# E-signatures

Source: https://freesbe.net/docs/e-signatures/

> Send PDFs to customers and others to sign, from a conversation, a customer's WhatsApp or Telegram chat, a call or Files. Each person signs on their phone or computer with a code, and the signed copy comes back to you with a certificate of who signed and when.

**E-signatures** sends a PDF to the people who need to sign it: a customer, a supplier, a new
hire, or a colleague. Each person gets their own link by email, or in the WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS
or other chat you're already having with them in the [customer inbox](https://freesbe.net/docs/customer-inbox/).
They open it with a code we send the same way, fill in the fields you placed for them and sign
with a finger, a mouse or by typing their name. Nobody needs a Freesbe account to sign.

When the last person signs, the signed PDF comes back to you in a direct message, in the
conversation you sent it from, and in your **Files**, with a certificate page of who signed, when
and from where.

![Send for signature: the Contoso wholesale agreement from Files, with its template's 7 fields, to Lucas Martin at Contoso and then Maya Chen, with a message](https://freesbe.net/docs/img/e-signatures-send.webp)

## Send a document

You can start from wherever the conversation is:

- **In a channel, DM or thread:** the **Send for signature** button in the message box.
- **In a customer conversation:** **Send for signature** in the bar over the reply box. The
  customer is filled in, with the link going to the chat they wrote from.
- **On a phone call:** **Send for signature** under the caller's name. When a connected CRM knows
  the caller, their name and email are filled in from it.
- **In a meeting:** **Send for signature** at the top of the call. The guests in the call are
  filled in; type their email addresses.
- **In Files:** a PDF's menu (**⋯**) → **Send for signature**.
- **Files → Sent for signature:** the **Send for signature** button.

Then:

1. Pick the PDF: **Upload a PDF** from your computer, or **From Files**. PDFs can be up to 25 MB
   and 200 pages. A PDF that's password protected can't be sent.
2. Give it a name, and add who signs it: their name and email address, up to 10 people. With
   more than one, turn on **Sign in this order** to send each person their link only when the one
   before has signed.
3. Add a message if you like, and pick how long the links work (30 days unless your admin
   changed it, up to 120).
4. Click **Next: place the fields**, put the fields on the pages (below), and click **Send for
   signature**.

### Place the fields

Pick whose field it is on the left, pick what kind, and click the page where it goes. Drag a field
to move it, drag its corner to resize it, and click **×** (or press Delete) to take it off. Each
signer's fields have their own color.

| Field           | What the signer does                                        |
| --------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Signature**   | Signs: types their name or draws their signature            |
| **Initials**    | Adds their initials the same way                            |
| **Date signed** | Nothing: it fills in with the day they sign                 |
| **Name**        | Checks their name, which is filled in                       |
| **Text**        | Types what the field asks for, like a company or job title  |
| **Checkbox**    | Ticks it. Mark it **Required** for terms they must agree to |

Every signer needs at least one signature or initials field.

![Placing the fields: page 2 of the Contoso agreement, with signature, name and date fields for Lucas Martin on the left and Maya Chen on the right](https://freesbe.net/docs/img/e-signatures-fields.webp)

## Templates in Files

A contract you send again and again can keep its fields. Open the PDF's menu in **Files** and
choose **Signing fields**, place the fields once for **Signer 1**, **Signer 2** and so on, and
click **Save fields**. You can also tick **Save these fields on the file in Files** as you send it.

From then on, anyone who can open the file can send it with its fields already placed: they only
add who signs. Changing the fields takes edit access to the file. When someone uploads a new
version of the file, the fields stay, with a note to check they're still in the right places.

![A template's signing fields: the Contoso wholesale agreement's page 2, with fields for Signer 1 and Signer 2](https://freesbe.net/docs/img/e-signatures-template.webp)

## Send it in a WhatsApp or Telegram chat

From a customer conversation, the link goes in the chat the customer wrote from: WhatsApp,
Telegram, SMS, Messenger, Instagram or email. Your colleagues see the link in the conversation
like any reply. The code to open it goes to the customer privately in the same chat, so it isn't
in the conversation for the team to see.

