Insert fields to fill or sign in

    When creating an electronic signature request, or simply a form to be filled without signatures, you must insert the fields that the recipient will complete.

    Start an e-sign request as normal. When the PDF file is shown to insert fields, you will see the document, with a list of field types in the left panel. In the image below, these start at the button labeled Signature.

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    Fields for Signer to Complete

    To insert a field:

    1. Click the button with that field type. For instance, to let the signer input the service start date needed in the example document above (near the 5th line in the letter), click the Date button.

    2. Move the mouse to the location where field is to be inserted. (In the above example, one would move the mouse to just after the text ‘service start date.’

    3. Click at that location. A rectangle will appear at that location indicating that the signer will fill in a date in that rectangle.

    4. Resize: Click the small square on any of the four corners of the inserted field rectangle and while holding the mouse down, move it to change the size. Release the mouse to set the new size.

    5. Move: Click the field and hold the mouse down. Move the mouse to move the field and release the mouse to set the new location.

    6. Optional settings: Clicking the field also reveals additional options for the field.

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    1. You may change one or more of these steiings:

      1. Label: This indicates what the signer should fill in. For instance, the date field will have a label “Date” by default. You may change it to something more specific, such as “Project end date” if needed.
      2. Required: This checkmark indicates if the recipient is required to complete this field or may skip filling it.
      3. Prefilled text (for Text fields only): You may also fill the field for a signer if you already know what you expect them to fill in, but want to let them change it if needed. This will save some work for the signer. For instance in the example document shown above, the sender may know the client’s name to be filled in, but may want to allow the client to modify the name such as for spelling, suffix etc.
      4. Remove: Clicking the remove button lets you remove this field.
      5. Close: This closes the additional options box. You may also use the small “X” toward the top right to close the optional settings. You may open these settings again by clicking inside the field.
    2. Assigned to: This specifies the signer who should fill this fields, if the e-sign request will have multiple recipients completing it. (See the section on multiple signers below.)

    Multiple Signers

    Multiple signers may have to fill in different fields. To change the signer for a field, click inside the field to open the optional settings box.

    Under Assigned To, you will see the currently assigner. Initially, this may be the new signer unless you inserted the first signer when prompted upon adding the first field.

    1. Click Change Assigned and then select from one of the signers shown in the list. The list may only have the current signer. In this case, you may add a signer as follows:

      1. Click “Add Signer.”
      2. In the popup window that shows up add either a name, email, and/or a role for the signer. (The role is for your reference only and is not shown to the signers. You may use roles that help you identify the signer’s responsibility with respect to this contract, such as “buyer”, “new client” or “seller.“)
      3. Click “Save” to add the signer to your list.
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    1. Once a signer is added it will show up in the list below the “Change Assigned” button. Click on the desired signer to assign this field to that signer.

    For your convenience, the fields assigned to different signers are shown in different colors.

    Fill before sending

    Sometimes, you may have something to fill-in before sending the request to the recipient. For instance, in the above document, the blank after ‘based on our conversation of’ could be filled by the sender.

    1. Click the “Insert Text” button, located below the other field buttons.
    2. Move your mouse to the area where any text is to be inserted (for example, to the blank space next to “Dear” in the above example, or next to ‘based on our conversation on’).
    3. Click at that location. A gray rectangle will appear at that location. Click inside the rectangle and type in any text.
    4. Resize: You may optionally resize the gray rectangle by clicking on either the top right, or any of the bottom two corners of the rectangle. Move the mouse while holding it down to resize the rectangle.
      1. You may need to resize the rectangle if the text you type does not fit it.
      2. Increase the width of the rectangle to allow more text to fit.
      3. Increase the height of the rectangle to make the font size larger.
    5. Move: If the rectangle appeared at a different location that you wanted, you may click the top left corner and while holding it down, move the rectangle to the desired location.
    6. Multiple lines: Each line of text to be inserted needs a new “insert text” field. Click again to insert another such field and type in additional text.
    7. When you click the gray rectangle to type in, you will also be offered an option to Remove the text rectangle.

    Delete a Signer

    You may delete a signer that you added earlier to the e-sign request.

    Access the list of signers (either in the optional settings for a field, or in the signers drop down in the left menu). Click the red trash-can like icon just below the signer’s name, email or role.

    Note: All fields that were to be completed by that signer will also be removed. To avoid that, you may first assign those fields to another signer and then delete the unnecessary signer.

    Tips

    • Each text field should be for one line of text. Use multiple text fields for multiple lines of text. Use a similar approach for annotations (Insert-Text fields).
    • Adjust field height to adjust the font size within the field.
    • Ensure what you type fits within the field: giving a small field, not wide enough to hold the contents to be filled in by the signer, will degrade the signer’s experience.
    • Please use a computer to prepare a file for signing with fields.
      • Using a touch-screen based device will not work well for inserting fields.
      • Using a small screen (such as a phone) will not work well.
      • (The recipient may use a mobile device to review and sign the document.)

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