SigningHub allows you to add signatures in a workflow, Read more about the types of signatures as per level of assurances. Adding signatures for a recipient/ placeholder will consume signatures quota of your (document owner's) account, after being signed by the recipient.

Once you add a signature field, the signature field is marked with "Signature". You can also add multiple signature fields for a recipient in a document. 
Adding a signature field is subject to your assigned enterprise user role. If you wish to use this provision, ask your Enterprise Admin to enable the respective signature field in your Role>Document Settings.

Upon adding a signature field, a level of assurance will be set for a signature field which is set by default as per the configured default level of assurance under Personal Settings>Signature Settings. Level of assurance options for a signature field is subject to your assigned enterprise user role, If you are wish to use more options, ask your Enterprise Admin to enable the respective level of assurances in your Role>Document Settings.

After you have:


Add a signature field

  1. Select the document from the left side of document viewer screen, on which signature is required from a signer. Click the settings icon  (encircled with the blue colour on image) if you want to manage the added documents.
  2. Select the recipient (signer/ placeholder) from the right side of document viewer screen, for whom you want to add a signature field. Click the settings icon  (encircled with the blue colour on image) if you want to manage the added recipients.

     
         
  3. Drop the "Signature" field on the required location on the document.
    The "Edit Signature Field" dialog is displayed.

  4. Specify the details under "Details" and "Dimensions" tab as needed. See the "Signature Fields" table below for the description of the fields.

​In case you do not need to automatically display the "Edit Signature Field" dialog for the Signature fields that you will drop on the Viewer, then select the "Do not show this dialog automatically when a signature field is dropped" check box. 


  1. Click "Save".
    The field is placed. Once dropped, you can resize the field by changing its height and width using the bottom right corner to resize it diagonally as needed. The system will remember the field size and its display preferences (i.e., visible or invisible) for adding new signature fields of the same group accordingly i.e., all digital signature fields on the same documents package.
     
  2. To add multiple signature fields, repeat the above steps.

​In case there are more than one Digital Signature field for a single signer, at the time of sharing the document package only the last dropped signature field on the last page will be retained as a Digital Signature field and the rest will be converted to the lowest level of assurance that is Electronic Signature (i.e. an annotation). Even if the Signing Profiles have been configured for a higher level of assurance, SigningHub will still enforce Electronic Signatures on the previously dropped signatures. Let's understand this with an example.

   

In this example, there are five digital signature fields on multiple pages of a document for a single signer. The last page (page 4) of the document has no signature for this signer. In order to prevent bloating of the document with multiple digital signatures, system will convert the Level of Assurance of all digital signatures to Electronic Signature (i.e. annotation) and only one will remain as a digital signature according to certain rules.

The system will check which one is the last page that has a digital signature on it. In our example, it’s Page 3. Now, on this page it will check the sequence by which the digital signatures were dropped on the page. In the image above, the last page has three Digital Signature fields, and the one tagged as "fifth" is the last dropped field. The system will retain this last dropped field as Digital Signature and the rest of the Digital Signature fields on this page and other pages will be converted to Electronic Signatures.


Sign a signature field

  1. Take the cursor to the signature field assigned to you in the document, and click the sign icon  appearing on it. 
    A signing dialog will appear to sign the field, only if this field is assigned to you and it is your turn to sign in the workflow.
  2. Add your signature as required.
    Your signature field will be signed before sharing the document.

​There can be a case in which Document owner has dropped two signature fields 

  • on Page1 field have Electronic Seal (any level of assurance except Electronic signature)
  • on Page2 field have Electronic Signature as Level of assurance


At time of signing if user tries to sign field on page 1, then system will generate an error as all annotation including initials , in-person and Signature field (Electronic Signature on page 2) needs to be filled. To complete the case, user needs to sign the field on page 2 before signing the field on page 1.


Delete a signature field

Take the cursor to the signature field in the document to delete, and click the delete icon  appearing on it. 


The signature field will be removed from the document.


Signature Fields

Fields

Description

Details Tab

Recipient

A read-only field to display the signer's name and email ID for whom this signature field is being configured.

Level of Assurance

A mandatory field to be selected to perform signing for a user. Levels of assurance will be available as allowed in the role assigned to you.

Level of assurance will be set for a signature field by default as per the configured default level of assurance under Personal Settings>Signature Settings. Level of assurance options for a signature field is subject to your assigned enterprise user role and can be changed under Role>Document Settings.


The terms for a level of assurance are as per the eIDAS Standards. For details of these terms click here. Possible values are:

  • Electronic Signature
  • Electronic Seal (eSeal)
  • Advanced Electronic Seal (AdESeal)
  • Qualified Electronic Seal (QESeal)
  • Advanced Electronic Signature (AES)
  • High Trust Advanced (AATL)
  • Qualified Electronic Signature (QES)

In case the Document Owner tries to add a higher Level of Assurance in combination with Electronic Signature, then Electronic Signature will be removed.

For a smoother workflow, while adding more multiple signature fields on the document, the system will simply use the level(s) of assurance of the last field for the latest one instead of asking for every signature field. You can always modify the level of assurance for each field manually.

Field Name

An auto-generated (unique) field name which is used when you need to sign this form field through the API calls. You can change the name as required, but make sure the uniqueness of a field name is not compromised i.e., two or more fields in a document cannot have the same field name. This field is only available when the status of a document is Draft. 

 Do not show this dialog automatically when the signature field is dropped

Select to automatically apply the "Level of Assurance" of the current signature field to the ones that you will drop afterwards.

This option is helpful when you need to drop several signature fields on the document without making an extra effort to manually set the same Level of Assurance for each of the signature fields separately. 

Display

For a signature, this field will be available when you are allowed (in your user role) to add invisible signatures on a document.
 
When available:

  • Select the "Visible" option, if you require a visible signature from the signer in this field. This signature will have a proper appearance on the document as configured in the signer's Signature Appearance settings.
  • Select the "Invisible" option,  if you require an invisible signature from the signer in this field.
    An invisible signature entails all the characteristics of a signature and is duly verifiable like a visible signature. However, it does not have any appearance on the document.
    When a signature field is marked as invisible, an eye icon is placed in the signature field (as shown with the red arrow):
     

​This display property is not available in case the Level of Assurance of the Signature field is set to "Electronic Signature".

Dimensions Tab

Dimensions

Use this tab to relatively set the on-screen and PDF coordinates/position (Left, Top, Width and Height) of the signature field. However, you can also manually move the field to the desired position in a document using drag and drop and these coordinates will be updated accordingly. These coordinates are only available when the status of a document is Draft.

You can only edit the on-screen dimensions but not the PDF dimensions.

Save and Cancel buttons

Click the "Save" button to save the configurations, or click the "Cancel" button to close this dialog.


  1. A signature field's level of assurance once set as eSeal, QESeal, and AdESeal, is generated by using a certificate which is a public signing certificate as configured under certification profile.
  2. The availability of OTP security features is subject to your subscribed service plan. If you cannot find this option in your account, upgrade your service plan.
  3. The OTP length is based on your subscribed service plan. SigningHub currently supports 4, 6, and 9 digits OTP.\
  4. In invisible signature doesn't have any visible appearance on a document. However it entails all other verifiable characteristics of signing, i.e., Time Stamping, Certificate Chain, Certificate Status, etc.
  5. You can also add a signature field on a previously signed document, if the document is not certified or locked.


See Also