- **WhatsApp** only takes messages within 24 hours of the customer's last message. After that,
  [send a template](https://freesbe.net/docs/customer-inbox/#whatsapp) to start talking again first.
- **Telegram** only reaches customers who have already written to you there.
- **Web chat** can't take private messages, so send to the customer's email address instead.

Click **Use email** in the dialog to send to an email address instead of the chat.

![Send for signature from Dana's WhatsApp conversation: the link goes in this WhatsApp chat](https://freesbe.net/docs/img/e-signatures-inbox.webp)

## What the signer sees

The link opens a page with your workspace's name and logo. They click **Send me a code** and type
the six-digit code we send to their email or chat. The code works once, for 10 minutes, and
after five wrong tries they ask for a new one. Their browser stays in for 12 hours.

![The signing page: Spring window display quote from Maya Chen at Northwind Traders, asking Gina Lopez for a code](https://freesbe.net/docs/img/e-signatures-code.webp)

Then they read the document, with their fields marked on the pages. **Next field** takes them to
each one in turn. A signature or initials made once goes in every field of its kind. They tick
that they agree to sign electronically and click **Sign**. They can also click **Download to read
first**, or **Decline** it and say why.

![Signing on a phone: the quote with Gina's signature, date and checkbox fields to fill in, and Next field](https://freesbe.net/docs/img/e-signatures-sign.webp)

When everyone has signed, each signer gets the signed copy by email, or in their chat, and can
download it from the same link until it runs out.

## Follow what you sent

**Files → Sent for signature** lists what you sent, newest first, with who's signing and how far
they got. Click one to see each signer and its history: when the link went out and how, codes
asked for, wrong codes, when it was opened, signed or declined, and the country and device each
time. Admins can switch on **Everyone's documents** to see the whole workspace's.

![Sent for signature: the Contoso wholesale agreement signed, the window quote with Gina at Acme Corp waiting, and the price sheet declined](https://freesbe.net/docs/img/e-signatures-sent.webp)

- **Remind** sends the link again to whoever hasn't signed. People are also reminded on their own
  every 3 days (your admin can change this) until the link runs out.
- **Cancel it** stops every link at once. Nobody can sign it after that.
- **Download signed copy** gets the signed PDF.

![A document's history: sent by Maya Chen, the link emailed to Lucas Martin, his code, his signature, then Maya's, and sealed](https://freesbe.net/docs/img/e-signatures-history.webp)

If someone declines, you get a direct message and an email saying so, with their reason, and
nobody else can sign that copy. Send it again once you've talked it over.

## The signed copy

The signed PDF has everyone's signatures and fields on its pages, and a certificate page at the
end with:

- the document's name and ID, who sent it, and when it was sent and finished,
- each signer: where the link went, how they proved who they are (a code to their email or chat),
  when they signed, from which IP address, country and device, and their signature,
- the whole history, and
- the SHA-256 fingerprint of the PDF as it was sent, so anyone can check the document wasn't
  changed.

It goes to your DM from **E-signatures**, to the channel, thread or customer conversation you sent
it from, and to a **Signed documents** folder in your **Files**. Apps and
[webhooks](https://freesbe.net/docs/api-and-webhooks/) can get it too: the `signature.completed` event comes with a
link to the signed PDF, and `signature.declined` says who declined and why.

## How many you can send

Every workspace can send 3 documents a month, sent by hand. The **E-signatures** add-on is $10 a
month for each sender, or $96 a year, on Pro, Business and
Enterprise. Each sender adds 50 documents a month to the workspace's pool. Signers aren't
counted, and neither is each signature: one document sent to three people is one.

## For admins

In the [Admin Center](https://freesbe.net/docs/admin-center/), **Security → E-signatures**:

- **Senders:** who sends documents for signature, one person for each sender seat. Add seats
  under **Billing → Add-ons**. Guests can't send.
- **Reminders:** how many days apart people who haven't signed get their link again. 0 sends no
  reminders.
- **How long links last:** what the send dialog starts with.

![The Admin Center's E-signatures settings: 3 sender seats with Maya Chen, Priya Raman and James Okafor, reminders every 3 days and links lasting 30 days](https://freesbe.net/docs/img/admin-center-e-signatures.webp)

Everything sent, signed and canceled, and every change here, is in the workspace's
[Audit log](https://freesbe.net/docs/admin-settings/#audit-log).

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