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Signing

Signing order, several signatories, one person for several parties

Decide who signs when, add several signatories to a party, and handle one person signing for more than one party.

Written By Sebastian

Last updated About 3 hours ago

By default, all signatories receive their invitation at the same time and can sign in any order. You can also make them sign one after another, add several signatories to one party, and let one person sign for several parties.

Available on all plans

Set a signing order

  1. As an internal user, click Start signing.

  2. Under Confirm signatories, turn on Set signature order.

  3. Use the drag handles beside the signatories to arrange them in the order they should sign.

  4. Click Start signing again.

Only the first signatory is invited at first. Each next signatory gets their invitation when the previous one has signed. A signatory who isn't next yet can open the document but can't sign it.

Tip: Many companies let the other side sign first and sign last themselves, so they only sign once the counterparty has committed.

Several signatories for one party

Add as many signatories to a party as you need, for example two managing directors. Each signatory signs separately. By default the party has one signature block listing all its signatories; you can split it so each signatory signs in their own place. See Place and adjust signature blocks.

External collaborators can manage signatories for their own party during the initial wizard and afterwards through the party details. A signature block must be placed for that party. Party blocks allow adding and removing signatories; individual signatory blocks allow only replacing the assigned signatory.

One person signing for several parties

Each email address can be used only once per document. If one person signs for two parties, for example for a parent company and its subsidiary, give them a second address using a plus suffix:

  • Party A: anna.berger@company.com

  • Party B: anna.berger+1@company.com

Most email providers deliver both to the same inbox, so the person receives two invitations and signs once for each party. Check with your IT that plus addresses are delivered.

The same trick works for testing: send documents to yourself as name+test@company.com to see what an external signatory sees.

Good to know

  • With qualified signatures (QES), the signing order is mandatory.

  • You can enable sequential signing in a template's General tab, but you can't arrange the signatories' order directly in the template. The default order follows when the signatories were created: signatories already defined in the template come before those added later. An internal user can adjust this order in the Start signing dialog before starting the process. Keep this default in mind for automated workflows, such as documents created through the API.

  • Mixed orders aren't possible, for example one person first and then everyone else in any order. Either all signatories sign one after another, or all at once.

  • You can't change the signing order after signing has started. You can still update signatories: party blocks allow adding and removing signatories, while individual blocks allow only replacement. The party must have a placed signature block. See Change signatories or cancel signing after it has started.

  • Signing several documents in one go, or setting one order across several documents, isn't possible. Each document has its own signing process.

Troubleshooting

A signatory can open the document but can't sign? There's a signing order and it isn't their turn yet. They'll get an email when it is.

fynk says the email address is already used? The same address is already a signatory for another party in this document. Use a plus suffix as described above.

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