What a draft is
A draft is a document you have started preparing but not yet sent or signed. You might have uploaded the file, added signers and placed half the fields, then realised you still need the client’s correct email address, or a manager’s sign-off on the wording. Instead of losing that work, you save it.
Nobody else sees a draft. Signers are not emailed, nothing appears in their inbox, and no signing link exists yet. It sits quietly in your Drafts until you are ready.
Drafts do not use a document
A document is counted only when it is sent or self-signed. You can keep as many drafts as you like on the free plan without touching your 3 free documents.
How saving a draft works
You do not need to remember a save button. When you leave the document wizard before sending, SignPe asks “Save as draft?”. Choose Save Draft and you are told: “You can continue editing it later from your Drafts folder.”
Later, open your Documents list and use the Draft filter to see everything you have in progress. From there you can resume a draft, rename it so it is easy to find, or delete it if the deal never happened.
On the mobile app, drafts are listed first so unfinished work is the first thing you see. Each draft has a menu with Open in Editor, Rename and Delete, and there is a Draft filter as on the web.
Saved Draft Found: no duplicates
It is easy to forget you already started on a contract and upload it again from scratch. SignPe watches for that. If you upload a file whose name matches an existing draft, you see a Saved Draft Found prompt with two choices:
- Resume Draft — pick up the earlier draft, with the signers and fields you already placed.
- Start New — begin a fresh document from the file you just uploaded, for example when the contract has been revised.
Either way, you decide. You do not end up with three half-finished copies of the same agreement and no idea which one is current.
When drafts save the day
- Waiting on details. The rent, start date or signer’s email is not confirmed yet. Prepare everything else now and fill in the gap later.
- Getting approval first. Set up an offer letter or vendor agreement, then let a colleague check the wording before it goes out.
- Interrupted on the go. You start placing fields on your phone between meetings and finish at your desk — the draft is there on every device.
- Lining up a batch. Prepare several contracts in one sitting and send each one when the other party is ready.
- Sending at the right moment. Have a renewal ready to go the day the current agreement ends.
Drafts and your document allowance
On the free plan you get 3 real documents, one-time and shared by your business or team. A document is counted the moment it is sent or self-signed and submitted — not when you upload it, and not while it sits in Drafts. Other people signing your document costs you nothing.
That means you can prepare freely. Upload a contract to see how the fields fit, experiment with signer order, or set up a document for a colleague to review, and none of it uses your allowance. If you later need more documents, compare the paid options on plans and pricing.
| Action | Uses a document? |
|---|---|
| Uploading a file and saving it as a draft | No |
| Renaming or deleting a draft | No |
| Resuming a draft and editing it | No |
| Sending the document for signature | Yes — one |
| Self-signing and submitting it | Yes — one |
| Your signers signing it | No |
Drafts compared with the paper way
With paper, a half-prepared contract is a printout on a desk with sticky notes marking where people should sign. It gets buried, reprinted with a correction, or sent in the wrong version. With email, it is an attachment in a draft message that you hope is the latest file.
| Paper or email | SignPe draft | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it lives | A desk pile or an email draft | Your Drafts, filterable in Documents |
| Signature spots | Sticky notes and “sign here” arrows | Fields already placed and assigned |
| Picking it up elsewhere | Only where the paper is | Web, iOS and Android |
| Cost of waiting | Reprinting and rescanning | Nothing — drafts are free |
Tips for working with drafts
- Rename drafts clearly. “Lease – 14 Park Road – v2” is far easier to find than “scan_0032.pdf”.
- Clear out old drafts. Delete drafts for deals that fell through, so your Draft filter shows only live work.
- Check before sending. A draft may be days old. Re-read names, dates and amounts before you send it.
- Use Start New for revised files. If the contract text changed, upload the new file and choose Start New, rather than resuming a draft built on the old one.
Once a document is sent, you can follow every step with status tracking. If a sent document turns out to be wrong, void it and send a corrected one.
How to save and resume a draft
Start preparing a document
Upload your file, choose how it will be signed and begin adding signers and fields.
Leave the wizard and choose Save Draft
When you leave before sending, SignPe asks “Save as draft?”. Select Save Draft to keep your progress.
Find it under Draft
Open Documents and apply the Draft filter. On mobile, drafts are listed first.
Resume and send
Open the draft (Open in Editor on mobile), finish the remaining fields and send it. Only now does it count as a document.
