What voiding a document means
Voiding is how you take back a signature request that is already out in the world. Once a document is voided, its signing process ends for good: signers can still see that it existed, but they can no longer add a signature, and the document can never be completed.
It is different from deleting a document. Deleting tidies your own document list. Voiding is an action other people see — it tells every signer that the request has been withdrawn and that they no longer need to do anything.
Voiding is final
A voided document cannot be reopened. If you still need signatures, fix the document and send it as a new request — it takes a minute, and the new one gets its own clean audit trail.
When you would void a document
Most voids come down to one of a handful of everyday situations:
- The wrong file went out. An old draft, the wrong client’s contract, or a PDF missing its last page.
- The terms changed. Price, dates or scope were renegotiated after you hit send.
- The wrong person was added. A typo in an email address, or a signer who has since left the company.
- The deal is off. A candidate turned down the offer, or a customer walked away.
- A field was placed in the wrong spot. A signature box assigned to the wrong signer, or a date field missing altogether.
In every one of these cases, letting the old request linger is a risk. Someone might sign the outdated version, and then you have two conflicting documents and a confusing conversation. Voiding closes that door.
What your signers see
Each signer receives a cancellation email titled “Cancelled: <document name>”, telling them that no signature is needed any more and that the signing link will no longer work. Signers who have a SignPe account also get an in-app notification and a push notification on their phone.
If a signer opens the original link anyway, the document opens read-only with a clear notice that it has been voided. There is no signature box to tap and nothing to get wrong. Observers — people you copied on the document so they could follow along — are told as well.
Which documents you can void
| Document state | Can it be voided? |
|---|---|
| Sent and waiting for signatures | Yes — this is what voiding is for |
| Declined by a signer | Yes, on the web app, to close it out cleanly |
| Draft (never sent) | No need — just edit or delete the draft |
| Fully signed and completed | No — a completed agreement stands |
Only the person who created and sent the document can void it. If a colleague sent it, ask them to void it — signers and observers never see the option.
Why it matters
Paper contracts are easy to withdraw: you take them back. Digital requests travel further and faster — into inboxes, onto phones, forwarded to a manager — so withdrawing one needs to reach everyone just as fast. That is the whole point of notifying signers automatically instead of leaving you to chase each one.
- No outdated signatures. The old version cannot be signed by accident.
- No follow-up emails to write. SignPe tells everyone for you, in a consistent, professional message.
- A clean record. The void sits in the document’s history next to who received, opened and signed it.
How to void a document in SignPe
Open the document
Find the document in your Documents list. Pending documents are the ones still waiting for signatures.
Choose Void
Open the document’s options menu and select Void. On the web app it appears on any document that is still pending.
Confirm
SignPe asks you to confirm, because voiding cancels the signing process and cannot be undone. Select Void document.
Everyone is notified
Every signer and observer is emailed straight away, the signing link stops working, and the document is marked Void in your list.
