Get documents signed without leaving the matter they belong to. You build an envelope from a document, decide who signs and in what order, send it, and watch each signature land in real time. Every step, from the first send to the final signature, is written to a tamper-evident signing log that stays attached to the matter as part of its permanent record.
There is nothing to install and no account to connect. Signing works natively out of the box, so you can send your first envelope today.
What it does
- Turns a document into an envelope. Point an envelope at a document or file on the matter and Opbox opens a draft. The envelope always references the real document by id and checksum, so what gets signed is exactly what you reviewed, never a reconstructed copy.
- Lets you add signers and set the order. Add each recipient with their role, and choose whether they sign one after another (sequential) or all at once (parallel). A signer who must go first will not be asked until the people ahead of them are done.
- Places signature fields where they belong. Drop signature, initials, date, text, and checkbox fields onto the exact page and position each signer needs to complete, and set the order they move through them.
- Sends and chases. Send the envelope and Opbox dispatches it to every recipient. If someone is slow, send a reminder to the people still outstanding, on whatever cadence you set, without nudging the ones who have already signed.
- Tracks status per signer. See who has viewed, who has signed, who has declined, and who is still pending, with a live progress count for the whole envelope. The envelope moves forward through its own lifecycle (draft, sent, signed, completed) and can never slide backward.
- Handles the outcomes you do not control. A recipient can decline, an envelope can pass its expiry date, and you can void an envelope you no longer want signed. Each of these is a clean, final state, recorded and explainable.
- Keeps a tamper-evident signing log you can verify. Every event, sent, viewed, signed, reminded, declined, expired, voided, is appended to a hash-chained log anchored cryptographically. Run a verification at any time to confirm the chain is intact and the record has not been altered, in a way an independent third party can check.
A completed envelope is not just a green tick. It is a signed artefact plus a verifiable chain of who did what and when, sitting on the matter where you will look for it later.
How you use it
- Prepare the document. Start from the document or file you want signed. It is already on the matter, already reviewed, already the version of record.
- Create the envelope. Open a draft envelope over that document. It starts life as a draft, so you can shape it before anyone sees it.
- Add the signers and the fields. Set the recipient roster and the signing order, then place the signature, date, and other fields each person needs to fill in.
- Send it. Dispatch the envelope to everyone on the roster. Opbox notifies each recipient and the envelope moves to sent.
- Watch the signatures land. Track progress per recipient as people view and sign. Send a reminder to anyone outstanding. If a signer declines or the envelope expires, you see it immediately.
- Keep the record. When everyone has signed, the envelope completes with its signed artefact and full signing log attached to the matter. Verify the chain whenever you, a client, or a regulator needs proof that the signing record is genuine and untouched.
Every action is permission-checked before it runs and written to the audit trail, so the people who can send, remind, and void an envelope are exactly the people you have authorised, and nothing happens off the record.
The kernel verbs behind it
Each surface above is a thin client over these verbs. Every call goes through the one front door, permission-checked and audited before it runs.
envelope.create- open a draft envelope over a document or file on the matter.envelope.recipient.set- set the signer roster and choose sequential or parallel routing.envelope.field.place- place a signature, initials, date, text, or checkbox field at a precise spot for a given signer.envelope.send- move the envelope from draft to sent and dispatch it to recipients.envelope.sign- a recipient signs; the signature and event are recorded.envelope.remind- re-ping the recipients who have not yet signed.envelope.decline- a recipient declines; the envelope moves to a clean declined state.envelope.void- cancel an envelope you no longer want signed; final and immutable.envelope.expire- drive an envelope past its expiry date to a final expired state.envelope.getandenvelope.list- read one envelope, or list a matter’s envelopes with per-recipient progress.signing.chain.verify- verify the hash-chain and cryptographic anchor of an envelope’s signing log, third-party verifiable.
Behind the scenes, provider callbacks are reconciled idempotently through envelope.callback, so a status update that arrives twice never double-counts and the signing record stays exactly right.