Sending documents out for signatures

Sending documents out for signatures

You can upload documents and send them to one or more recipients to request their signatures, using the Send for Signatures section in Zoho Sign.

To access this section, log in to Zoho Sign and click Send for signatures on your dashboard, or click the plus icon  on the left navigation panel and select Send for signatures from the dropdown menu.


Sending documents out for signatures is a simple process that follows five key steps:

1. Upload documents
2. Enter document details
3. Add recipient details
4. Add form fields
5. Send documents

Upload Documents


The first step is to upload the documents that need to be sent out for digital signatures.



Documents can be uploaded onto Zoho Sign in three ways:

1. Drag and drop
2. Upload
3. Import

Drag and drop

To add documents from your device, you can drag and drop the files from their location onto the Send for signatures section in Zoho Sign on your browser.



Upload

Click Upload to open an explorer box, navigate to the location of the files on your device, select the files needed, and click Choose to upload them. If there is more than one document, repeat the process for each file that has to be added.



Import

You can also import files from other cloud storage services, such as DropBox, Google Drive, and Zoho Docs. Click the Import option to open the Cloud Picker dialog box and select your cloud application from the left menu. You can then navigate to the location of the files on your storage explorer, choose the files, and click Attach to import them.




Note:
You can upload a maximum of ten documents at a time.
You can upload up to 40 files in a document signature request but size of individual files must not exceed 25 MB and their combined size must not exceed 40 MB.
The supported file types are: pdf, jpg, jpeg, doc, docx, png, odt, rtf, txt, html, htm, xls, xlsx, tex and sxw. 

Document Details

You can add different details associated with the documents in this section.

1. Name
2. Time to complete
3. Validity period
4. Type
5. Folder
6. Description



Document name

Enter a name for the document. It must be less than 100 characters in length. The name can include letters, numbers, and the following special characters: [!@#$%&*()]. If no name is entered, the name of the document will be set to the name of the uploaded file by default.

Time to complete

Set a deadline for the recipients to sign the documents (in days) from the time they receive them. The documents will expire after this period, and the recipients will not be able to access them beyond the deadline.

Document validity period

Set the duration that the signed documents will be valid for. You can either set the documents to be valid forever, or specify a date by choosing the Select Date option in the field dropdown to set a date manually.



Document type

Categorize uploaded documents based on their type. You can assign an existing type to the uploaded documents or create a new one to assign. Document type is set to Others by default. To create a new document type, click the plus icon  next to the dropdown field and enter the name of the type in the field.



Folder

Create folders to easily group and manage your documents. You can choose an existing folder, or create a new one to add the uploaded documents to. To create a new folder, click the plus icon  next to the dropdown field and enter the name of the folder in the field.

Description

Add a suitable description and other additional details, if any, for the documents.



Recipient Details

Add the details of the people that the documents are being sent to in this section. The recipients can include the signatories themselves and others to whom a signed copy of the documents has to be sent.

1. Add recipients
2. Set recipient action
3. Add private message
4. Set authentication code
5. Set signing order
6. Configure automatic reminders
7. Add common note

Add Recipients

1. Enter the recipient details, Email and Name, in the fields under the Add recipients section.
2. To add another recipient, click the plus icon  to the far right and enter the recipient details in the fields that appear below the existing recipients. You can add any number of recipients by repeating this step.
3. You can also add yourself to the recipient list and the signing process by clicking the Add me option.



4. You can also send multiple copies of the same documents to a bulk of individual recipients for signatures. Click here to learn more.

5. To delete a recipient, click the minus icon  to the far right of the corresponding recipient.

Set Recipient Action

Set an action for the added recipient from the dropdown menu next to the fields containing the recipient details.

When set to:

Needs to sign - Recipient has to fill form fields and attach their signature to the documents.
Receives a copy - Recipient simply receives a signed copy of the documents.


In-person signer - You will have to assign a host from your organization who will get the documents signed in-person from the signatory. Click here to learn more.



Approver - Recipient has to approve the contents of the document as opposed to signing it or simply viewing it.

Private Message

1. Set a private message to be sent with the documents for the recipient to view.
2. To include a private message, click the secure envelope icon  next to the recipient action menu. This will open a dialog box where you can enter the private message. Click Save to proceed.



Authentication Code

1. Provide an additional layer of security to your documents with Zoho Sign by setting up a two-step authentication process. This option allows you to send an authentication code to the recipients to ensure that the documents are not tampered with by unauthorized users.

2. To set an authentication code, click the key icon  to the right of the recipient action menu. This will open a dialog box where you can toggle the verification setting to ON. This code can be delivered to the recipients via email, SMS, or other offline means. Set the preferred delivery type from the dropdown menu in the dialog box and click Set to proceed.

3. If the delivery type selected is Email, the recipients will automatically receive a system-generated authentication code via email when they try to access the documents.



