What a completed envelope includes

A completed envelope is the filed record: a stamped PDF plus the events that got it there. Inkpacket does not overwrite the original upload. pdf-lib writes signature, date, text, initials, checkbox, and select values onto a second stored object. You preview those pages in the field editor and download the signed copy from the same envelope.

Features calls this completed PDF. Desk help for the file itself is Docs. If nobody has signed yet, you are still in the send loop — the five-minute send or field placement.

What gets stamped

Coordinates were stored as page percentages when you placed the marks. The completed file receives the same layout. A checkbox stamps an X when it was checked. A select stamps the option the signer picked. A date mark receives the submit date. Signature and initials receive the mark they applied. Empty required fields cannot reach this state — submit was blocked.

If the preview says it could not load the PDF, refresh. A missing object returns The PDF could not be loaded from storage. A zero-byte stored object returns The stored PDF is empty. An unreachable bucket returns File storage is unavailable. Re-upload a valid file if you are the sender. Signers who see Could not load the PDF should refresh; if it persists, open the envelope and confirm the file.

The original stays

The uploaded PDF remains the source. The stamped copy is the completed object. That split is why a later template edit does not rewrite old envelopes. If the paper itself changed after completion, you send a new envelope from the new layout. Envelope admin will not restamp a filed copy. Completed envelopes cannot be voided.

The audit trail on that envelope

Created, sent, viewed, signed, completed — and, when they happen, declined, voided, corrected, expired. Those events sit on the document. They are the answer to “what happened to this agreement?” Outbound webhooks can POST the same lifecycle to your own systems. The trail is readable on the desk; it is not a mystery export.

A workspace or per-packet webhook URL receives a signed JSON body. Verify X-Inkpacket-Signature with HMAC-SHA256 of timestamp.body. Do not treat an iframe postMessage as the legal record. Public API and signed webhooks and webhook help are the verify steps. Embedded signing is for the parent tab.

Optional Drive archive

In Settings, turn on Drive archive and store a Drive folder id. When an envelope completes, Inkpacket uploads the stamped PDF and a JSON export of the audit log to that folder. Share the folder with the OAuth user or the service account. Features describes the keys at Google Drive archive. FAQ answers the same question.

When GOOGLE_DRIVE_CLIENT_ID, GOOGLE_DRIVE_CLIENT_SECRET, and GOOGLE_DRIVE_REFRESH_TOKEN are set — or GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_JSON is set — the files are uploaded. Without those credentials the desk reports Drive not configured and does not pretend the upload happened. Archive to Drive on a completed envelope retries; without keys it soft-fails again. GET /api/v1/health reports driveConfigured. Completion still files the envelope on the desk either way.

Drive is a copy, not the system of record

If archive is off, or credentials are missing, you still download from the envelope. If a folder permission is wrong, fix the share and the next completion can upload — this pass does not silently invent a folder. The audit JSON is an export of events you can already read on the envelope.

When the envelope is not completed

• Declined — the signer refused with a reason. Signing links stop. Reminders stop.
• Voided — you stopped an in-flight envelope. Links die. The filed PDF was never stamped.
• Expired — the window ended. Ask for a new envelope if the work still needs a signature.
• Sent — someone still owes a mark. Remind or resend; do not download a “completed” file that does not exist.

Those closes are envelope admin and reminders and expiry. A multi-signer envelope completes only when every signer has finished — sequential vs parallel. A Web Form fill is not complete at submit; the signer still has to open the invite.

Habits that keep the filed copy useful

1. Download from the envelope, not from a forwarded email screenshot.
2. Name the envelope so the completed file is findable six months later.
3. If Drive archive is on, confirm driveConfigured before you promise someone the folder.
4. If the stamped values look wrong, the marks were wrong — send a new envelope from a corrected template. Do not edit the filed PDF in a desktop app and call it the original.

Electronic signature software is the loop that ends in a file you can hand to someone. Inkpacket stamps the marks, keeps the audit on the same envelope, and copies to Drive only when credentials are real. Open the envelope. Download the completed PDF. That is the record. Open a workspace on Free — fifty envelopes a month while billing stays published, not charging — and send one envelope you intend to file.