What is Audit Trail?
A timestamped, immutable record of every action taken on a document — view, sign, decline, download, share.
An audit trail is the chronological evidence log that backs an electronic signature's legal enforceability. Every viewing, signing, declining, and downloading event is captured with a UTC timestamp, the actor's IP address and user-agent, and a hash that links the event to the signed document. Under ESIGN, eIDAS, and UETA, a complete audit trail is what transforms a click into a court-admissible signature.
What PDF Verified captures
For every signer event we record: timestamp (UTC, server-side), actor identity, IP address, user-agent, geo-IP city (where available), action type (view, sign, decline, download, comment), the document's SHA-256 hash at that moment, and a sequence number. The trail is append-only and tamper-evident: changing any past event invalidates the chain hash.
Audit Certificate
On request (e.g. when the signer or owner clicks Download Audit Certificate), PDF Verified renders the full audit trail as a PDF with QR-verified provenance. The certificate is JIT-generated — never stored — so there's no risk of an outdated copy sitting in storage.
Court admissibility
In ESIGN/UETA/eIDAS jurisdictions, audit trails are routinely accepted as evidence of intent, attribution, and integrity. The chain of custody + cryptographic hash + timestamp + IP linkage covers all four UETA elements (intent, consent, association, retention).