Documents and e-signature

With the e-signature add-on you can send a customer a document to read and sign online, such as a service agreement or an authorization to charge their card or bank account.

Sending a document for signature

1. Open Documents on your account and choose Send a document, or choose Send for signature on a customer or an invoice.
2. Pick the document, check the signer's name and email, and add a mobile number if you want them to confirm with a texted code.
3. Choose Send. The signer gets an email with a link.

The signer reads the document, agrees to use electronic signatures, types their name and ticks a box to agree. Drawing a signature is optional. Both of you can then download a signed PDF that includes a certificate page with the time, the signer's address and a fingerprint of the exact text they saw.

Open a document in the list to see its timeline, send a new link, withdraw it, or check the signed copy has not changed. Links expire after the number of days set on the document, and a reminder goes out if you set one.

Writing a template

Open Documents, then Templates. You can start from a sample or a blank template. The samples are plain-language wording to work from, not legal advice: have your lawyer review them. Publishing is blocked while any item in double square brackets is left in the text.

Merge fields fill in details when you send, for example the customer's name, your business name, an invoice number and total, or the payment amount and how often it runs. The list is beside the editor. Card and bank details are never merged into a document.

• Save the draft to see a preview with sample values.
• Publish when you are happy. A published version never changes, so each signer keeps exactly the text they saw.
• To change a published document, start a new draft and publish it. Documents already sent are not affected.

Requiring a signed authorization before a customer approves a schedule

When you ask a customer to approve a payment schedule, you can require them to sign a payment authorization first. Choose the authorization under Require a signed authorization on the schedule request form. Only authorizations that are published and turned on are listed.

The customer gets the usual approval email. On that page they first read and sign the authorization, then continue to approve the schedule and save their payment method. The schedule cannot be approved until it is signed. If they decline, or the link expires, open the document in Documents and send a new link.

The customer needs an email address on file. If the signed document cannot be created, the schedule request is not sent, so nothing goes out half set up.