Withdraw a signature request

One action, whole envelope

Withdraw sits at the end of the button row on the status page. The dialog warns that outstanding signing links stop working and everyone still waiting is told, and offers a reason box labelled as shared with the signers. Confirming flips the envelope to withdrawn and expires every recipient who had not already finished, in one move. There is no way to withdraw the request from one person and leave it live for another.

Write a reason people can act on

The reason is optional and capped at five hundred characters, and unlike most optional fields it is worth filling in every time, because it is printed in the email the signers receive. Replaced by a corrected version tells somebody to expect a new request. Silence makes them wonder whether the deal is off. The placeholder in the box suggests exactly that sort of sentence.

Who hears about it

Everyone who was actually invited and had neither signed nor declined. Somebody further down a signing order who was never emailed is not sent a withdrawal notice for a request they never received, which avoids confusing them with news about something they never saw. The notice is titled Withdrawn followed by the document title, says the sender cancelled the request and their link no longer works, prints the reason, and tells them no action is needed.

Dead links say so

A withdrawn link does not fail obscurely. Opening it returns a clear message that the document was withdrawn by the sender, shown on the same card the signer would have seen any other outcome on. That matters when the email arrives after the notice, or when somebody clicks an old link out of their history weeks later.

Some things cannot be pulled back

A completed envelope cannot be withdrawn, and neither can one that is already withdrawn. Once the last signature has landed the certified file exists, the copies have been emailed, and there is nothing meaningful left to cancel. That is the practical argument for reading the last page carefully before pressing Send, because the window for a graceful retreat closes when the final signer finishes.

How it works, in three steps

1. Step 1

   Open the envelope and press Withdraw

   It sits at the end of the download button row, and is offered on anything not completed, already withdrawn or expired.

2. Step 2

   Say why

   The reason goes into the email each waiting signer receives, so write it for them rather than for your own records.

3. Step 3

   Send the corrected version as a new envelope

   There is no reopening. Fix the document, create a fresh envelope and send it, ideally referencing the withdrawal in your message.

Limits worth knowing

• Withdrawing applies to the whole envelope. Individual recipients cannot be cancelled.
• A completed envelope cannot be withdrawn at all.
• It cannot be reversed. The withdrawn envelope stays on the list with its history intact.
• Signers who had already finished are not notified, since their part was genuinely done.

Questions people ask

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