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Creating a template
Set up a document you send often, with the fields already in place.
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A template holds the documents you send over and over, the roles that sign them, and every field already in position. Build one once and each later send is a matter of naming the people. Open Templates in the sidebar and press New template.
The five steps
The wizard runs Details, Documents, Roles, Fields and Review. Nothing is created until you press Create Template at the end.
Details asks for Template Name, which is the only required field, plus an optional Description, a Category for filtering later, a Default Expiry (days) and a Default Message. The last two are starting points rather than rules: whoever sends from the template can change both on any individual send.
Documents is where you pick the files to bundle. Choose from what you have already, or use Upload PDF to add one now. They are sent together as one envelope, in the order shown, and the arrows on each row move them. An envelope is the bundle that goes out for signature: the documents, the people and the fields.
Roles is the part that makes a template a template.
Fields is the familiar placement editor. Drag a field onto a page and assign it to a role rather than to a person.
Review lists what you have set, including which roles have fields on which documents, so you can catch a signer who would receive the document with nothing to sign. Back to field placement takes you straight back if something is missing.
Roles, and why they are not people
An envelope goes to named individuals. A template goes to roles, and the role is filled with a real person at the moment somebody sends from it. That is what lets one template serve every client.
Each role card carries three things. Role ID is set automatically from its position and is what
ties fields to the right signer. Display Name is the words a sender reads when filling the
template in, so make it the job rather than a person: Client, Second director, Partner.
Role Type is Signer, Viewer or CC.
Above the roles, Signing order chooses between Sequential, where roles sign one at a time in the listed order, and Parallel, where anyone can sign at any time.
Under Advanced on a role card you can set a Default Email and Default Name, which pre-fill that role every time. Use it for the person on your side who is always the same, and leave the client's role empty.
Signing it yourself, automatically
Also under Advanced is Self-sign (use my saved signature). The role is filled by you, and your signature is applied automatically when the envelope reaches it. Put a self signing role first to pre-sign a document before it goes out, or last to countersign as soon as the client is done.
It works for signature, initials and date fields. Where a role of yours also needs typed text or a tick, fill it in the ordinary way instead.
After it is built
Templates appear on the Templates screen with a search box and a Filter by category. Each card's menu offers Use Template, Duplicate and Delete, and the template's own page adds Edit template.
Duplicate is the safe way to make a variant: copy the one that works, change what differs, and leave the original alone for the envelopes already using it.
How many templates you can hold depends on your plan. See What each plan includes. Sending from one is covered in Sending from a template.