How to keep a record of who read the new policy

You update the employee handbook. You email the new version. Three months later someone says they never saw it. If you have no record of who confirmed, the argument is one you cannot win.

This is the problem Read & acknowledge is for.

What it does

You switch it on for a flipbook and write the sentence people confirm, for example "I have read and understood the Employee Handbook, October 2026." Readers see an Acknowledge button. When they press it, a short form shows your sentence and asks for their name and email and a tick in a box. It also says, plainly, what you will see: their name, their email, the time, and which version of the document they read.

You get a record of each confirmation. It includes the exact words they confirmed, as they stood at that moment, and the version.

Why the version matters

When you publish a new version, the old confirmations stay in your record but are marked as being for an earlier version. Anyone who confirmed the last handbook has not confirmed this one, and you can see who still needs to. The spreadsheet you can download says, row by row, whether each confirmation is for the current version.

How to set it up

1. Open the flipbook in the Studio and choose Readers in the left rail.
2. Tick Ask readers to confirm they have read this.
3. Write what they confirm, or leave the standard sentence.
4. Press Apply.
5. Send the link. When people confirm, they appear in the same panel, and you can download the list as a spreadsheet.

It is on Pro and Business.

What it can and cannot prove

Be clear about this, because it matters.

• It is a record that someone said they read it. A name and an email, typed by a person, at a moment, for a version.
• It is not a legal signature. We do not verify identity. Someone could type another person's name. If you need a signature that stands up as one, use a signature service.
• It does not prove they understood it. Nothing a form can do proves that.

What it does give you is far better than an email nobody answered: a dated list, tied to a version, that you can export.

A few practical tips

• Pair it with the email gate if you want to know the reader was invited. The gate asks for an email before the flipbook opens.
• Keep the sentence short and about reading, not about agreeing to anything legal.
• Tell people it is coming. A line in the announcement email saying "you will be asked to confirm" saves the questions.

And because nothing is recorded about a reader who does not press the button, you are not watching anyone. You are asking them a question, and they answer it. Read how we handle reader data.