SigningHub allows you to add two different types of signatures in a template, i.e. Electronic and Digital. Read more about the electronic and digital signatures. Adding digital signatures for a recipient/ placeholder will consume digital signatures quota of your (document owner's) account, after being signed by the recipient.

You can also add multiples signature fields against a signer. However, when you add the second signature field, then the first signature field will be converted into a simple hand signature field, and the second field will become the actual digital signature field. Similarly, when you add the third digital signature field, then the previous two fields will become the simple hand signature fields, and the third field will be the actual digital signature field and so on.

After you have:


Add a signature field in the template

  1. Select the recipient (signer/ electronic seal/ placeholder) from the right side of document viewer screen, for whom you want to add a signature field. Click  (on the right side of the screen) if you want to manage the added recipients.
  2. Click the "Signature" option, and drop it on the document. 

  3. You can drag and drop the signature field anywhere in the document by using your mouse. The grid lines will assist you in better alignment of fields accordingly. Resize the field with respect to its height and width or use the bottom right corner to resize it diagonally as required. The system will remember the field size for new signature fields. 

  4. Now take the cursor to the signature field, and click  to view and edit its details. See the "Signature Fields" table below for the fields description. 

  5. Repeat the above steps to add multiple digital signature fields.


Delete a signature field from the template

Take the cursor to the signature field in the document to delete, and click  appearing on it. 
The signature field will be removed from the document.


Signature Fields

Fields

Description

General 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:

  • Simple Electronic Signature (SES)
  • 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 Simple Electronic Signature (SES), then Simple Electronic Signature (SES) 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.

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".

Do not show this dialog automatically when a 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. 

Details Tab

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. 

Dimensions

Use this section 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 hand signature is a simple annotation that is added in the document along with the actual digital/ e-signature, when multiple digital/ e-signature fields are configured for a signer.
  2. You can not add the digital signature and e-signature fields for the same recipient in a template.
  3. An electronic signature can also be a witness digital signature, if it is generated by using a witness certificate which is a public signing certificate available on the server for digital signing. 
  4. If the specified recipient (signer) in a template, does not have a SigningHub account and a digital signature field is configured for him/her, s/he will be asked to register to SigningHub before applying digital signature on the document. However, the recipient does not require a SigningHub account, when an e-signature field is configured for him/her.
  5. The availability of Witness Digital Signature and OTP security features is subject to your subscribed service plan. If you cannot find these options in your account, upgrade your service plan.
  6. An invisible signature doesn't have any visible appearance on a document. However it entails all other verifiable characteristics of e-signing, i.e. Time Stamping, Certificate Chain, Certificate Status, etc. An invisible signature can be a Digital Signature, Witness Digital Signature, or Witness In-Person Signature as configured in a workflow.
  7. The OTP length is based on your subscribed service plan. SigningHub currently supports 4, 6, and 9 digits OTP.
  8. The document owner (and the shared space collaborator, if any) can update the level of assurance of a "Signature" field, while the status of the document is, "In-Progress" or "Pending".
    • In case of the document owner is an enterprise user, they can set any level of assurance as allowed in the Enterprise Role.
    • In case of the document owner is an individual user, they can set any level of assurance as allowed in the Service Plan.
    • In the "EDIT SIGNATURE FIELD" dialog, only the "Level of Assurance" field will be editable, the rest of the fields will be read-only.
    • The level of assurance of a signature field can not be updated if a read-only template has been applied.
    • Only the level of assurance of unprocessed fields can be updated.
    • Where previously, the level of assurance of a signature field was set to "Simple Electronic Signature (SES), the system will not allow updating the level of assurance.
    • Where previously, the level of assurance of a signature field was any other than "Simple Electronic Signature (SES), the system will not allow updating the level of assurance to "Simple Electronic Signature".




See Also