New to Annature or stumbled on an unfamiliar term in an article? This page defines the words and phrases used throughout the platform.
Envelope — The container for everything in a signing request: the documents, the recipients, the fields, and the message. You send envelopes, recipients sign them.
Sender — The Annature account that creates and sends an envelope.
Recipient — A person who receives an envelope. A recipient can be required to sign, asked to view, or simply receive a copy of the completed documents.
Field — An element placed on a document for a recipient to complete or acknowledge — signatures, initials, dates, text boxes, checkboxes, dropdowns, attachments, and more. See Document Fields.
Signing order — The sequence recipients receive an envelope in. Sequential order sends to one recipient at a time; without it, all recipients can sign in parallel.
Draft — An envelope that has been created but not yet sent. Drafts can be edited, completed, and sent later.
Recall — Withdrawing an in-progress envelope so recipients can no longer action it.
Voided — The status of an envelope that was cancelled or expired before completion.
Envelope expiration — An optional deadline on an envelope. If signing isn't completed by the expiry date, the envelope is automatically voided.
Bulk send — Sending the same document to many recipients at once, each receiving their own individual envelope.
Certificate of completion — The tamper-evident audit record generated when an envelope completes. It records who signed, when, from what device, and every event in between.
Combined document — A single PDF bundling an envelope's signed documents and the certificate of completion together.
Audit log — The chronological record of every event on an envelope or verification — sent, opened, signed, completed, and more.
Template — A reusable envelope setup: documents, roles, fields, and default settings you can send again and again. See Creating templates.
Role — A placeholder recipient in a template (e.g. "Client", "Employee"). When you send the template, you assign a real person to each role.
Anchor — A unique text marker (usually wrapped in {{squiggly_brackets}}) placed in a source document. Annature detects anchors and automatically places the mapped field on top — no manual placement, regardless of document length.
Quick send — The fastest way to send a template: enter recipient details and send, no editing.
Apply template — Applying a template's fields to a document you've uploaded into a new envelope, so fields are placed automatically.
Message bindings / placeholders — Variables like {{first_name}} or {{sender_business}} used in messages, which Annature replaces with real values at send time.
Witness field — A field for in-person witnessing. The witness signs on the same device as the recipient — they're never added as a separate recipient and receive no emails. See Electronic Witnessing.
In-person signing — A host (e.g. an adviser) runs a signing session on their own device and hands it to the signer sitting with them.
Document permissions — Controls which documents in an envelope each recipient can see. Used for related parties in one envelope — like a family tax pack — where each person should only see their own documents.
Private message — A message visible to one specific recipient rather than everyone on the envelope.
Envelope authentication — Extra security before a recipient can open an envelope, such as a password or SMS-based two-factor authentication.
Identity verification — An end-to-end check of a person's identity: they photograph their government-issued ID (and optionally take a selfie), and the details are verified automatically.
Multi-bureau check — Verification of the captured identity data against multiple independent data sources.
Biometrics check — A selfie taken during verification, compared against the photo on the submitted ID to confirm document ownership.
AML & CTF screening — Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing checks: screening a person against sanctions lists, PEP registers, adverse media, and other watchlists. Can run as part of a verification or standalone.
PEP (Politically Exposed Person) — Someone holding (or closely associated with) a prominent public position, carrying a higher money-laundering risk rating under AML/CTF rules.
Match — A potential hit returned by an AML & CTF screening check: a person in a screening database who shares attributes with the person being screened. Most matches are false positives — you review and clear them.
Ongoing monitoring — Continuous re-screening of a person against sanctions and PEP lists after their initial check. If something changes months later, you're notified. Free at Annature.
Certificate of verification — The PDF audit record of a completed identity verification.
Sighting evidence — Viewing the actual ID document images and selfie captured during a verification. Each sighting is recorded in the audit log.
Purging — Permanently destroying the sensitive data captured in a verification (ID images and extracted details) while retaining the audit trail and screening results.
KYC (Know Your Customer) — The broader compliance process of verifying who a customer is. Identity verification and AML & CTF screening are the building blocks.
Sign & Pay — Attaching a payment request to an envelope so the recipient pays as they finish signing. See Sign & Pay.
Payment Pre-Approval — Collecting a recipient's payment method during signing (card or bank details), securely stored for charging later — manually or automatically against Xero invoices.
BECS direct debit — Australia's bank-to-bank payment network. Direct debit payments settle over 1–3 business days, unlike cards which confirm instantly.
Tokenisation — Converting payment details into a secure token so the raw card or bank details are never stored by Annature.
Pinch Payments — The Australian payment provider that powers Annature Payments.
Organisation — Your company's Annature account, containing all team members, envelopes, templates, and settings.
Group — A sub-division of your organisation (e.g. an office or team) with its own branding and sharing boundaries.
Availability — Who can see and manage a verification or screening: your whole organisation, or a specific group. (Formerly called Sharing.)
Add-ons — Optional features enabled under Settings > Add-ons, such as in-person signing or tax detail collection.
Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) — Monthly billing based only on what you use. No quota, no lock-in. See Pay-As-You-Go subscriptions.
Customised subscription — A 12-month plan with a pre-paid envelope quota at discounted rates. See Customised subscriptions.
API key — Credentials (an ID and a Key) generated under Settings > Developers, used to authenticate API requests and integrations.
Webhook — An automated notification Annature sends to your systems when events happen — like an envelope being opened, signed, or completed.
