The ability to sign documents using electronic signature platforms, like Conga Sign, the fast and secure way to get your documents signed anytime, anywhere, and on any device. E-Signature software is a core component of creating that superior customer experience. Signers will receive an email inviting them to the Signer Experience to sign documents in electronic form. The signer can simply open the documents, read the agreement, and click-to-sign from their desktop computer, tablet, or mobile phone. Once your signers complete their signatures, each party can access a copy of the documents as well as a detailed audit trail. 

This section discusses the following topics:

Signing Documents as a Transaction Owner

The Transaction Owner is the first person prompted to sign a transaction's documents unless a Signer Workflow has been created that specifies a different signing order. 

To sign documents as a Transaction Owner:

  1. Where indicated, click Sign or Initial.
  2. Click OK to confirm your signature.
  3. Repeat for each of the document's Signature Boxes that you must sign. A progress bar at the top of the document indicates the number of signatures you have completed, as well as the total number of signatures required by this document. 
  4. If additional documents in the transaction require your signature, continue to sign each document where indicated. 

Signing Documents as a Signer

You will be notified that you have documents to sign via an email message, which states that you have been added as a signer to a Sign transaction. That message will include a link to the transaction. The Transaction Owner may have included additional text, which will appear below the link. 

To sign documents as a signer: 

  1. In the email message you receive, click Go to Documents.
  2. Depending on the settings chosen by the Transaction Owner, you will need to verify yourself as a signer for the transaction. One of the following authentication methods may be used:
    1. Authentication by Email is the simplest form of authentication. It simply requires you to click the link in your invitation email. 
    2. Authentication by Q&A requires you to answer one or more questions. Correctly answer all questions, and then click Login. 
    3. Authentication by SMS requires you to enter a seven-digit SMS code that you received on your mobile phone. Enter the code, and click Login. This SMS code is sent when you click the link in your invitation email. If you have not received a code, use the Click Here link. 
  3. Read and Accept the Electronic Disclosure and Signatures Consent document.
    Sign automatically includes the Electronic Disclosure and Signatures Consent agreement in all its transactions. All signers must accept the terms of this agreement before they can access transaction documents. 
    Currently, Sign provides Electronic Disclosure and Signatures Consent agreements in English, French, German, Spanish (Latin American), Greek, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese (Simplified), Japanese and Korean. If you would like to provide an agreement in a different language or do not want this agreement in your transactions, please contact our Support team.
  4. Sign all your Signature Boxes within the document. If any other signer has already signed the document, their signatures are visible in the document.
  5. Once you have completed signing the document, a confirmation request will appear. Click Confirm to confirm your signatures on the current document. If there are more documents for you to sign, they will appear. 
  6. To verify your signed documents, click Review Documents.
  7. If you would like to keep copies of the signed documents, click Download Documents.
  8. Once you have finished, close your browser to end the Signer Experience. 

Uploading Attachments

During the Signer Experience, you may be asked to upload additional supporting documents. 

  1. When prompted, click Go to Uploads.
  2. In the Uploads tab, select the document that you are being asked to include with your signatures. 
  3. Drag and drop the required documents to the Signer Experience. You can also click Browse to search for the documents.

  4. Repeat for each document you are required to attach.

    • By default, the following file types are supported: PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, ODT, JPG, JPEG, PNG, BMP, TXT, TIFF, TIF, GIF, XLS, XLSX.
    • Account owners can define a whitelist of file types that may be uploaded as transaction attachments by signers on the account. This list cannot include file types on the global blacklist.
    • To prevent signers from uploading malicious code, the following file types cannot be uploaded as attachments to a transaction: EXE, DLL, MSI, DMG, SO. This blacklist supersedes all account-level whitelists. 
    • Attachments added by signers are immediately scanned for malware. If malware is detected, the system will not upload the infected document or attachment. 

      Click Finish.

Accessible Signing

To sign accessible PDFs within an accessible transaction, signers must first click the Enable accessibility mode button within the Signer Experience. 

This button is available only if the transaction is accessible. 

Accessibility can be enabled in the Signer Experience in one of the following ways:

  • By using the More Actions menu.
  • By pressing the Tab key. Once pressed, an additional menu appears which will allow you to tab through the following options:
    • Enable/Disable Accessibility: Enables or disables accessibility. 
    • Skip to document: Brings up the document to be signed. 

Once accessibility mode is enabled, the page refreshes and presents the transaction's documents in a format that is consumable by screen-reader technology – including navigating all documents and completing the entire signing process. 

Changing Signers

The Transaction Owner may permit a signer to delegate their signing responsibilities to another person. If an original signer does this, their delegate can sign on their behalf.

Delegating a New Signer

An original signer can sign any Signature Boxes they want before they delegate their remaining Signature Boxes to a new signer. 

  1. In the pages, top-right corner, click More Actions.
  2. Click Reassign Recipient.
  3. In the dialog box that appears, enter your delegate's Email, First Name, Last Name, Title, and Company.
  4. Optional: Type a Message for your delegate. Though not required, a message can be useful to tell your delegate what you would like them to do. 
  5. Click Next and select an Authentication Method for the new signer. 
  6. Click Reassign.
  7. Click OK.

Signing Documents as a New Signer

Sign sends a new signer an email that: (1) identifies the person who has delegated their signing responsibilities to them; (2) states that documents are available for signing. The email also includes a link to those documents.

Perform the procedure above, Signing Documents as a Signer. After a new signer has signed, their signature will appear in all the Signatures Boxes they signed. 

Declining to Sign

After a signer has been authenticated, they can decline to sign a transaction.

  1. From the More Actions drop-down list, click Decline To Sign.
  2. Specify your reason for declining.  
  3. Click Decline. The transaction sender will be notified of your action, and you will no longer be able to view any document in the transaction. 

Completing Signing

When you have signed all your Signature Boxes in a transaction's document, a Confirm button appears. Click this button to continue.

Downloading Signed Documents

After all signers have signed a transaction's documents, Sign flags the transaction as Complete. A completed transaction is one that has been securely signed and digitally sealed with a tamper-evident seal. Any attempt to tamper with the documents in the transaction or their signatures will break the seal. If that happens, the signatures will stop being legally binding.

Sign sends an email to all signers to notify them that the signing is complete. That email includes a link that signers can click to download the transaction with its securely signed documents. The email may also include the documents as attachments, depending on the options selected by the Transaction Owner when they created the transaction.

If Document Visibility was configured for the transaction, each person can download only those documents that the configuration permits them to view. 

Signers are not required to download documents. They remain available for download until the Transaction Owner archives or deletes the transaction. It's nonetheless a good idea to download, so signers will have a copy of the documents for their records. 

Signed documents are provided as PDFs. Each PDF includes visual indicators and messages that signers can use when they are Reviewing Signed Documents.

To download signed documents:

  1. In the email message you receive, click Download Completed Documents.
  2. On the page that appears click Download Documents.

Reviewing Signed Documents

After you download a transaction, you can review its documents. Each document is a PDF that contains your signatures and the signatures of all other signers. If you view a downloaded PDF using Adobe Reader, you can verify if its signatures are valid. One way of doing so is to click each signature — a popup states if the signature is valid, and provides further details about the signature's status.

You can also review signed documents by clicking the Download Completed Documents link in the email message that you received, and then clicking Review Documents.

Signature validation is largely a standard process across PDF viewers. However, occasionally a PDF viewer may give results that differ from those of Adobe Reader. When that occurs, Conga Sign considers the Adobe Reader results to be more definitive.