Skip to main content
Yes, for documents that need no special form. In the United States (the ESIGN Act and UETA), the European Union (the eIDAS regulation) and the United Kingdom, a click on Accept is a simple electronic signature, the same legal category as a drawn e-signature. A court cannot reject it only because it is electronic. What decides a dispute is whether the person saw the document, clearly agreed, and whether you can show who did it. The Certificate of Acceptance records that. Where the law requires a special form, neither acceptance nor our signing is enough. This is not legal advice. In the United States, the ESIGN Act and UETA define an electronic signature as a sound, symbol or process that a person adopts with the intent to sign. A click is such a process. In the European Union, eIDAS Article 25(1) says a court may not reject an electronic signature only because it is electronic or because it is not a qualified signature. Only a qualified electronic signature has the same effect as a handwritten one. In the United Kingdom, the Law Commission lists clicking an “I accept” button as a valid way to sign. A drawn signature, a typed name and a click are all simple electronic signatures. DocsAutomator signing is also a simple electronic signature: there is no identity check, no qualified certificate and no witness. So wherever a click is not enough, our signing is not enough either.

​
What DocsAutomator records for you

Every acceptance produces a Certificate of Acceptance, attached to the accepted PDF. It records:
  • The document name and its SHA-256 fingerprint.
  • The recipient, the email address the link went to, and the link id.
  • The time the link was sent, first opened and accepted, in UTC.
  • The IP address and browser at the open and at the acceptance.
  • The exact button text and the consent sentence the recipient saw.
  • The typed name, if you asked for one, and the language of the page.
The certificate ends with a short paragraph you can quote directly, for example: “A unique link was sent to anna@example.com on 12 Sep 2026 09:14 UTC. It was opened on 12 Sep 2026 10:02 UTC from 203.0.113.7. The recipient accepted on 12 Sep 2026 10:05 UTC from 203.0.113.7.” The PDF is sealed with a digital certificate and an independent timestamp, so it is tamper-evident: a PDF reader shows if the file changed after it was sealed.

​
Consumers in the EU and the UK

Acceptance does not yet support documents that oblige a consumer to pay. EU and UK law asks for extra steps before the button. Ask your lawyer which flow fits those documents.

​
Consumers in the United States

Do not use Acceptance, or DocsAutomator signing, to give a consumer a disclosure that a law requires to be given in writing. Examples are credit, lease, insurance and some state consumer notices. US law (15 U.S.C. 7001(c)) requires a specific consent process before such a disclosure can be delivered electronically, and the acceptance page does not run that process.
For an ordinary quote, order or service agreement, no law requires a written disclosure, and the acceptance is valid.

​
Documents that need a special form

Some documents need a notary, a witness, handwritten ink or a qualified electronic signature. Neither signing nor acceptance covers them. Examples are wills, property sales and mortgages, marriage contracts, gifts of property and many powers of attorney. In some countries the list also includes personal guarantees, employment terminations and company share transfers. The entries below are examples, not a complete list. The rules differ by country and change over time. For these, use paper, a notary or a qualified electronic signature. This is not legal advice.
Last modified on September 22, 2026