Question 1

Is a signed document also valid when printed out?

Accepted Answer

No. Digital signatures cannot be verified when printed out. However, the qualified digital signature is equivalent to the handwritten signature and as such is also accepted digitally instead of printed documents. Learn more.

Question 2

Can a company branding incl. company stamp and certificate be integrated in sproof sign?

Accepted Answer

Yes, if you are a single user:in or the admin of your plan (Business and above), you have the option to add a company logo, company icon or company stamp and your own certificate.

Question 3

Can I use my own certificate for signing?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Enterprise customers can use their own certificates as company seals or for advanced signatures.

Question 4

Can I set an order in which the signatures are obtained?

Accepted Answer

Yes, the order can be defined directly when inviting. You can give all persons the opportunity to sign at the same time, define several groups or set an individual order. As soon as all persons in a group have signed, the next group is automatically invited.

Question 5

Can I refuse a signature?

Accepted Answer

If you receive a document that you cannot or do not want to sign, you can also refuse to sign it and give a short explanation.

Question 6

Can I use or create form fields?

Accepted Answer

Yes. If your PDF document already contains form fields, you can fill them out directly in sproof or send them for filling out. You can also edit these form fields or create new fields.

Question 7

Can I sign in different functions and still use the same account?

Accepted Answer

You can connect several email addresses to your profile and sign them in different functions. For example, if you have a private and a professional email address with which you send signature requests or with which you are invited to sign, you can manage them collectively in your profile.

Question 8

Can I sign multiple documents at once?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Documents can then be placed on a virtual stack and signed collectively with both the advanced signature and the qualified electronic signature.

Question 9

Can anyone manage their documents in sproof?

Accepted Answer

Yes, once you have registered for free, you can manage a limited number of documents.

Question 10

Can I make changes to the document after signing?

Accepted Answer

No. Once a document has been digitally signed, no more changes can be made. These would render the affixed signatures invalid. Such changes include splitting the document, adding pages, etc. An exception is the application of additional digital signatures. This is possible even after some have already been applied.

Question 11

Do externals have to pay for signature or be sproof sign user?

Accepted Answer

No. You can obtain an electronic signature from external parties without them having to pay for the signature. As a rule, you pay the costs for the signatures yourself. The recipients do not have to be registered with sproof sign as business or private customers, but can open the document and sign it online immediately.

Question 12

Are signatures created with sproof legally valid?

Accepted Answer

Yes, signatures created with sproof sign are legally valid. In the EU, this is clearly regulated by law in the eIDAS Regulation. Digital signatures created with sproof sign comply with the eIDAS Regulation. A special distinction is also made between advanced digital signatures and qualified digital signatures. Both can be created with sproof sign. The qualified digital signature requires a unique identification and the created signatures are equal to the handwritten signature.

Question 13

When do you need a qualified electronic signature (QES)?

Accepted Answer

There are basically three signature standards. The qualified digital signature is legally equivalent to the handwritten signature. Therefore, only the qualified signature should be used for contracts that require writing. Learn more ->

Question 14

Why to sign digital instead of analogue?

Accepted Answer

Because you like to work efficiently. Because you can put your valuable resources to better use elsewhere than printing out documents, signing and/or scanning them back in for emailing. The motto is: Simple, secure signing. Digital signing with sproof is not only resource-saving but also 100% legally valid and DSGVO-compliant.

Question 15

Can I freely design my signature?

Accepted Answer

Yes. One of sproof sign's strengths is creating meaningful and aesthetic signature titles. A signature style is a visual representation of your signature, for example an image of your handwritten signature or a company stamp. With sproof you can create different styles to very quickly create your signature and then use it.

Question 16

What happens if I send a document but forget to log in - can I move the document to my account?

Accepted Answer

Yes, if you have used the same email address with which you have an account, the document will automatically appear in your dashboard. If you have used a different email address, it is possible to link multiple email addresses to your account.

Question 17

What happens when I delete a document - is it then also deleted from the recipients?

Accepted Answer

If your recipients do not have an account, they lose access to the document by deleting it. Otherwise, the document is retained.

Question 18

What are the advantages of using sproof for digital signatures?

Accepted Answer

sproof offers faster handling of signature processes and thus time savings. The workflow is clearer and the process more controllable. The printing and scanning of documents as well as the time-consuming signing of documents on paper is no longer necessary. In addition, CO2 can be saved in this way.

Question 19

How do I get a digital signature?

Accepted Answer

A digital signature is uniquely linked to your person. Either via your email address in the case of an advanced digital signature or via your cell phone in the case of a qualified digital signature. You can obtain a digital signature via existing providers such as sproof sign. With sproof sign you get your own legally valid digital signature (legally equivalent to a handwritten signature). Identification is a very straightforward process with sproof sign and takes no more than 10 minutes. Learn more ->

Question 20

How long does it take to integrate sproof into existing workflows via API?

