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Notifications and what triggers them
Which events reach your bell and your inbox, and how to find an older one.
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The bell in the top bar collects what happens on the envelopes you sent, and your inbox gets the moments worth interrupting you for. An envelope is a bundle you sent for signature: the documents, the people and the fields. Notifications are addressed to whoever created the envelope, so you hear about your own sends rather than the whole company's.
What reaches the bell
Four things happen on an envelope you sent, and each writes an entry under the bell:
| Entry | When |
|---|---|
| Recipient Viewed | Somebody you sent it to opened the document for the first time |
| Recipient Signed | A signer finished, and others are still to go |
| Envelope Completed | The last signer finished |
| Envelope Declined | Somebody declined to sign, which stops the envelope |
Each entry names the person and quotes the subject line, so you can tell two envelopes apart without opening either. The badge on the bell counts the unread. Clicking an entry opens the envelope it is about and marks it read on the way.
When the signature belongs to a proposal
A client accepting a proposal signs the engagement letter, so the same four moments happen. The bell speaks about the proposal rather than the signature behind it, and names the proposal's own reference:
| Entry | When |
|---|---|
| Proposal signing opened | The client opened the letter to sign it |
| Proposal signed | The client added their signature |
| Proposal accepted | The signature finished, so the engagement letter is signed |
| Proposal declined | The client declined during signing |
| Proposal withdrawn | You withdrew the proposal while the client was signing |
Clicking one of these opens the proposal, which is where the letter, the fees and the signing record all are. See The signing record on a proposal.
Finding one you have scrolled past
The bell holds the newest few. View all notifications at the foot of it opens the full list, newest first, with older ones a click away at the bottom.
Both the bell and that page carry an All / Unread switch. Unread is the one to reach for when a busy week has buried the four entries you have not seen among thirty you have. Mark all as read clears the badge in one go, and on the full list you can delete a single entry or clear the lot. Deleting changes nothing about the envelope: the document, its audit trail and the record under Analytics are all untouched.
What reaches your inbox
Email covers the same ground plus the sending itself:
- You get a note when a signer finishes while others are still outstanding, and a note when the envelope is complete. A decline emails you too.
- Your recipients get the request to sign, any reminders you send, notice when you void the envelope, and, where Send copy of completed document was ticked on their card, the finished document once everyone has signed.
- Where you set a signing order, the next person is emailed only once the person before them has finished.
Chasing somebody without waiting
The bell tells you what has happened; it does not chase anyone. To nudge an outstanding signer, open the envelope and press Send Reminder. Reminders are also sent automatically as an envelope approaches its expiry date. See Deadlines and chasing people up. A proposal is chased from the proposal's own page: see Chasing a client about a proposal.
Where departments come in
Where your company uses departments, the bell shows only entries about envelopes you are allowed to see. If your access is narrowed later, older entries about work now outside it stop appearing, which is deliberate: an entry quotes a subject line, and a subject line is the document by another name. See Departments and who can see what.
If somebody says they received nothing
That is about email to your recipient rather than notifications to you, and it is nearly always the address, the junk folder, or an envelope still sitting in drafts. The order to check them in is in My client says they never received the email.