Digital Signatures using Adobe Sign

FYI can be integrated with digital signature providers Adobe Sign, for digital signing.

The following describes how to set up and use FYI so that documents can be sent directly to Adobe Sign. For information on how to set up the integration, refer to Integration with Adobe Sign.

This article contains the following sections:

• Sending one or more Documents for Signature
• Opening the Web Link document
• Making Changes to the Draft PDF Document in FYI
• When the Document is Signed in Adobe

Sending one or more Documents for Signature

All documents sent for signing must be a PDF.

Sending Multiple Documents
When sending multiple documents, it is recommended to change the Subject in FYI to indicate that a pack is being sent, for example, "2023 document pack". This will help you identify the individual document in FYI as well as the combined pack of documents.

Where multiple documents are being sent, they must be for the same client.

Note: Adobe Sign has a default 10MB limit on the file size that can be sent. If the file is too large, FYI displays a message "File size too large". You can request Adobe Sign to increase this limit for your practice.

1. In FYI, on a list, select one or more PDF documents for a specific client.
   
   
2. Click the Signature button in the tool bar. Or for a single PDF document, right-click and select Signature from the tool bar pop-up menu (refer to Using the Document Action Tool Bar).
   
   
   
   
3. The Send for Signature drawer displays and includes the names of the document(s) that are being sent. This shows the filing details of the FYI Web Link document that will be created as a record of the document(s) that have been sent for signature.
   
   The Service used is automatically determined by the service you are using to sign the document (for example, DocuSign, Adobe Sign, Annature, FuseSign or myprosperity). If you happen to have more than one service connected, you will see a selection for Service in the Send for Signature so you can select which to use.
   
   The following example shows the Send for Signature for Adobe Sign with the Recipients displayed.
   
   
   
   
4. The Client name is automatically selected as the client of the selected PDF. The email address displays under the Client name.
   
   
5. Recipients
   Clicking the Recipients link displays the email address of the selected client. This shows as the "Signer".
   
   Selecting additional Recipients
   Where the client has more than one contact email, you can select one or more of these to additionally send the request for signature to. Select the email from the drop-down list. You can also create one or more additional email addresses by typing the address in the Recipients field and clicking the Create link.
   If required, you can also select these as "Signer", "Approver" or "CC".
   
   Changing the Order of Recipients
   Adobe Sign supports the ability for Signature requests to be performed in a particular order. When more than one Recipient has been selected, you can click Complete in any order to set it to "Off" so that you can then drag and drop Recipients to change the order.

   When Complete in any order is "Off", the emails are sent in the order in which they are shown in the list of Recipients.
   When Complete in any order is "On", the emails are sent to recipients in no specific order.

   
   
   Client without an Email Address
   Where the client does not have an email address, click the link that shows as 0 Recipients and select the recipient. Refer to Adding and Changing Recipients when Creating an Email.
   
   
6. Select the Service Status as "Draft" or "Send".
   
   Send allows you to completely automate the signature request and it is sent to the service immediately.
   
   Draft allows you to create a draft request within the service. You will then need to go into the service to complete the request and send it. This may be useful if you want to change the email sent or send the request to more than one person to sign.
   
   
7. If required, select a Template. This needs to be an Email Template and this will populate the Message when the document is sent for signature. The Template can include Merge Fields (for example, the Client's Name) that are used to populate the contents of the Message.
   
   
8. Subject - When sending a single document, the Subject is set as the name of the document.
   You can change the Subject.
   
   When sending multiple documents
   The Subject is set as the name of the document of the first document selected. You can change the Subject to be unique and to indicate that a pack of documents is being sent, for example, "2021 document pack". When sending multiple documents, if you leave the subject line as the original name, the merged documents will show as this name in FYI when the pack is returned from the signing service and this can cause confusion of what is the individual document what is the pack.
   
   Note: Changing the Subject will also change the name of the Web Link and the Signed document(s) and for multiple documents, the name of the combined pack of signed documents, when received back from the signing service.
   To keep the original document name, do not alter the Subject in FYI  but update the Subject directly in Adobe Sign. This will import the document(s) as the original name.
   
   
9. Message - When using Adobe Sign, you can also enter a Message that will be included when the client receives the request for signature.
   
   
10. In the Workflow, the Status is automatically set as "Pending Client Signature".
    
    
11. If the combined pack needs to be approved, you can use the FYI approval functions to do this.
    In FYI in the Workflow, change the Status to "Pending Approval".
    The Approver can open the pack in Adobe Sign, check it and approve it from within Adobe.
    Once the pack is sent to the client from Adobe Sign, this will set the Status of the pack in FYI to "Pending Client Signature".
    
    
12. Include Reference can be set as "On" or "Off".
    Every document in FYI has a unique reference number and FYI uses this reference number in the filename when bringing the signed document back into FYI (see below).
    When Include Reference is set "On", when multiple documents are sent for signing, this reference number is automatically included in the file name of the document that is uploaded.
    
    
13. Click Create.

A Web Link document is created as a record of the document(s) that have been sent for signature.

When sending a single document with the Service Status as "Send", the original document shows as a thread under the Web Link document.  You can display the Drawer for the Web Link and see the relevant documents in the Threads section of the Drawer. Threads for documents display in the same way as email threads. Refer to Managing Email Threads.

For multiple documents, the original documents show as stapled together and are also stapled to the Web Link. You can display the Drawer of any of the document, or for the Web Link, and see the relevant documents in the Stapled section of the Drawer. Refer to Stapled Documents.

Opening the Web Link document

When you open the Web Link, you are prompted to login in to the digital signature provider.  The Manage screen displays from where you can see the document(s) that were sent for signing either in the Draft or Sent screen according to whether you selected "Draft" or "Send" as the Service Status.

If a combined pack was sent from FYI with the Workflow Status set to "Pending Approval", the Approver can open the pack in Adobe Sign using the Web Link in FYI, check it and send it to the client from Adobe Sign. This will set the Status of the pack in FYI to "Pending Client Signature".

Making Changes to the Draft PDF Document in FYI

Once a document is set as Draft for a signature, it automatically creates a Web Link and does not show as a PDF in FYI. If you need to make any changes to the PDF:

1. In the Web Link, unlink the document in the Thread section of the drawer by clicking the Unlink icon next to the PDF (refer to Unlinking a Document from the Thread in Managing Email Threads).
2. Delete the Web Link document.
3. In the PDF, using the Workflow section of the drawer, change the Workflow Status to "Not Started".
4. Edit and save the PDF document.
5. Resend the PDF for signing.

Note: To edit the document, you need to have an Approval Level of "Approval" to be able to change the Workflow Status from "Pending Client Signature" to a previous Status. Refer to Workflow Basics and to Managing Users.

When the Document is Signed in Adobe

When the client receives the document to be signed, they will see the name of the FYI user who sent the document. When using Adobe Sign to get your client to sign documents, Adobe notifies FYI when a document is signed. The signed PDF is pulled into FYI.

For a single document, the signed PDF is allocated a separate FYI Reference number and it is automatically added to the top of the thread, then the Web Link document below this in the thread (as a record of the send) and then the original document. Threads for documents display in the same way as email threads. Refer to Managing Email Threads.

For Multiple Documents
When multiple documents are sent to the client as a combined pack, and the signed documents are returned from the service:

The combined pack of signed documents is threaded with the Web Link.

Note: To easily identify that it is a combined pack of documents, when sending multiple documents it is recommended to change the Subject to indicate that a pack is being sent, instead of using the name of one of the documents in the pack.