You used a guest link — now claim your documents
You used a guest link — now claim your documents
A business — a realtor, a broker, a lawyer — sent you a link. You opened it, verified with a code sent to your email, and uploaded what they asked for. You never created an account.
Those documents can be yours permanently, and the step is smaller than you would expect.
Register with the same email address
That is the whole thing.
The guest link was tied to the email address the business had for you. When you create a my-id.ca account with that same address, everything you submitted through the link is claimed into the new account automatically. There is no import step, no merge screen, nothing to reconcile.
You land on a page that says "Your documents are now yours" — that is the confirmation it worked.
Use the right address. Registering with a different email creates an empty account, because the claim is matched on the address the link was sent to.
Why bother
While you are a guest, the link is a temporary window. It expires, and everything you did lives inside it.
Once claimed:
- The documents are permanently yours, in your own account.
- The details you typed become a reusable profile. The next form — web or PDF — can be filled from them instead of retyped. That is the actual payoff.
- You can add family members when you need to. See Add your spouse, children, and emergency contacts.
- It costs nothing. The free plan does not expire and does not ask for a card. See What's free, and what Plus adds.
What does not change
- The business keeps what you already sent them. Claiming gives you your copy; it does not retract theirs.
- Nothing new is shared. Registering does not hand the business anything beyond what you already submitted.
- Your data stays where it was. Canadian hosting, encrypted at rest, AI processing on my-id.ca's own servers.
If your link has expired
Guest links have a limited life and are rotated whenever they are resent. If yours no longer works, ask the business to send a new one — that is a two-second action on their side.
Sensible next steps after claiming
- Check what came across. Open Files and My Documents and confirm everything you sent is there.
- Fill in the gaps. The guest flow only collected what that business asked for. See What you can store in your profile.
- Secure the account. Register a passkey and turn on two-factor authentication.
- Install the extension if you fill forms on other websites: Install from Chrome Web Store.
Related
Frequently asked questions
- Do I have to register?
- No. The guest link works on its own for as long as it is valid. Registering is what makes the documents permanently yours and reusable.
- What if I register with a different email?
- The claim is matched on the email address the guest link was sent to. Use a different one and the new account starts empty — so use the address the business had for you.
- Does the business lose access to what I sent?
- No. They already received it. Claiming gives you your own permanent copy; it does not retract theirs.