Signature placement fields (placeholders)

When preparing documents for signing, placing signatures in the right spot in the document can be time-consuming. That's why you can predefine where signatures go by inserting so-called "signature placement fields" directly into the document.

Signature placement fields:

• make particular sense when you generate documents for signing from some system, or when you're preparing a document template that your colleagues will then reuse repeatedly,
• are currently only possible if you can edit the document's content, i.e. for example if you have the document in MS Word, Google Docs, etc. You cannot simply add fields to PDF documents.

For example, if you're responsible for managing sales, create templates of your contracts, orders, GDPR documents, etc. ONCE in MS Office or GDocs with the correct signature placement fields.

How to use signature placement fields

Preparing the document

In your document you first need to place the signature placement fields according to the following rules:

• Fields for placing individual signatures are marked by the texts "signi-signature-0", "signi-signature-1", "signi-signature-2", "signi-signature-3", etc. for the first, second and further signatures. The signature numbering should correspond to the signing order of the document. The field for the person who signs first is "signi-signature-0".
• The text with the name corresponds to the top-left corner of the final inserted signature. It's a good idea to make this name text white in the document. The text will remain in the resulting PDF, but it will be covered by the signature.
• When placing signatures, it is assumed that a signature is about ⅓ of the page wide and its height is at a ratio of about 16:9. To position the texts, it is therefore a good idea to insert a table with 2 or 3 columns into the document. The table should then also be colored white.
• The signature type doesn't matter. - Any type of signature can be inserted into the placement field in the document - biometric, BankIS SIGN, or a signature with a certificate, for example a qualified signature.
• A signature field can be placed in multiple locations in the document. - One signer will then be signed in the document multiple times.
• There can be more signature placement fields in the document than there are in the signing scenario. - The document can then account for the fact that each party is signed by multiple signers.

If you need to display one signature multiple times in the document, the placement field signi-signature-0 (and others) is placed multiple times in the document.

The Signature button will then appear in multiple places in the document. In some cases it will be enough for a person to sign only once, but sometimes that's not possible, e.g. when using qualified signatures.

The field names use numbering starting from 0. So the first field has the number signi-signature-0.

You can download an example of text with signature placement fields to insert into your document.

Enabling signature field detection

For larger documents, finding all the signature fields may take a while, which slows down uploading the document to Signi. Therefore, field detection can be turned on and off in the workspace settings.

Enabling placeholder detection

Uploading the document and setting the signature positions in Signi

The second step is uploading the document to Signi and configuring the signing scenario. Here you leave "Keep signature field positions from the uploaded document" checked and add the signers in the expected order.

On the following page, you only need to check the signature placements and send the document for signing.