Best Practices: How to Pre-Fill Custom Information on an eSignature Document (Dropbox Sign)
There are two possible workflows to help with pre-entering custom information in eSignature documents!
1. Enter information during the signature process (recommended)
With this approach, you will send the template to yourself (or someone in your firm) as the first signature recipient. This person can be the advisor, an admin, etc. This person will fill in data during the signature process, before the document is sent to the client.
For a template to work best for this scenario, the setup below is a good recommended starting point:
For this to work, the key is to make sure that your template A) has Enable Signing Order set to on, and B) Role #1 is used for the purpose of entering in custom information!
If you, as the Advisor, want to enter information first AND complete your signature on the document first, you do not need an extra data input role as shown above. You can instead place the Advisor role in Role #1.
Next, when setting up fields on the template, a field can be inserted with the Assigned To: drop-down set to the person responsible for entering in the custom data (your name for Role #1). Here is an example of what this looks like:
Tip: If needed, the Placeholder text for a Textbox can be customized to tell that person what is supposed to be entered in that field!
Finally, when sending the document out for signatures, verify that Enable Signing Order is set to on and the person who needs to pre-fill out information is first in the signing order. They will receive the document first and be able to complete all items Assigned To: them before the document gets sent to the next person for signature.
2. Enter the information during template creation
Any field can be inserted in the template with the Assigned To: drop-down set to Me (now). As the creator of the document, you will be able to pre-fill custom information right then and there before saving and sending the document out for signatures!
Tip: If the custom information must be changed on a per-client basis, the template will need to be updated each time before it is sent out. To do this, click the drop-down Actions arrow next to the template and choose Edit Fields. That is a great option if you don’t mind editing the template each time.
Want to learn more? Check out Getting Started with eSignatures when working with eSignatures.