Accepted Answer

Integration into existing workflows is possible within a few minutes to a few hours. It is a simple REST API. The documentation can be found at https://sign.sproof.io/docs/.

Question 21

How many people can I invite to sign a document?

Accepted Answer

As many as you like.

Question 22

Is the annual subscription to sproof sign automatically renewed?

Accepted Answer

Yes, your subscription will be renewed automatically. You can cancel a subscription at any time in your account.

Question 23

How to Restore Mobile ID?

Accepted Answer

You have reinstalled the MobileID app or have a new smartphone? Here you will learn how to restore your MobileID in order to be able to continue signing qualified with sproof sign.

Initial situation
You have already successfully identified yourself once via a VideoIdent procedure for a qualified digital signature. You have now reinstalled the MobileID app or you have received a new smartphone and now want to reinstall the MobileID app. You want to reactivate the MobileID to be able to sign qualified again without another VideoIdent procedure.

Solution
With backup code
You made a note of the backup code when you first installed the MobileID app. Before you set up the app again, go to https://www.mobileid.ch/de/login, enter your phone number and restore your identification. Now you can sign qualified again with sproof sign without any further identification.

Without backup code
You have lost the backup code or you had a backup code but have set up the Mobile ID app again in the meantime. In this case, a new identification is required. Proceed as follows:

Uninstall the MobileID App (if the app is not currently installed, skip this action).
Reinstall the MobileID app and make a note of the backup code. Keep this code in a safe place.
Perform a new identification in the settings under QES Setup.

Question 24

What digital signature providers are there in Germany?

Accepted Answer

In Germany, there are various ways to sign digitally. Many citizens use the service of D-Trust, for example. With sproof sign you get your own legally valid digital signature and can of course sign in Germany with it. The signatures are legally equivalent to handwritten signatures and can be obtained in just a few minutes. sproof sign also has the option of signing with various QES providers thanks to a simple interface. Learn more

Question 25

What digital signature providers are there in Austria?

Accepted Answer

In Austria, the digital signature is very widespread due to the broad adaptation of ID-Austria. ID-Austria is a qualified electronic signature that can also be used with sproof sign. If you do not have ID-Austria or want additional features, such as batch signature, you can use sproof sign to obtain your own legally binding digital signature from a European trust service provider. Qualified electronic signatures are legally equivalent to handwritten signatures and can be created in a few minutes. sproof sign also has an interface to sign with various QES providers. Learn more

Question 26

Can I define the signature field where my contact must sign?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The position of the signature(s) can be optionally predefined in the process of invitation.

Question 27

Can I sign or initial a document more than once?

Accepted Answer

Yes, this is possible. However, this is not necessary in principle for digital signatures, since a digital signature (technically) always includes the entire document.

Question 28

What is a digital signature?

Accepted Answer

A document to be signed is digitally signed by creating a unique digital fingerprint (hash value) of the document and signing it cryptographically. The signature can be applied directly to the digital document (PDF) and allows the identity of the signer to be established. If the document is subsequently modified, e.g. by changing the content, the digital signature is no longer valid because the digital fingerprint changes. This means that subsequent changes can be detected (integrity).

Question 29

What is the difference between an advanced and a qualified digital signature?

Accepted Answer

Digital signatures are divided into simple, advanced, and qualified (legally valid) signatures. In the case of a simple digital signature, the document is combined with the affixed signature to form a unique fingerprint (hash value).

In addition to the simple digital signature, the advanced digital signature offers the possibility of unambiguous identification of the signatories. The identification can be made, for example, via e-mail address, telephone number, etc.

According to the eIDAS Regulation, a qualified digital signature is legally equivalent to a handwritten signature. However, the signature must be executed using a qualified signature creation device and 2-factor authentication and must also include the name of the signatory. The qualified digital signature requires a one-time identification of the person with an ID card. Learn more

Question 30

How is the reference to the person established with an advanced signature?

Accepted Answer

The reference to the person is established via the e-mail address. In a corporate environment, an additional (optional) second factor can be used via a single sign-on.

Question 31

How do I get a legally valid, qualified digital signature?

Accepted Answer

With sproof sign, business customers receive a legally valid, qualified digital signature. For this purpose, after creating an account and purchasing a corresponding business plan, the registration for the qualified signature is automatically suggested. For the identification you need your photo ID, a cell phone and a PC with webcam and about 5 minutes for a video call. There are also many other so-called trust service providers in Europe which can issue a qualified electronic signature to EU citizens. Thanks to the intelligent interface, many of these signature types are available directly in sproof sign.

Question 32

How does the one-time identification for a qualified digital signature in sproof sign work?

