E-Sign

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Overview

Send any PDF in your workspace for electronic signature. You add recipients, place fields where each signer fills in or signs, and send. Each recipient gets an email with their own link. Signers open it in a browser and sign. They don’t need an account or any software. When everyone has signed, a signed copy is saved next to the original PDF and emailed to every party.

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Who can send

• Owners, admins and members can send signature requests. Viewers can’t.
• Only PDFs can be sent. Convert other files to PDF first (see PDF Tools).
• Requests are private to the sender. Only the person who created a request can see it, send reminders, reassign, void or download it. Other people in the workspace, including owners and admins, don’t see your requests.

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Start a signature request

• From the PDF viewer: open the PDF and click the signature icon (Request Signature) in the toolbar. If your workspace has saved templates, you choose Start from scratch or a template first.
• From the file browser: click ⋮ on a PDF and choose Request Signature. The editor opens in a new tab. This path doesn’t offer templates.
• From the agent: see Send through the agent.

If you already have a draft request for the same PDF, a banner says A draft request already exists for this document. Click Continue that draft to pick it up, or Start fresh to begin a new request.

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Prepare and send

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Field settings

Every field you place is listed under Placed (N), with its page number. For each field you can:

• Configure (gear icon, Text and Dropdown fields only):
  • Label: what the field asks for, for example “Company Name”. The signer sees it as the placeholder.
  • Options (one per line): the choices in a Dropdown field.
  • Required: on or off.
• Toggle Req / Opt. Fields are required by default. A signer can’t finish until every required field is filled. Optional fields have a dashed border on the signer’s page.
• Duplicate the field onto the page you’re viewing.
• Delete the field.

Keyboard shortcuts work when a field is selected and you aren’t typing in a box:

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Signing order

In sequence, a signer who opens their link before it’s their turn sees Waiting for previous signers to complete.

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Drafts

A draft is a request that hasn’t been sent. Nobody is emailed.

• Save a draft: click Save draft in the editor. You need a subject, at least one signer and at least one field.
• Find your drafts: in Settings > Signatures, under Waiting. They show the Draft status.
• Finish a draft: open it and click Edit & send.
• A draft past its expiry date can’t be sent. Open it, change or remove the date, then send.
• Delete a draft: click Discard on the draft, or Discard draft in the editor. The draft is removed for good.

Drafts the agent prepares for you are regular drafts. You can open, edit, send or discard them the same way.

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Templates

A template saves a field layout so you can reuse it on similar documents, such as a standard NDA.

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Save a template

1. Prepare a request and place at least one field.
2. Click Save as Template.
3. Enter a name and click Save.

A template keeps:

• The fields: their type, position, size, label, options and whether they’re required
• How many recipients there are
• The signing order
• The message
• Whether email verification is required

It doesn’t keep recipients’ emails, the expiry date or auto-remind.

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Use a template

1. Open the PDF and click Request Signature in the toolbar.
2. Choose the template. Each one shows how many roles and fields it has.
3. Enter each recipient’s email. The template adds one empty recipient row for each role.
4. Check the fields, then send.

If the template has fields on pages this PDF doesn’t have, those fields are removed and a message tells you how many.

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Manage templates

Templates are shared across the workspace. Anyone who can open workspace settings sees them in the template picker and in Settings > Signing Templates. Each template shows its name, roles, fields and the date it was made. Only the person who created a template can delete it. To delete one, click ⋯ next to it and choose Delete.

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What signers do

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What CC recipients see

A CC recipient gets an email with the subject “Sender shared a document with you: subject”. Their link opens a read-only copy marked Copy for your records, with no fields to fill and nothing to sign. If email verification is on, they enter a code first, like signers.

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Email verification

When you turn on Require email verification, each recipient proves they control their email address before the document is shown to them:

1. When they open their link, they see Verify Your Identity and click Send Verification Code.
2. A 6-digit code is emailed to them. The screen shows a masked version of their address.
3. They enter the code and click Verify.

The code is valid for 5 minutes. If it expires or doesn’t arrive, they click Didn’t receive it? Send again to get a new one. Each code allows 5 tries, and a recipient can get up to 5 codes an hour.

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Declining

A signer can decline from the Review and Sign screen (I decline to sign) or from the document (Decline). They can give a reason, which is optional. If email verification is on, they have to enter the code before they can decline. When a signer declines:

• The whole request stops. Its status becomes Declined, and nobody else can sign it.
• You get an email naming who declined, with their reason.
• The other recipients get an email saying the request was cancelled.
• The reason appears next to the signer on the request’s page.

