You can send a document, see exactly which pages get read, and collect a legally recorded signature. The file never changes links. The send is the sign. This guide walks the whole flow on one Docshark envelope. It takes about five minutes the first time, less after that.
Step 1: Send with controls, not hope
Upload the document and create its link. Before you send, set the rules. Add a password if you need one. Set an expiry date. Limit access to certain emails or domains. Decide whether download or print is allowed. Sent it to the wrong person? Revoke kills the link right away, and the attempt still shows in your log.
Step 2: Watch the read, page by page
Every open becomes a session. You see who viewed, on what device, and from what region. You see how long they sat on each page and which pages they came back to. When the buyer says it looks good, you will know whether they spent four seconds or four minutes on pricing.
Step 3: Route the signature on the same envelope
When the reading says ready, add signers to the envelope, not to a new tool. Pick the order. Sequential means one signer at a time, like when the CFO signs after the champion. Parallel means everyone signs at once. Place the fields and send. When you turn on identity verification, each signer confirms a one-time code sent to their email before they can sign.
Step 4: Close with a record, not a guess
When signing finishes, the envelope seals. Docshark issues a certificate of completion with hashes of the final PDF and the audit log. Anyone can confirm it on a public verification page. When legal asks, export the audit trail. Reads, identity checks, and signatures sit in one timeline, because they happened on one link.
What breaks when send and sign live apart?
The read history stays in the sending tool. The signature record starts from zero somewhere else.
Signers get a second link to a file they never opened. That is a second place to stall.
To answer a dispute, you have to stitch two exports together and hope the timestamps agree.
