In Person Signing: what do the completed PDF's creation/modification timestamps mean, and what does the signer see and receive?

Hi ​@daryna,

We appreciate you reaching out to the Docusign Community, and I’ll be glad to help!

Thank you for sharing the details of your concern regarding the creation/modification timestamps of completed In-Person Signing PDFs and other related information.

In response to your questions:

1. For an In-Person Signing, the signer typically signs while physically with the designated Inperson Host. the signer does not necessarily need their Docusign account. After completion, depending on the sender’s delivery settings, the signer can receive the completed documents and/or the Certificate of Completion by email. The completed PDF can contain the signed document and, depending on the configuration, the signing information/audit details.

   If you’re investigating a situation where the PDF’s creation/modification timestamp differs from the actual signing time, we recommend to rely on the Certificate of Completion rather than the PDF file-system metadata to establish when the signing event actually occurred.

2. For PDF timestamps, the creation date/time and modification date/time shown in the completed PDF’s metadata are file-level metadata. It cannot be interpreted as direct equivalents of Docusign envelope events. 

   There is generally no minimum amount of time that an In-Person Signer must spend viewing the document, nor is there a standard requirement that the signer scroll through every page before completing the signature fields. The workflow requires the applicable signing actions and required fields to be completed. 

3.  

   For an In-Person Signing, the Certificate of Completion records can contain information such as the In-Person Host’s name and email, the signer’s email if one was provided, IP Address where applicable, authentication information, envelope event timestamps, and the signature adoption method.

    

   The timestamp displayed on the Certificate of Completion is generally shown in the time zone configured in the Docusign account, rather than necessarily the physical location of the signer or host. This is important when comparing the Certificate of Completion with PDF metadata timestamps, computer logs, or local device times. They may use different time zone conventions and therefore may not match exactly.

   Link for reference: How do I modify time zone settings for my account? 

4. If the signer’s email address was not entered during the In-Person Signing session, Docusign generally does not send notifications or the completed documents directly to that signer.

5.  The signer also cannot access the envelope, its history, or Certificate of completion through their own Docusign account solely because they physically signed the document. Access is instead associated with the envelope’s authorized users, such as the sender/account users with appropriate access.

   Therefore, where no signer email was provided, the sender or user with access to the envelope would need to provide the signer with a copy of the completed documents and/or Certificate of Completion.

Additional references:

In Person Signing

Conduct an In-Person Signing Session

I hope the information provided is helpful and clarifies. If there’s anything else you need or if we can help with anything further, please feel free to let us know. I’ll be happy to assist.

Best regards,

Noralynn | Docusign Community Moderator

Feel free to click the “Best Answer ✅” button below the post. That helps others in the Community find trusted answers faster.

Thank you, ​@Noralynn.Niduaza , that's helpful. Could I ask you to be more specific on the timestamps, because in my case they don't come from the file system: they are inside the PDF as generated by DocuSign.

The completed PDF (Producer: PDFKit.NET) contains:

• /CreationDate in the Info dictionary, recorded with a +02:00 offset (my local time zone);
• /ModDate in the Info dictionary, recorded with a −07:00 offset (US Pacific);
• the /M entry of the DocuSign seal's signature dictionary, identical to /ModDate.

The two are 49 seconds apart, and the seal's byte range covers both, so they were written before DocuSign sealed the file.

My questions:

1. Which envelope event sets /CreationDate? Is it when the documents are converted to PDF at envelope creation/sending, or something else? Why is it in a different time zone from /ModDate (sender's account time zone vs DocuSign server time)?
2. Does /ModDate (and the seal's /M) correspond to the "Envelope Completed" event, i.e. the moment DocuSign applied the signatures and sealed the document?
3. If so, is the interval between the two the time between the envelope being sent and being completed, or is the completed PDF regenerated from the original at completion, so that /CreationDate doesn't reflect the sending time?
4. In the Certificate of Completion, would the "Sent", "Viewed", "Signed" and "Completed" timestamps for an in-person signer be expected to match /ModDate for the last of these?

I'm asking because the sender hasn't provided the Certificate of Completion, so these sealed timestamps are the only DocuSign-generated record I have of when the envelope was sent and completed.

Hi ​@daryna,

Just wanted to check in and see how things are going on your end. If you have any other questions or run into any issues, feel free to reach out here in the Community. We’re always happy to help!

Wishing you a great rest of your day!

Best regards,

Noralynn | Docusign Community Moderator

Hi ​@Noralynn.Niduaza,

Thank you for the explanations provided in this thread. I have a related question regarding time zones and dates displayed in DocuSign.

As you've explained, the timestamps shown in the Certificate of Completion may differ from the date displayed in the signed document (when using the Date Signed field) due to time zone differences.

In my case, I frequently send agreements where the last signature date becomes the Effective Date. So far, I have been relying on the date visible on the signature page. However, I am wondering whether differences between the date shown in the signed document and the timestamp recorded in the Certificate of Completion could create any concerns during an audit or compliance review. This is particularly noticeable for users in the Nordic countries, where the Date Signed field may sometimes display the previous calendar day because the signing time is recorded in a US time zone.

Could you please clarify:

1. Is there an account or admin setting that can ensure the time zone used for the Date Signed field is aligned with the time zone reflected in the Certificate of Completion?
2. If a sender does not have administrator access (like me), is there anything the sender can do to control or standardize these time zone settings?
3. For recipients who do not have their own DocuSign account and simply sign a document, can the Date Signed field be configured to display the sender's time zone (or another specified time zone) rather than a US-based time zone such as PDT?
4. From a DocuSign compliance perspective, which date should be considered authoritative when determining the agreement's execution date: the date displayed in the signed document or the timestamp recorded in the Certificate of Completion?

Thank you for your help and guidance.
Yasemin

Hi ​@Noralynn.Niduaza , 

Thank you so much for your thorough response! 

I believe I understand most of it now, but I would appreciate clarification on a few remaining points:

1. The time zone settings: I believe I need to identify our DocuSign administrator and check how our account is configured. That person is likely based in the US (I’m in Europe), but I'll find out. 

2. If you are not an administrator: I am not an administrator, but I have specified my own time zone in My Preferences.

   Am I correct that I should verify with our administrator whether user-level time zone overrides are enabled, and whether my configured time zone is actually being used for envelope transactions?

3. Recipients without Docusign accounts: This is the part I am still struggling to understand.

   You mentioned that for recipients without a DocuSign account, the Date Signed field uses the sender's configured time zone. However, in practice I sometimes see situations where:

• the Certificate of Completion appears to reflect my local time zone correctly, but
• the Date Signed field on the document displays a different calendar date/time zone (for example, the previous day).
  
  If both are ultimately based on the sender's configuration, could you help me understand why this difference occurs?
  Are the Certificate of Completion timestamp and the Date Signed field controlled by separate time zone settings within DocuSign?
  Or is there any other factor that could cause the Date Signed field to display a different date than the Certificate of Completion?

3. Authoritative execution record: Thank you for clarifying that the Certificate of Completion should be relied upon for audit and compliance purposes. That explanation was very helpful.
   
   Many thanks, 
   Yasemin

Hi ​@Noralynn.Niduaza, 

Your response is much appreciated, once again! And I believe it is I who should be thanking you for your patience in explaining how time zones may affect the timestamps displayed 😊.

I will now take this to our account administrator and check the settings for my account.

By the way, I don't see a "Best Answer" button below the post. The only option available to me is "Like", which I have already clicked, pls see below.

I wish you a lovely autumn ahead!

Best regards,
Yasemin