📖 Table of Contents
With Yousign, send your documents for signature in less than 3 minutes. This guide will walk you through step-by-step on how to:
Import your documents
Prepare the signature request
Configure the signature request
Step 1: Create a new signature request
To have your documents signed:
Access the Signature page,
Click on the "New request" button in the top right corner,
Import the documents you want to have signed in PDF or DOCX format.
When uploading a docx document, your document display may be a little altered, we recommended converting it in PDF before uploading it on Yousign.
You can drag and drop your documents
or click the "+" button to select them.
You can add up to 50 documents per signature request, with a maximum size of 50MB for each document.
Step 2: Prepare the signature request
Once the documents are imported, preparing a signature request to sign begins and includes 3 major steps:
Add one or more signers
Add fields (such as signature) for each signer
If needed, add approvers
Add and arrange signers
Start by adding one or more recipients to your signature request. Recipients can be signers and/or approvers.
Add signers
Click on "Add a signer" on the right sidebar or on the "+" button.
Enter the signer's information or select them if you've previously saved them in your contacts.
You can add up to 100 signers per signature request. All signers will sign the same document. If they need to sign different versions individually, create separate signature requests.
Order recipients
From two recipients onwards (signers and/or approvers), you can control the order in which they are invited to act on your signature request.
When setting an order, all recipients are included, both approvers and signers.
Simple order (one after another)
If you want recipients to act one by one:
Under the Signers section, activate “Set signing order” to order signers.
Under the Approvers section, activate “Set approval order” to order approvers.
Drag recipients to arrange them in the desired order.
Recipients are invited according to the order you define:
If you only set a signing order, signers are invited one by one.
If you enable approval order, approvers are invited first, in order.
Once all approvers have completed their actions, signers are invited in the order you defined.
By default, if no order is set, all recipients are invited at the same time.
Custom recipient order (steps with multiple recipients)
If several recipients need to be invited at the same time within an ordered workflow, activate “Custom recipient order.”
This allows you to organize recipients into steps.
Each recipient is assigned a number:
Recipients with the same number are invited at the same time
The next number represents the next step
The workflow moves forward only when all recipients in the current step have completed their action
Example:
Step 1: Approver A and Approver B invited in parallel
Step 2: Signer C invited once both approvers have completed their actions
When using Qualified Electronic Signature:
Signers must be invited one after another
It is not possible to place multiple signers in the same step
Check out our article to learn more about signers.
Add fields
Next, drag the fields you need directly onto your document. There are two types of fields:
Signer-related fields (displayed below the signer's name on the right sidebar)
Fields not related to signers (located in the "Fields" section at the top of the right sidebar)
You can move and resize the fields on your document.
To proceed to the final configuration step, you'll need to have dragged at least one signature field onto the document, and at least one signer-related field: the "Next" button at the top right remains grayed out to inform you that these conditions are not met.
Add and arrange approvers (optional)
You can add approvers to validate documents before they are sent for signature. Approvers review the content and can approve or reject the signature request before signers are invited.
To add approvers:
Click on "Add an approver" on the right sidebar or on the "+",
Enter the approver's information or select them if you've previously saved them in your contacts.
You can add up to 10 approvers and also set an approval order.
If you want to define when approvers are invited, configure the recipient order in the section above.
Check out our article to learn more about managing approvers.
Collect documents from signers (optional)
You can ask signers to upload documents before moving on to the signature step. This allows you to easily collect additional documents to attach to the contract, for example, an ID or a bank statement.
Please note: You must add at least one signer before you can ask signers to upload documents.
You can ask signers to upload documents whilst creating a signature request:
After uploading a document to the signature request creation page,
Click on "Collect a new document" in the "Documents to collect" section at the left of the page.
Enter the type of document you want to collect, for example: an ID card or proof of address.
Define which signer(s) have to upload the document by ticking the box next to their name. You must select at least one signer by document.
By default, the document upload is mandatory. You can change this to optional by clicking on the "Required" button, turning it gray.
Click on "Save".
You can edit the collection request by clicking on the pencil icon at the right of the document name.
You can collect up to 10 documents per signature request.
If you would like to know more about collecting documents, check out our dedicated article: Collect documents from signers
Step 3: Configure the signature request
This is the final step of the creation: all that's left is to configure a few settings before sending your signature request.
Customize the signature request details
Several settings allow you to customize your signature request. You can:
Rename the signature request: to give meaning to your request to your signers. The signature request name will also appear in the email sent to ask them to sign.
Add labels: to easily find and sort your signature requests from the dashboard.
Add a personalized message: for participants, it will be inserted in the signature request email. All signers and approvers will receive the same message.
Choose the sender: in your own name, on behalf of a workspace, or on behalf of your organization. The selected sender will appear in the signature request email as well as throughout the signing process.
Add followers: to allow external individuals to follow the signature request and access the documents.
Customize the signature request settings
Adjust the expiration date: By default, the expiration date is 6 months after the creation of the signature request; you can shorten or extend it up to a year.
Check out our article to learn more about the expiration date.
Fine-tune automatic reminders: You can also choose to send automatic reminders to avoid personally following up with signers. Choose the frequency and the number of times you want reminders to be sent. You will also have the option to send reminders manually once the signature request is sent.
Check out our article to learn more about automatic and manual reminders.
Choose a Custom experience: to customize emails and the signing experience to your brand.
Activate / deactivate the "Decline to sign" option: to allow your signers to refuse to sign the document in case of error.
Define the security level
Choose the security level among the three signature levels:
Simple Electronic Signature
Advanced Electronic Signature (available as an add-on)
Qualified Electronic Signature (available as an add-on)
Adjust signer authentication (only if using Simple Electronic Signature)
Without security code
With the sending of a security code by email
With the sending of a security code by SMS
Check out our article to learn more about authentication methods.
You can differentiate the signature level and/or authentication method per signer when sending your signature request.
Click on "Set a security level for each signer",
Select the signature level and desired authentication method from the dropdown menu for each signer.
Send your signature request
When your signature request is ready to go, you will have two options:
Send it immediately
Schedule its sending: A signature request can be scheduled to be sent as early as 30 minutes later and as late as 30 days later.
Tip: Save time and create signature requests directly from the link Yousign.new!
Simply type "Yousign.new" in your browser, you'll be then automatically redirected to a signature request within your Yousign application.