Sign documents electronically
Sign documents electronically
Sign is the e-signature area of my-id.ca, in the sidebar under Workspace. It handles both directions:
- Documents sent to you — your Sign inbox.
- Documents you send out — your signature requests. That flow has its own guide: Send a document for signature.
Signing something that was sent to you
You will get an email with a signing link. You do not need a my-id.ca account to use it — the link works on its own.
- Open the link. It opens the document in a signing view.
- Verify it is you. my-id.ca emails a one-time code to the address the request was sent to. Enter it. This is what ties the signature to a real, reachable mailbox.
- Consent. You confirm you agree to sign electronically before anything can be filled in.
- Fill your fields. The sender has placed fields for you — signature, initials, date, your name, a text box, a checkbox. Required ones must be completed before you can finish.
- Finish, or decline if you are not willing to sign. Declining is a recorded outcome, not a silent exit; the sender is told.
If you do have a my-id.ca account and the document was sent to your account email, it also appears in your Sign inbox at Sign in the sidebar, with a badge in the sidebar showing how many documents are waiting on you. Business accounts get the same inbox under To sign.
Your saved signature and initials
The first time you sign, you draw or set your signature. my-id.ca can save it — along with separate initials — so the next document takes a couple of clicks instead of a redraw. You can mark one as your default, and manage them later under your account.
What the statuses mean
For a signature request you sent:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Built but not sent. Nobody has been emailed. |
| Sent | Delivered to recipients; nobody has signed yet. |
| Partially signed | At least one recipient has signed, others are outstanding. |
| Completed | Everyone has signed. The sealed PDF is available. |
| Declined | A recipient refused. The envelope stops there. |
| Voided | You cancelled it. |
| Expired | It passed its expiry date before everyone signed. |
Each recipient also has their own state: pending, viewed, signed, or declined — so you can see who is holding things up.
The sealed PDF and the certificate
When the last recipient signs, my-id.ca produces two files you can download:
- The sealed document — the signed PDF, cryptographically sealed and hash-locked. If a single byte changes afterwards, the seal no longer matches.
- The certificate of completion — a separate PDF listing every recipient, what they did, and when: created, sent, opened, signed, completed.
Alongside those, the envelope keeps a full activity trail — created, sent, delivered, opened, consent given, fields filled, signed, reminders sent, completed, sealed.
Documents my-id.ca will not sign
my-id.ca does not support signing wills, codicils, powers of attorney, or land-registration and title documents. These carry formal execution requirements — witnesses, specific registry procedures — that an ordinary e-signature does not satisfy. When you create a request you have to confirm your document is not one of these.
Plan limits
Signature requests you send are metered: 5 per 30 days on the free plan, unlimited on Plus. The counter appears on the Sign page as "Requests this month". Documents you receive and sign are never metered.
Related
Frequently asked questions
- Does it cost anything to sign a document someone sent me?
- No. Receiving and signing is free and does not count against any limit. The monthly limit applies only to signature requests you send out.
- Is an electronic signature legally valid in Canada?
- Electronic signatures are recognised under Canadian federal and provincial electronic-commerce legislation for most everyday agreements. Some document types are excluded — my-id.ca does not support wills, codicils, powers of attorney, or land-registration and title documents. For anything consequential, confirm the requirements with the party asking for the signature.
- What is the sealed PDF?
- When every recipient has signed, my-id.ca produces a final PDF that is cryptographically sealed and hash-locked, so any later alteration is detectable. A separate certificate of completion lists who signed, when, and from where.