4. If the delivery type selected is SMS, the recipients will automatically receive a system-generated authentication code via SMS when they try to access the documents. 5. If the recipient is not in your Zoho Sign contacts, or if the recipient phone number is not present in their contact details, you will have to enter their number in the field provided and select the appropriate country code.



Note: Delivering authentication code via SMS incurs a per use fee of $0.2 per SMS. To learn more, click here.


6. If Offline is selected, a code will be instantly generated and displayed in the hidden format in a field below the dropdown. This verification code can be viewed by clicking the eye icon  in the same field. You can also customize this code by overwriting it with a 6-digit verification code of your choice. You can share this code with the recipients by any means convenient.



7. Once the authentication code is set, the documents will be locked. The recipients can only unlock it by entering the verification code sent to them.

Note:
Access to the documents will be blocked automatically if the recipients enter the incorrect authentication code three times in a row. In such a case, they will have to contact you to re-enable access to the documents.


Signing Order

1. Enable a signing order for the documents by checking the Send in order option. This sends the documents to the recipients one-after-the-other to be acted upon. For example, if there are two signatories, the documents would be sent to the second signer only after the first signer has signed the document.



2. To set the signing order, arrange the recipient list by dragging the rows using the slider icon   or enter each recipient's intended position in the numeric field next to the slider icon. Do this until the desired order is achieved and then proceed.


Note:
  1. If the same position is entered for two or more recipients in the signing order, the document will be sent to them in parallel for signing.
  2. The recipients after them in the signing order will receive the document only when all the previous signers to whom the document was sent in parallel finish signing it.

3. Leaving the Send in order option unchecked will send the documents to all the recipients in parallel.

Automatic Reminders

1. Set automatic email reminders for the recipients of the documents.
2. To set up the reminder schedule, click More Settings to expand the reminder option, toggle Automatic reminders to ON, and specify the reminder frequency in the field below.



Recipient Note

1. Enter a message for the recipients of the documents to read in the field under Leave a note.



2. After you finish adding all the recipient details and associated actions, click Continue to proceed to the document viewer.

Document Fields

1. Preview the uploaded documents and add the signature and text fields for the recipients to fill in the document viewer.

2. The document viewer will list the documents uploaded in the left pane, the active document in the center, the recipients in the top-right pane, and the available field options in the bottom right pane. You can select the active document from the left pane and simply drag and drop the required document fields from the bottom-right pane onto the document to position them. If there are multiple recipients, repeat this for each recipient by selecting them from the top-right pane.

3. After the document fields have been set for each recipient, click Send to open the confirmation dialog box.



4. For custom Text fields, you can validate signer input by setting the Validation dropdown to a preferred format of data or even add a custom regex. 



5. All fields have a Data label field for identification and mapping of data. For example, you may choose to add multiple fields which is supposed to contain the same data. To do so, simply add the fields and set their data label to a common value. This then functions such that once the signer inputs the data in the first instance, it's automatically filled in the subsequent fields. Using a common data label across fields can also make the fields share properties between them—Width, Height, Character limit, and Validation—in addition to the field name itself. Therefore, no two fields of the same type and same data label can have different values or properties. When the name or properties of any such field is changed, you will be prompted to apply the same across all other fields sharing the data label. 


Note:
  1. You can format the font and labels of all fields except Signature & Initial by double-clicking them.
  2. Fields can also be resized by clicking and dragging their edges.
  3. There must be at least one field for every recipient added to the document as a signer.

6. In case the signer fields you want to add to the document are already present in a template saved inside Zoho Sign, you can import them directly onto the document and reposition them. To do so, open the Actions dropdown and click Apply field template.



7. You can then select the corresponding template from the list of saved templates and click Yes to import the signer fields onto the document.



Send Documents

Verify the number of documents fields added for each recipient, then click Confirm to send the documents out for signature.



    • Related Articles

    • Getting documents signed in person

      The in-person signing feature enables you to get documents signed using your Zoho Sign account in face-to-face situations. For example, business meetings or sales visits where you or your field executive are looking to get your partner or customer's ...

    • Accessing Zoho Sign when using Zoho CRM

      Zoho Sign is a helpful application for sending secure documents to be signed. Here's a quick video to show you where to go to access Sign:

    • Managing CRM Account Settings

      Change Personal Settings You can change your personal details such as name, phone number, website, date of birth, address, language, time format, time zone, etc. To change personal details: Open Zoho CRM (BlueMortgage) Go to Setup (Gear Icon near top ...

    • How to send a newsletter

      Sending a blast to your contact database is something that is very common, whether this be for a recent rate announcement, or just to check in on a client who has an active mortgage with you.  Here is a quick video showing you exactly how to reach ...

    • Send a Signing Package inside Zoho CRM

      You may need to send PDF documents for your clients to sign. You may also need to add multiple recipients that need to receive the document. Watch the video below to learn how to configure the right settings to ensure the document has the correct ...