date of consent and date of signature validation.

  • Data relating to signed documents: Names, IDs, document types.

On the Yousign application, the audit trail is only available in English (regardless of the language of your account or the signer). It is only possible to configure the language of the audit trail if you use the API.

The audit trail contains all the information needed to replay a signature, as well as the alpha-numeric fingerprint (or "hash") specific to the signed PDF document.

The hash of the signed document is used to verify document integrity. This means that if the document is modified in any way after signing, the document hash will no longer match the fingerprint, indicating that there has been a modification.

Download the audit trail


The audit trail is available to account users who have access to the signature request (external signers and approvers do not have access).

Once the signature request is complete, you can download the audit trail by going to the signature request details page:

  • Click on the "..." in the upper right-hand corner next to the "Download document" button,

  • Then click on "Download audit trail".

The download will start automatically, and you will obtain a .zip file containing all the signers' audit trail.

  • Or click on the "..." next to the signer's name to download only the audit trail linked to it.

Please note: the audit trail is only generated once the signer has signed the document(s).

It is not possible to download all the audit trails for all your documents at once.

Did this answer your question?