Access to Envelope / Certificate of Completion

Question

I’m looking for guidance on a situation involving an envelope that seems to have had its visibility restricted after I raised a concern with my company.

I originally signed a contract through DocuSign. Later the envelope no longer appears under my “Completed” documents.

However, I still have:

A copy of the original contract I signed
A copy of another version of the contract with a different job title
Both documents show the same Envelope ID

Since I no longer have access to the envelope in my DocuSign account, I’m concerned about how to ensure the evidence cannot be deleted or altered by the sender.

My questions for the community:

Is it possible for a sender to remove or hide an envelope from a recipient’s view after completion?
Does DocuSign retain an immutable audit trail even if the sender restricts access? (Certificate of Completion)
What steps can I take to preserve or verify the authenticity of the documents and the envelope ID?

I’m not asking for legal advice, just trying to understand how DocuSign handles envelope access, audit trails, and evidence preservation so I know how to proceed.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can clarify how this works.

Ma.Cubio · Answer

Hello ​@user70444Thank you for reaching out, and welcome to the Docusign Community! We appreciate your question and assure you that we are fully committed to providing you with the best service possible.1. Can a sender remove or hide an envelope from a recipient’s view after completion?Yes, in some cases, the sender or account administrator can change access or visibility settings, which may cause the envelope to stop appearing in your “Completed” folder. However, this does not necessarily mean the envelope or audit data was deleted.2. Does DocuSign keep an audit trail / Certificate of Completion?Yes. Docusign generates a Certificate of Completion (CoC) for completed envelopes. This acts as an audit trail and includes details such as:Envelope IDRecipient names and email addressesTimestampsIP addressesSigning activity and statusDocusign describes this as part of its transaction audit process used to help validate the authenticity of the transaction.3. What can you do to preserve or verify the documents?Since you already have copies of the documents and the Envelope ID, it is a good idea to:Save all signed PDFs and related emailsKeep screenshots showing the Envelope IDRequest the Certificate of Completion from the sender or account administratorVerify the PDF signatures in a supported PDF readerKeep copies stored in a secure locationThe Envelope ID and Certificate of Completion are commonly used to help validate Docusign transactions.Please note that Docusign Support and the Community cannot provide legal advice or determine which version of a contract is legally valid. Still, this helps explain how Docusign manages envelope visibility and audit records.If you found the response to be a useful solution to your question, please “like” and mark it as the best answer by clicking “Select as Best” to make it easier for other users to find. Thank you!Sincerely,Ma. Cassandra | Docusign Community ModeratorIf this helped, feel free to Like👍and click "Best Answer."

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