For documents that need a signature rather than just an upload, docEvault includes built-in e-signing.
Which plans include it
E-signatures are part of the Professional and Enterprise plans, and every free trial includes them, up to 15 signing requests over the trial (a fillable form with signature fields counts as one once it's sent). On Easy Start, e-Sign shows a *PRO* tag and can't be opened, and the same goes for Signature, Initials, and Date Signed fields on a fillable form. The rest of a fillable form works on every plan. See Plans and billing.
If your firm moves to Easy Start, anything already sent for signature still finishes: signers can sign, and the signed copy is filed as usual. What you can't do is start a new one or send a draft.
Sending for signature
- Attach the PDF to a checklist item and open e-Sign on it — while composing a new request, later from the request, or in a template.
- Add the signers. Pick from the contacts on the request, or add anyone by name and email, such as a co-signer or spouse who isn't a contact. In a template, or when sending each contact their own copy, pick The recipient of each request, and each request's own contact signs.
- Place signature, date signed, text, and checkbox fields on the document. Text and checkbox fields are yours to fill in before sending; Signature and Date Signed fields belong to a signer. A Date Signed field fills in automatically with the day its signer signs — they don't type it. A text box tall enough for two lines takes a paragraph; text always prints in Times New Roman 12 point, whatever the box size.
- Send. A signer who is one of the request's contacts is told in the request's own email and text — one message listing everything, with this document marked *sign electronically* — and signs from their portal. A signer who isn't on the request, such as a co-signer added by name and email, gets an email with their own signing link (and a text, if they're a contact who has agreed to texts).
Placing fields works the way it does in fillable forms: drag a box's corner to resize it, Shift-click or drag across the page to select several, nudge them with the arrow keys (1 point, or 10 with Shift; Alt + arrows resizes), line them up with Align, Duplicate (Ctrl+D) or Copy and Paste (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V — onto the page you're viewing, in the same spot) to repeat them, and Delete or Ctrl+Z to remove or undo. A copy keeps its signer and any text you filled in. To correct a mistake in the document itself, Replace PDF swaps in a fixed version while every field keeps its place — before it's sent for signature only. With several date or signature fields selected, choosing a Signer in the side panel assigns all of them at once.
A contact signs from their portal, where the item shows a Sign Now card. Someone who isn't a contact gets a simple signing page from their link instead, with no account to create. Either way there is a Download a copy to review before signing link, for reading the whole document first.
Multiple signers
You can add as many signers as the document needs. Each gets their own link and completes their own fields.
By default everyone can sign at once. Tick Sign in Order in the signer panel if the sequence matters — a client before a guarantor, say. With it on, signers are numbered and you can move them up or down. Everyone still receives the request straight away, but a signer whose turn hasn't come sees a *Waiting for … to sign first* note naming the person ahead, instead of a Sign Now button, and gets an email and text saying it's their turn once the person ahead of them has signed.
Tracking
The item on the request shows the signature state instead of an upload status: Awaiting Signature while it's out (with *1 of 2 signed* once someone has), then Signed, Signature Declined, or Signature Expired. Hover the state to see each signer and when they signed, or, if someone declined, the reason they gave. The request header also says when a signature is outstanding or has been declined.
You're notified when everyone has signed, and if a signer declines. The activity feed records each of those too.
When signing completes
The executed document is filed on the item itself, with the signing certificate appended — who signed, when, and from where — and the item is approved automatically. There is nothing to review: the signature is the deliverable. Your contact can download the signed copy from their portal, and so can you from the request.
If a signer declines, the item shows Signature Declined with the reason. Open the item to set up a fresh signing request once you've resolved it.
Signing vs. filling
If what you actually need is information typed into a form rather than a signature on a document, use fillable forms instead. The two work similarly but produce different things: signing produces an executed document, filling produces a completed form. A fillable form can also include a signature field, in which case the contact fills it in and then signs it in one sitting.