Tools / Guide
Check your own document
A second version arrived and you were told it is the same document. You can usually answer that yourself, in a few minutes, with software already on your computer.
Rule zero: preserve first
Make a copy and work from the copy. Opening a PDF and re-saving it, running it through an online converter, or printing it to a new PDF rewrites its internal metadata. The information most worth having is exactly what those operations destroy. Keep originals untouched, with their original filenames.
Check 1. The properties panel, one minute
Every PDF carries a document information block. You do not need special software to see it.
- Mac: open in Preview, then Tools, then Show Inspector.
- Windows: open in Acrobat Reader, then File, then Properties.
- Browser: open the PDF and use the document properties item in the viewer menu.
| Field | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Title | Often the original Word filename, which can reveal a template name |
| Author | The account that created the source document |
| Creator | The application that produced the original, such as Microsoft Word |
| Producer | The tool that generated the PDF, such as Acrobat PDFMaker or a signing platform |
| Created | When the PDF was generated |
| Modified | When it was last changed. A difference from Created means it was altered after creation |
| PDF version | The format version, such as 1.6 or 1.7 |
| Page count | The simplest check of all |
If two files are described as identical, they should not differ in author, producing application, page count, or PDF version. Identical documents have identical fingerprints.
Check 2. Page count and word count, thirty seconds
The least technical check is often the most decisive. Compare page counts. Then paste the text of each into a word processor and compare word counts. Two extra pages is not a formatting difference. Several hundred extra words is not a clean-up.
Check 3. A real redline, thirty seconds
- Convert copies of both PDFs to Word, or paste the text of each into a separate Word file.
- In Word: Review, then Compare, then Compare Documents.
- Choose the original and the revised version.
- Word produces a third document with every insertion and deletion marked.
Google Docs has a similar comparison feature. If the document is sensitive, prefer a local tool over uploading it to a website.
Check 4. The signing certificate
Most e-signature platforms generate a certificate of completion or audit trail as a separate document. It is not the agreement. It is the record of the signing event, and it is frequently more informative than the agreement itself.
It typically shows the envelope identifier, each recipient and the email address used, timestamps for sent, viewed and signed (often to the second), the IP address recorded for each action, and a document hash.
What to look at:
- Sent to viewed to signed. How long did you actually have it open? In some signing records a release of all claims is viewed and signed less than a minute apart.
- The email address used. Was it your work address, which you were about to lose?
- Multiple identifiers. If the same executed document carries more than one transaction identifier, it passed through more than one envelope.
The two-minute habit
Every time you sign anything electronically, for the rest of your career: download the executed PDF, download the certificate of completion, and save both to personal storage with the date in the filename. That habit eliminates most of the problems described on this site.
Check 5. Internal inconsistencies, five minutes
No tools needed. Read for self-contradiction.
- Do two sections state different review periods? One saying 21 days and another 14 is a sign of editing, not drafting.
- Does the document contradict the cover email? A page telling you not to sign before your last day, next to an email saying you can sign right away, cannot both be right.
- Are there punctuation artifacts, like stray punctuation where a word used to be, or a leftover placeholder? Those are the fingerprints of hand editing a template.
- Are defined terms used consistently?
Ambiguity in a contract is generally construed against the party that drafted it. You do not have to resolve these. You have to notice them and ask.
What this does and does not prove
It can show that two files are not the same file, that a document was edited after a stated date, that a signature happened within a specific number of seconds, or that a document contradicts itself.
It cannot show intent, and it cannot tell you whether any of it was improper. Many differences have innocent explanations. The honest framing is that these checks turn a vague feeling that something is off into a specific, documented question you can put in writing. That is as far as a non-specialist should go. If the stakes are high and the differences are material, that is when to involve a lawyer.
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