# Electronic acceptance: how it works and what proof it creates

> The student's path, what gets recorded, and where the school finds that proof later.

## What you will get

A precise picture of what happens when a student accepts the contract online —
and the ability to produce that proof when somebody asks for it.

## What the student sees

![Contract screen in the portal, with the deadline, the document and the acceptance panel](/Apps/edupay/ajuda/assinatura-aceite-eletronico.png)
*The **Confirm acceptance** button only lights up once the box is ticked. The amber strip at the top shows the deadline. The screenshot is from the Portuguese portal; the layout is the same in English.*

The student signs in to the portal, opens the enrolment and clicks **Read and
sign contract**. The screen shows, top to bottom:

**1. The deadline**, in the amber strip — **Sign by**, with the date.

**2. The whole document**, exactly as it came out after the variables were
replaced with the enrolment's real data.

**3. The Electronic acceptance panel**, with the box **I have read, understood
and agree to the terms of this contract.** and the **Confirm acceptance**
button.

The button stays dim until the box is ticked. Tick it and the button lights up.

## What gets recorded

![Signed contract, with the green strip showing date and IP and the signature footer](/Apps/edupay/ajuda/assinatura-aceite-confirmado.png)
*The same information appears three times: in the top strip, in the document footer and in the green panel at the end. That is deliberate — the PDF carries the footer with it.*

At the moment of the click, the system stores:

- **The exact date and time.**
- **The IP address** the acceptance came from.
- **The device and browser** used.
- **The location**, if the student allows it in the browser. If they refuse, the
  screen says: *Location not provided (permission denied by browser).* The
  acceptance is valid either way.
- **The contract text**, frozen. From then on, editing the template does not
  change what was accepted.

## Where the school finds that proof

Open the enrolment in the panel and go to **Contract Audit**, next to **Contract
Summary**.

![Audit tab with the view and acceptance events](/Apps/edupay/ajuda/assinatura-auditoria-aceite.png)
*The green event with the tick is the acceptance. The grey ones are the times the student opened the contract — including after signing.*

Each row carries the event, the date down to the second, the IP address and the
device. **Every opening of the contract becomes a row**, which is usually
useful: it shows the document was in front of the student before acceptance.

The **Issue Acceptance Receipt** button, at the top of that tab, produces the
document that gathers all of this into a single PDF — that is what you send to
whoever asked for proof.

> **The row is labelled `Clickwrap acceptance`.** That is the technical name for
> the tick-box method; read it as "electronic acceptance". Logged for
> correction.

## What happens to the enrolment

As soon as the acceptance lands, the enrolment leaves **Awaiting contract** and
moves to:

- **Awaiting payment**, if there is an open instalment — which is the normal
  case.
- **Active**, if there is none.

> **The student gets no confirmation email on this path.** They see the change on
> screen, and that is all. Logged for correction.

## How you know it worked

> [certo]
> The contract label changes to **Signed**, the **Download PDF** button appears,
> and the green strip reads **Signed on:** with the date, time and IP address.

## If something goes wrong

> [erro]
> **The Confirm acceptance button will not light up.** The box is not ticked.
> That is the only condition.
>
> **The student says they accepted and the screen shows Pending.** Check they
> were on the right enrolment — a student with more than one enrolment has one
> contract for each.
>
> **The contract will not open for signing.** See the diagnosis article; it is
> almost always portal access or an expired deadline.


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https://edupay.estudiosite.com/en/ajuda/day-to-day/electronic-acceptance
2026-08-05