Accepted Answer

If you have purchased a User+ from sproof sign or have been given the option of qualified signing by the administrator of a plan, an invitation for identification will appear in your dashboard after you log in to sproof sign. For identification, you will need your photo ID, a cell phone and a PC with a webcam, and about 5 minutes for a video call. You will then be guided through the process by an agent where you will register your cell phone as a second factor and identify yourself with your photo ID. Learn more

Question 33

How long is the identification for a qualified digital signature valid?

Accepted Answer

Identification is valid for 5 years or until your photo ID expires.

Question 34

What happens if I have a new cell phone or phone number?

Accepted Answer

When changing your cell phone or switching to a new phone number, a new identification is necessary. Please contact your administrator to receive a new invitation for identification.

Question 35

Can I also get a qualified signature via sproof sign?

Accepted Answer

With sproof sign, users (from User+) receive a legally valid, qualified digital signature. For this purpose, after creating an account and purchasing a plan, the registration for the qualified signature is automatically suggested. For the identification you need your photo ID, a cell phone and a PC with webcam and about 5 minutes for a video call.

Question 36

Which legal, security and compliance regulations does sproof sign meet?

Accepted Answer

sproof sign is 100% GDPR compliant. All electronic signatures are legally valid according to eIDAS. All data centers are certified in the EU and ISO 27001. sproof sign has no relation to third countries (especially not to the USA) and is therefore GDPR compliant even after the ruling on Privacy-Shield ("Schrems 2") of the EUGH. sproof sign complies with FDA 21 CFR Part 11 and is also IÖB-awarded for use in public administration.

Question 37

Is sproof sign GDPR compliant?

Accepted Answer

Yes, sproof is 100% GDPR compliant.

Question 38

Where is my data stored?

Accepted Answer

Your data is stored in the personal account in our European, ISO-certified and GDPR-compliant data centers. Optionally, documents can be automatically deleted from our servers after 30 days. A manual download and deletion or a query and deletion of the documents is possible at any time.

Question 39

Where are the sproof sign servers located?

Accepted Answer

In Austria, Germany, Netherlands and France. All servers are operated in Europe and there is no US connection, making sproof sign compliant with the GDPR even after the ruling on Privacy-Shield ("Schrems 2") by the EUGH. The data centers are ISO 27001 certified.

Question 40

How long will my data be stored or can I set this myself?

Accepted Answer

The documents are stored for 30 days and then automatically deleted. As a business customer, you can disable automatic deletion and keep the data indefinitely. Further, each individual document can be completely deleted manually at any time. You can also download documents at any time and save them locally.

Question 41

Do I need to download my documents to my computer after signing?

Accepted Answer

The documents do not need to be downloaded to your own computer, as business customers can also store the documents indefinitely.

Question 42

What do I need to use sproof sign?

Accepted Answer

sproof sign is a cloud-based solution. To access it, you need internet access, PC, laptop or cell phone. You do not need to install any software or host it yourself.

Question 43

Can I also use sproof sign privately?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The free Private Account is available to you for this purpose. Learn all about our plans here.

Question 44

Do I have to register to use sproof sign?

Accepted Answer

sproof sign works without registration, but it is useful and sensible if you create a free account. This will give you access to a dashboard where documents and invitations are listed. You can also create signature profiles with your own images of your signature and sign even faster.

Question 45

What is an "invitation"?

Accepted Answer

Invitations are requests for signatures that you send out to other people. One document at a time counts as an invitation, but not the signatures obtained. For example, if you send a document to two people to obtain a signature from each, it counts as only one invitation.

Question 46

What happens when my Business-Plan expires?

Accepted Answer

Business plans are renewed automatically. You can cancel the plan at any time before renewal without notice.

Question 47

When do I need an enterprise plan?

Accepted Answer

If you need more invitations and more qualified signers than in the Professional Plan, individual billing or Single Sign On, please contact our sales team.

Question 48

How can I be sure that the (qualified) digital signature is valid?

Accepted Answer

(Qualified) digital signatures created with sproof sign are standards-compliant and embedded in the PDF document. These can be verified with common programs (e.g. Adobe Acrobat Reader) or with online verification tools (e.g. the RTR verification service, Signature verification). Learn more about the verifiability and evidential value of digital SIgnature.

Question 49

Why is it safer, faster and cheaper to sign a document with sproof sign than in the traditional way?

Accepted Answer

Because documents do not have to be printed, signed and scanned again for emailing. With sproof sign, documents are managed securely and are protected from attackers.

Question 50

Is there any support for the integration?

Accepted Answer

Yes, the documentation can be found at https://docs.sproof.io/

Question 51

Can I undo a document sent in error?

Accepted Answer

If the invited person has not yet signed the document, you can remove the person under Signature Progress or delete the document for everyone in the dashboard.

Question 52

Can an already defined placeholder for a signature be moved by other signers?

Accepted Answer

Yes, this is possible.

Question 53

What are email addresses associated with my profile?

