Sign Step
The Sign step sends the documents your workflow generated for electronic signature. Each signer gets an email with a link, reviews the documents and signs them in the browser. The workflow waits, and continues once everyone has signed.
Use it to sign contracts, engagement letters, leases, consent forms, and any other document you generate with TemplateDocs, without a separate e-signature tool.
The Sign step is available on paid plans only.
Example
A property management company collects tenant details with a form. The workflow generates a lease as a PDF, and a Sign step sends it to the tenant and to the landlord:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Signers | the tenant (TenantName and TenantEmail from the form), then the landlord |
| Title | "Lease agreement for PropertyAddress" |
| Documents to Sign | the lease, with a Signature and a Date signed field for each signer |
When both have signed, an Email step sends the signed lease to the tenant, the landlord and the office.
Preparing the Template
A signature field goes where a tag is in your template. Add a text tag where
each signer should sign, for example {{ tenant_signature }} and
{{ landlord_signature }}, and do the same for initials and dates.
Then set the Document step that generates the document to the PDF output format. Only PDF documents can be sent for signature.
Name your tags after what they hold, such as tenant_signature,
client_initials or date_signed. When you pick the template in the Document
step, Get suggestions recognizes these tags. It offers to place signature
fields on them and adds a Sign step for you.
Adding the Step
Add a Sign step after the Document step. The step has these settings:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Signers | The name and email address of each person who signs. Required. Up to 20 signers. |
| Title | The subject of the email invitation and the heading of the signing page. Required. |
| Message | Optional. A short message included in the email invitation. |
| Expires After | How many days the signers have to sign, from 1 to 90. Defaults to 7 days. |
| Stop If Not Signed | Whether the run stops when a signer declines or the link expires. On by default. See When a Document Is Not Signed. |
| Documents to Sign | The documents generated by earlier Document steps. Each document has a File name, which the signers see and the signed document is named after. |
In the signer, title and message fields, type @ to insert workflow variables,
such as a name and an email address from your form.
Signers
Click Add Signer to add more signers. Each signer needs a name, an email address and at least one field in the documents.
By default, all the signers are invited at the same time. Turn on Sign in order to invite them in turn. Give each signer a number: signers with the same number are invited together, and the next number is invited once everyone before has signed.
Signature Fields
Click the document's mapping preview to open the Signature Fields dialog, and map a field to each tag where signers should fill in or sign:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Signature / Initials | The signer signs or adds their initials. They can draw, type or upload them. |
| Date signed / Full name | Filled in automatically with the date the signer signs or with their name. |
| Text / Checkbox / Date | The signer enters a value. You can make the field required, add a placeholder or help text, and set validation rules. |
On the Fields tab, click Add field, pick a tag and pick the signer the field belongs to. On the Design tab, click a tag on the template preview to place a field on it, and drag to resize the field or move it.
Open a field's settings to change its color and, for fields the signer types in, its font. By default, the tag is removed from the generated document and the text after it moves in. Select Keep its width in the document to leave room for the field where the tag was, for example when the tag is in a line of text.
How It Works
- Invitations. When the run reaches the step, each signer gets an email with their own signing link. The emails are sent with your organization's email settings.
- Signing. The signer confirms their email address with a 6-digit code, fills in their fields and signs. They can also decline, with an optional reason.
- Waiting. The run waits until every signer has signed. You can follow the signing request in the History, where you can also cancel the run. Cancelling the run withdraws the signing request.
- Signed documents. When the last signer signs, the signed documents are created with every signature in place and a signature certificate at the end. The certificate lists the signers, when they signed, and a fingerprint of each document. The run then continues with the next step.
Signers do not get the signed documents automatically. To send them a copy, attach the step's Signed Documents to an Email step after the Sign step.
Signed documents are kept separately from your workflow runs. They are excluded from automatic deletion. Download them from the History, or save them to the Library.
When a Document Is Not Signed
If a signer declines, or the link expires before everyone signed, the signing
request ends. The step's Signed output is set to FALSE and its End
Reason is set to "Declined" or "Expired".
By default, the run stops there. Turn off Stop If Not Signed to continue the run instead. Then use the Signed or the End Reason output in a Flow control step, for example to notify your team that the document was not signed.
Output
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
| Signed Documents | The signed documents, one per document sent. Empty unless signed. |
| Signers | The signers, each with their name, email address and the time they signed. |
| Signed | TRUE when every signer signed, otherwise FALSE. |
| End Reason | How the signing request ended: "Signed", "Declined" or "Expired". |
Credits
Each Sign step costs 1 credit when the documents are sent. The first 3 credits after the trigger are included in every run. See Credits.
Related
- Document Step - generate the documents to sign
- Email Step - send the signed documents
- Flow control - branch on whether the documents were signed
- History - follow signing requests and download signed documents
