Send a document for signature

Documents to sign is for any document a client has to sign: a power of attorney, an engagement letter, a declaration, a bank form. Upload the file, mark where to fill in and where to sign, and send a link. The client signs on their phone, with nothing to print or scan.

A document you send again and again is worth preparing once as a template. You can also send to several clients at once, or create an open link that anyone holding it signs through, before you have chosen a client.

Prepare the document

1. Open Documents to sign and click New document. From a client’s page: the Documents to sign tab.
2. Choose the client, upload a PDF (up to 25 MB and 300 pages) and name the document. Signers see this name. If the office has templates, Start from offers A PDF file or A template.
3. Click Continue to the fields.

A client the office does not have yet

Not finding the client in the search? Choose New client at the bottom of the list and create it right there, without leaving the dialog. Fill in only what sending needs: the client’s name (and, in an office that keeps a tax profile, the entity type and tax ID), and one contact with a phone or an email. That contact becomes the client’s main contact and is the one offered as the signer. The rest is filled in later on the client page. The same option is there when you choose Several clients.

The file is checked as it is uploaded. A file that is locked with a password, damaged, or not a PDF is refused here, with what to do about it, and not after everyone signed.

Add signers

Under Signers, choose who signs from the client’s contacts. If the person is not listed yet, choose New contact and add them on the spot. You can add up to 10 signers, for example two spouses or several partners. Each signer has a colour, and each gets a link of their own.

Place fields

1. Under New fields are for, choose who the field is for: one of the signers, or The office.
2. Choose a field type and click the page where it goes.
3. Drag a field to move it, and the dot at its corner to resize it. A field can be dragged to another page. The arrow keys move the selected field, and Delete removes it.

Field	What happens in it
Signature	The signer draws their signature. A signature is always required.
Initials	The signer draws their initials, for example at the bottom of every page.
Signing date	Fills itself with the day the signer signs. The signer does not type it.
Text	The signer types, for example an ID number. What to ask for says what.
Checkbox	The signer ticks it. With Required on, they cannot finish without ticking.

Copy to every page copies the selected field to the same place on every page. That is useful for initials.

Fields the office fills

A field that belongs to The office is filled by you before sending: the client’s name, an ID number, a date. Select the field and write its content under What to write here. Under Value you can have the field fill itself from the client’s record. Signers see what you wrote as part of the document. The office fills text, dates and checkboxes. Signatures belong to signers only.

Check and send

The Before sending list shows what is still missing: a signer with no signature field, an office field left empty, a field that belongs to a signer who was removed. Clicking a line takes you to the field. When everything is in place it says Ready to send.

Under For the signers you can write a short Message the signers see above the document, and choose the Language of the signing page and of the signing certificate.

Lock with an access code

When the link alone is not enough, for example for a document with sensitive details, turn on Lock with an access code. Without the code the link shows nothing of the document: not to sign it, and not to download the signed copy later. The lock is on the link, not on the PDF file itself.

• A code opens the link: Once (after the signer opened the link, any further opening needs a new code from you) or Again and again (the same code works until it expires, for up to 20 browsers).
• A code is good for: an hour, a day, a week or 30 days, from the moment the code is made.

Each signer has a 6-digit code of their own, made by the system. After sending, click Access code on the signer’s row to see and copy it, and hand it over by another route than the one the link went by, such as a phone call. A link and a code sent in the same message add no protection.

A browser the code opened stays open for 12 hours. After that the signer is asked for a code again. After five wrong codes the link is blocked, until you issue a new code. Issue a new code replaces the current one, and closes the link wherever it is open at that moment.

The signer’s row says where the code stands: good, used, expired or blocked. The signing certificate records when the signer entered the code.

Click Send for signing. From that moment the document and its fields are locked, because signers may already be looking at them. To change something, choose Copy as a new draft and send the copy.

Hand the link to the signers

After sending, the Send to client screen opens with the first signer’s link. Choose WhatsApp, email or both, check the preview and send. For each further signer, click Send on their row.

Copy link copies that signer’s link, to paste into a message of your own. The link is personal: send each signer only their own. A link stays open for 30 days, and every send or copy opens it for another 30. Once a link expires the signer’s row says so, and the signer does not see the document until you send it again.

From the moment you send or copy a link, the signer gets automatic reminders until they sign. The Next reminder button on their row shows when, and lets you pause, snooze, or remind now.

What the signer sees and does: Sign a document from the office. You can send them that guide.

Follow the signing

The document’s page shows where each signer stands: Not opened yet, Opened, Signed or Declined. Activity lists everything that happened, with its date and time. When every signer has signed, or one of them declines, whoever prepared the document gets a notification in the bell. One signature out of several shows on the document’s page and in the activity.

Document status	What it means
Draft	Not sent yet. Everything can be edited.
Out for signing	Sent, and waiting for its signers.
Signed	Every signer signed.
Declined	A signer declined and wrote why. The document stopped for every signer.
Cancelled	You cancelled the signing. The links no longer work.

Cancel signing stops a document that is out for signing. What was signed until then stays on record.

The signed copy

When the last signer signs, the system prepares a signed copy: the original document with everything that was filled in and signed, ending with an Electronic signing certificate. The certificate lists who signed, where each link was sent, when the document was opened and when it was signed, and the fingerprint of the source file.

When the signed copy carries a digital seal, a line on the document’s page and in the signing certificate says so. A PDF reader such as Adobe Acrobat then shows, in its signatures panel, whether the file was changed after it was prepared, so any later edit is visible. The reader may note that it does not recognize who made the seal. That does not affect the check of whether the file was changed.

Download it with Download the signed copy. It is also saved in the client’s files, and every signer can download it from the link they received for 30 days after the last signature. After those 30 days, Copy link on the signer’s row opens their link again.

A signed document cannot be deleted. A draft, a declined document and a cancelled document can be deleted from the More actions menu.

A client that has documents for signature cannot be deleted. Delete its documents first; a client with a signed document is kept, and can be marked inactive instead.