diff --git a/controller/documentTemplate/DocumentTemplateController.js b/controller/documentTemplate/DocumentTemplateController.js
index 80c120e..b15cece 100644
--- a/controller/documentTemplate/DocumentTemplateController.js
+++ b/controller/documentTemplate/DocumentTemplateController.js
@@ -1285,6 +1285,13 @@ exports.previewLatestForUser = async (req, res) => {
   const overrideUserType = (req.query.userType || req.query.user_type || '').toString().toLowerCase();
   const templateType = (req.query.type || 'contract').toString();
 
+  logger.info('[previewLatestForUser] start', {
+    targetUserId,
+    overrideUserType,
+    templateType,
+    requestId: req.id
+  });
+
   if (!req.user || !['admin', 'super_admin'].includes(req.user.role)) {
     return res.status(403).json({ error: 'Forbidden: Admins only' });
   }
@@ -1302,32 +1309,91 @@ exports.previewLatestForUser = async (req, res) => {
       logger.error('[previewLatestForUser] failed to load users row', e && e.message);
     }
     if (!userRow) {
-      return res.status(404).json({ error: 'User not found' });
+      // Fallback: allow preview based solely on existing contract file even if user row is missing
+      logger.warn('[previewLatestForUser] user not found, continuing with contract lookup only', { targetUserId, requestId: req.id });
     }
 
-    const userType = (overrideUserType === 'personal' || overrideUserType === 'company') ? overrideUserType : userRow.user_type;
+    const userType = (overrideUserType === 'personal' || overrideUserType === 'company')
+      ? overrideUserType
+      : (userRow ? userRow.user_type : 'personal');
+    logger.info('[previewLatestForUser] user resolved/fallback', { targetUserId, userType, requestId: req.id });
 
-    // Find the latest active template for this user type
-    const latest = await DocumentTemplateService.getLatestActiveForUserType(userType, templateType);
-    if (!latest) {
-      return res.status(404).json({ error: 'No active template found for user type' });
-    }
-
-    // Fetch template HTML from S3
-    const s3 = new S3Client({
-      region: process.env.EXOSCALE_REGION,
-      endpoint: process.env.EXOSCALE_ENDPOINT,
-      credentials: {
-        accessKeyId: process.env.EXOSCALE_ACCESS_KEY,
-        secretAccessKey: process.env.EXOSCALE_SECRET_KEY
+    // NEW: Preview the actual signed contract the user uploaded/signed (latest by created_at)
+    try {
+      // order by upload_at (actual column) then id as tiebreaker
+      const [docRows] = await db.execute(
+        `SELECT object_storage_id
+           FROM user_documents
+          WHERE user_id = ?
+            AND document_type IN ('contract','signed_contract','contract_pdf','signed_contract_pdf')
+            AND object_storage_id IS NOT NULL
+          ORDER BY upload_at DESC, id DESC
+          LIMIT 1`,
+        [targetUserId]
+      );
+      const docRowsArr = Array.isArray(docRows) ? docRows : (docRows ? [docRows] : []);
+      logger.info('[previewLatestForUser] contract rows fetched', {
+        targetUserId,
+        count: docRowsArr.length,
+        rows: docRowsArr,
+        requestId: req.id
+      });
+      const doc = docRowsArr[0];
+      if (doc && doc.object_storage_id) {
+        // Use explicit endpoint + path-style to match Exoscale object storage
+        const s3File = new S3Client({
+          region: process.env.EXOSCALE_REGION,
+          endpoint: process.env.EXOSCALE_ENDPOINT,
+          forcePathStyle: true,
+          credentials: {
+            accessKeyId: process.env.EXOSCALE_ACCESS_KEY,
+            secretAccessKey: process.env.EXOSCALE_SECRET_KEY
+          }
+        });
+        logger.info('[previewLatestForUser] attempting S3 fetch', {
+          bucket: process.env.EXOSCALE_BUCKET,
+          key: doc.object_storage_id,
+          userId: targetUserId
+        });
+        const cmd = new GetObjectCommand({ Bucket: process.env.EXOSCALE_BUCKET, Key: doc.object_storage_id });
+        const fileObj = await s3File.send(cmd);
+        if (!fileObj.Body) {
+          logger.warn('[previewLatestForUser] S3 returned empty Body', {
+            bucket: process.env.EXOSCALE_BUCKET,
+            key: doc.object_storage_id,
+            userId: targetUserId
+          });
+          return res.status(404).json({ message: 'Contract file not available' });
+        }
+        const chunks = [];
+        for await (const chunk of fileObj.Body) {
+          chunks.push(Buffer.from(chunk));
+        }
+        const pdfBuffer = Buffer.concat(chunks);
+        logger.info('[previewLatestForUser] S3 fetch success', {
+          bucket: process.env.EXOSCALE_BUCKET,
+          key: doc.object_storage_id,
+          userId: targetUserId,
+          size: pdfBuffer.length
+        });
+        const b64 = pdfBuffer.toString('base64');
+        const html = ensureHtmlDocument(`
+          <html><head><meta charset="utf-8" /><title>Contract Preview</title></head>
+          <body style="margin:0;padding:0;height:100vh;background:#0f172a;">
+            <embed src="data:application/pdf;base64,${b64}" type="application/pdf" style="width:100%;height:100%;border:none;" />
+          </body></html>
+        `);
+        res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/html; charset=utf-8');
+        return res.send(html);
       }
-    });
-    const command = new GetObjectCommand({ Bucket: process.env.EXOSCALE_BUCKET, Key: latest.storageKey });
-    const fileObj = await s3.send(command);
-    if (!fileObj.Body) {
-      return res.status(404).json({ error: 'Template file not available' });
+      logger.warn('[previewLatestForUser] no contract row with object_storage_id', { targetUserId, requestId: req.id });
+    } catch (e) {
+      logger.warn('[previewLatestForUser] reading user_documents failed', e && e.message);
+      return res.status(500).json({ message: 'Failed to load user contract file' });
     }
-    let html = await streamToString(fileObj.Body, latest.id);
+
+    // If no uploaded/signed contract exists, return not found (do not fallback to template)
+    return res.status(404).json({ message: 'No signed contract found for this user' });
 
     // Build variable map from DB for target user
     const vars = {};