Understanding the Audit Trail and Certificate of Completion
Behind every Inkfree request runs a quiet, tamper-evident recorder: each event is sealed into a cryptographic hash chain as it happens, so any later change to the trail can be detected. If a signature is ever questioned ("I never saw that document", "that's not my signature"), the audit trail is your answer. Here's what it captures and how to use it.
What the Audit Trail Records
Open any request and read the Audit Trail panel on the detail page:
• Creation and sending: who created the request and when it went out.
• Delivery and opens: each invitation email delivered and opened.
• Views: every time the document was viewed, with IP address and device.
• Device: under each event's time, an icon shows whether it came from a desktop, phone or tablet. Hover it for the browser and operating system, such as "Chrome 128 on Windows 10 or 11". Events Inkfree triggers on its own, such as an automatic reminder, show System.
• Verification events: OTP codes entered, access codes passed.
• Actions: each approval, signature, decline (with reason), delegation, and reminder, all timestamped to the second.
Click View full audit log to expand the complete history beyond recent events.
How the Trail Is Protected
Every event is sealed with a keyed cryptographic hash (HMAC-SHA256) the moment it is recorded, and each seal includes the seal of the event before it. Editing, removing or inserting an event breaks every seal that follows, so the change shows up. At the bottom of the Audit Trail card, the Tamper-evident trail bar lets you click Verify to recheck the whole chain on demand. See how to verify an audit trail has not been altered for what each result means.
The Certificate of Completion
When the last signature lands, Inkfree generates the certificate of completion, a formal document that packages the entire audit trail with the signed agreement. It includes every signer's identity details, verification methods, and the full event timeline, with the device each event came from.
The certificate also carries an integrity seal: an Integrity line confirming the number of events verified, and the trail's Final hash, a fingerprint of the trail as it stood when the certificate was issued. If the record is ever questioned, that hash shows exactly what the trail contained at completion.
How to Download It
1. Open the completed request.
2. Click Download Certificate in the header (next to Download Documents).
3. Store it with the signed agreement; together they form your complete evidence file.
Tip: For high-stakes agreements, download both immediately on completion and archive them in your document management system.