Recover a Stalled Signature Request

Find what is waiting before taking another action

A signature request can stop moving because someone has not acted, the next step is not active, an invitation was filtered or the request has ended. Start with status and the active signer, not another copy of the email.

Open the request in Documents and review its progress or audit information. Confirm the document name and version, recipient address, outstanding signing step and any recorded failure, decline or expiry.

Match the symptom to the next check

If a later signer is waiting, inspect the earlier step

In a sequential workflow, the next signing step waits until the required people in the preceding step finish. For several people signing in parallel within that earlier step, one outstanding signer can hold the next stage.

Use the routing and recipient-role checks to confirm that the intended person is actually a signer, in the right step, with the right fields. A person who only receives a copy does not replace a required signing action.

If the invitation is missing, check delivery before changing the document

Confirm the address and whether the request was sent successfully. Ask the recipient to check spam, junk and any corporate quarantine. Sign.Plus invitations come from notification@sign.plus; the recipient's IT team may need that sender information to investigate filtering.

For an active pending request, the documented Resend Reminders action sends an updated access email. In an ordered workflow, it targets the next signer in the sequence. If several people are affected, follow the delivery troubleshooting checks rather than repeatedly creating new requests.

Contact the recipient separately if you need a response about the agreement. Replies to the notification email are not forwarded to the sender by default.

Separate an expired link from an expired document

An access link and a signing deadline are different. Sign.Plus documents a 24-hour access-link expiry, after which the recipient can request another email while the request is still active. Once the document's signing deadline passes, pending actions are canceled and the request is voided.

The expiry guidance explains why a fresh link cannot reopen a document that has already expired. Review the reason for the missed deadline and prepare a new request if the transaction should continue.

If the recipient declines, resolve the reason first

A decline may signal wrong terms, the wrong person or an intention not to proceed. In Sign.Plus, a recipient decline voids the pending request. Do not treat it as an unanswered invitation.

Ask the relevant parties what needs to happen next. If the document itself is wrong, follow the correction and replacement process. If the person is wrong, confirm who should sign and any authority or verification requirements before preparing another request. Do not forward an identity-bound signing link to a different person.

Canceling or voiding the workflow does not by itself decide whether an agreement or an earlier signature has legal effect. Preserve relevant actions and involve the agreement owner where that question matters.

Prevent the next avoidable delay

A Florida healthcare administrator is waiting for a provider's signature. Before sending another request, the administrator checks the address, active step and whether the provider received the invitation. That prevents a delivery issue becoming two competing requests.

For repeated documents, verify the recipient list and source version before sending. With a batch, check the CSV and template rather than carrying the same address mistake into every retry. Once the required signing process is complete, save the completed record and its evidence.