To try again, start a new request.

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Track and manage requests

Open Settings > Signatures to see every request you’ve sent in this workspace. Each row shows the title, status, file name, how many signers have signed, and the recipients. Hover over a recipient to see their status. Filter the list: Click ⋯ on a row for View Details, Open File, Send Reminder and Void Request. Click a row to open the request’s page.

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Request statuses

Each recipient also has a status: Pending (not emailed yet, for example waiting their turn in a sequence), Notified, Viewed, Signed or Declined.

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The request page

The request’s page shows each recipient’s status and signing date, the Audit Trail of everything that happened, and the request ID, creation date, completion date and expiry date. Depending on the status, you can:

• Remind: email a reminder now
• Void: cancel the request
• Original: download the PDF as it was sent
• Signed PDF: download the signed copy (completed requests)
• Edit & send or Discard (drafts)
• Reassign a recipient (click ⋯ next to them)

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Reminders

Remind (or Send Reminder in the list) emails the signers whose turn it is and who haven’t signed yet. In a sequence, only the current signer is reminded. CC recipients aren’t reminded. Auto-remind sends the same reminder on a schedule while the request is waiting. The count starts when the request is created and restarts each time a reminder goes out, including one you send yourself.

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Reassign a signer

If someone can’t sign, hand their part to someone else:

1. On the request’s page, click ⋯ next to the recipient and choose Reassign.
2. Enter the new email address and, optionally, a name.
3. Click Reassign.

The new person gets a new link, and the old link stops working. Anything the previous person filled in is cleared. If it’s the new person’s turn, they’re emailed right away; in a sequence, they’re emailed when their turn comes. You can’t reassign someone who has already signed, or use an email that’s already on the request.

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Void a request

Voiding cancels a request that hasn’t completed. It can’t be undone.

• Signing links stop working.
• Everyone who had already been emailed about the request gets a notice that it was cancelled. People who were never emailed, such as later signers in a sequence, aren’t contacted.

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Expiry

If you set an expiry date, signing links stop working at the end of that day in your time zone, and the request becomes Expired. Emails to recipients state the date in your time zone. Signers who open their link see This signing request has expired. You can’t change the expiry date after sending. To give people more time, send a new request.

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When everyone has signed

When the last signer finishes, the request becomes Completed and:

• A signed copy is saved in your workspace, in the same folder as the original, named “original name (Signed).pdf”. The original PDF isn’t changed.
• Every party gets an email: you, every signer and every CC. The subject is “Completed: All parties have signed …”. The signed PDF is attached, as “original name - signed.pdf”, when it’s 25 MB or less. Your email also links to the request in The Drive AI.
• A Certificate of Completion is added to the end of the signed PDF.

The Certificate of Completion includes:

• The request title, file name, request ID, completion date, and the SHA-256 hash of the original document
• For each signer: name, email, status, when they signed, when they gave consent and from which IP address, and whether their email was verified
• The audit trail: each event with its time, who did it and their IP address

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If you delete the original PDF

When a PDF with signature requests is permanently deleted (see Versions and Trash):

• Drafts for it are deleted.
• Requests still waiting for signatures are voided, and their links stop working. Recipients aren’t emailed about this.
• Completed, declined, expired and voided requests stay in your list. The Original download no longer works, but Signed PDF still does.

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Send through the agent

You can ask the agent to prepare and send a request, for example: “Send this NDA to jane@example.com for signature, signature and date at the end.”

1. The agent prepares a draft. It places the fields next to the document’s signature lines, or in the free space at the end of a page. It won’t place a field over printed text. Nothing is sent yet.
2. You review the card. It lists each recipient, their role, their position in a sequence and how many fields they have, plus the expiry date. It shows the pages with the fields drawn on them.
3. You decide. Click Allow to send, or Not now. To move or add fields first, click Adjust in the editor. When you allow it, the draft is sent as it is at that moment, including your edits.

The agent can also list your requests, check one’s progress, send reminders and void a request. Reminders and voiding ask you first, too. If you decline the card, the draft stays, and you can still Open in the editor.

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Legal compliance

The Drive AI’s E-Sign captures a complete audit trail for every document: Compliant with:

• ESIGN Act (Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act) — legally binding in the United States
• eIDAS Regulation — recognized in the European Union

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Troubleshooting

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What’s next?