Accepted Answer

You can associate multiple email addresses with your profile. For example, if you have a personal and a professional email address with which you send signature requests or with which you are invited to sign, you can manage them collectively in your profile.

Question 54

I have signed at the wrong position. Can I undo it?

Accepted Answer

As with a handwritten signature, signatures are final and cannot be changed later. Please delete and re-sign the document or contact the sender. As a rule, however, this is only a visual problem. The exact position of the signature is not relevant for the legal effect of digital signatures, since technically the entire document is always signed.

Question 55

Are the documents modifiable after signing?

Accepted Answer

Yes and no. With digital signature, the complete document is signed digitally, but as soon as the digital document is edited afterwards, the digital signature loses its validity. So YES it can be edited and NO because this makes the digital signature invalid.

Question 56

Does sproof sign have access to the document content?

Accepted Answer

For the application of digital signatures, direct access to the document or subsequently to its content is necessary. Also, for qualified digital signatures in certain legislatures, the transmission of the document to the trust service provider is necessary so that it can be displayed again to the person signing it. sproof, however, ensures that all transmissions are encrypted and secures access to the documents through technical and organizational measures.

Question 57

When will the introduction of digital signatures start paying off?

Accepted Answer

As a rule of thumb for evaluating individual use cases, we calculate that an analog signature run takes about 10 minutes to process. (If signatures are obtained by mail, approval usually takes significantly longer). At Sony DADC, a well-known customer of sproof, this means a saving of 292 person working days for 9350 documents signed annually. When the costs for integration and use of the platform are taken into account, the introduction of the digital signature in this example has already paid for itself after 12 weeks. Of course, in addition to the time and personnel costs, there are other resources such as paper costs, printer costs, shipping costs and logistical resources such as the space required for archiving the documents, which are not yet included in this calculation.

Question 58

What is the benefit of saving 500 sheets of paper?

Accepted Answer

The digital signature is not only efficient, secure and legally valid, but also an alternative with a strong ecological effect to conventional paper-based processes. When we consider that around 420 million tons of paper (or cardboard and paperboard) are produced worldwide every year (source: statista.com), it seems almost utopian and bleak to think of reducing this huge numerical value. But each individual can make his or her contribution: saving just 500 sheets of paper reduces waste by 7.5 kilograms of wood, 130 liters of water and 26.8 kilowatt hours of energy.
The CO2 balance of a largely paperless office is correspondingly positive: according to Deutsche Post AG, electronic invoicing alone saves every German household an average of 2.5 kg of CO2 per year. Other documents such as contracts or deeds can also be digitally signed without further ado - and thus contribute their share to climate protection. This is a positive side effect that is prompting more and more companies to introduce a signature platform.

Question 59

Is the digital signature 100% legally valid?

Accepted Answer

The introduction of the eIDAS Regulation (EU) 910/2014 (Electronic Identification and Authentication Services) in 2006 laid the foundation for legally compliant digital signing throughout Europe. It lays down the exact regulations regarding the highest level of security and conformity for digital signatures. The regulation governs the legal recognition of electronic proof of identity and authentication services.

Question 60

Are my sensitive documents secure?

Accepted Answer

European platforms and IT services, which are 100% developed in Europe and also only work with European third-party providers, are able to offer highly secure services or guarantee uncompromising data protection. US-based solutions are still unable to offer trustworthy solutions. Much to the benefit of emerging software vendors, Made in EU. Learn more

Question 61

For which industries & use cases is sproof sign suitable?

Accepted Answer

sproof sign is an all-in-one solution for legally valid internal as well as external signature workflows.

This means measurable added value for companies in almost all industries: tax, legal, insurance, finance, real estate, government and public sector, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and many more.

It is important to understand the different signature processes that exist in daily business and which ones need to be digitized.

Question 62

How can you imagine a digital signature process?

Accepted Answer

Documents are on your "digital table" or in your digital dashboard, which gives you an overview of all your documents. You can now decide for yourself which signature standard (advanced or qualified) you want to use to sign one or more documents. You don't have to wait for anyone and in case you need to, you can immediately send documents to others with just a few clicks. No scanning, no way to the printer or to the post office.

Question 63

Can you sign in a team?

Accepted Answer

For all signature processes that they want to handle internally, the signature creates security & compliance and also saves time again where it definitely should not take any.

Question 64

Why should I collect external signatures digitally?

Accepted Answer

At this point, at the latest, it becomes very time-consuming and cumbersome if you hold on to the signature by hand. Digital platforms help to collect signatures from multiple parties according to the desired standard or check the progress of the same. Moreover, a platform helps you to make any signature processes & workflows smart.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Accounts & Settings

Add-Ons & Integrations

Collecting signatures

Digital signing

Features

Legal validity

Manage documents

Partnerships

Plans & Billing

Qualified signing

Security & Conformity

Signing yourself

Trust Service Provider