Advanced Recipient Controls with Signer Views

Use our signer views settings to control how your recipients view and sign their documents. If you’ve got signer options that you need to conceal, chances are we’ve got your back.

Before changing your signer views settings, take note that you cannot change signer views settings after you’ve sent the document to your recipient/s. With that being said, let’s begin!

To edit Signer views settings, look for the Settings button on the top left hand side of the Signority document editor. Click on the Signer Views tab.

There is a wide variety of options you can choose from; let’s go over them all!

Signer views options

If the Hide change signer button option is selected, the recipient will no longer have the option to change signers, meaning that whoever receives the document is also required to sign it themselves.

If the Hide status button option is selected, the signer will  be unable to view the document’s ID, GUID, name, Creation date, Expiry date, Recipient list, and history while information about whether or not other recipients have signed will also be unavailable.

When the Hide reject button option is selected, the recipient will not be allowed to reject a document that’s sent to them.

If the Hide save button option is selected, the recipient will not have to ability to save their progress as they are undergoing the signing process, and will therefore have to fill out the entirety of a form in one go.

Upon selecting the Hide download button option, the signer will no longer be able to download the document that they are currently signing.

All of these options are normally found under the “more” tab during the signing process, but can all be hidden away.

If the Hide thumbnail option is selected, the signer will no longer see the thumbnail summarizing each page of the document.

If the Hide help button option is selected, the signer will no longer see the help button located at the bottom right side of the page.

When the Hide view document button option is picked, the signer will not be able to see the document again after it has been finalized.

Signing methods options

If you require your recipients to sign in a specific way, we can help make sure you aren’t receiving any invalid signatures.

The options, Hide draw signature buttonHide type signature button, and Hide upload signature button, each prevent a signer from using the corresponding signing methods. It’s an easy way to get all the signatures exactly the way you want them!

Combining Templates into one Document

Signority now allows users to combine multiple templates in any order to create a single document. Long gone are the days of sending document after document to clients; instead, send just one!

Creating a document with multiple templates

To create a document with multiple templates, enter the Templates tab through the sidebar, then click on the Use Template button.

Upon clicking this, a window will open asking you if you want to use multiple templates. Check off the checkbox and then click OK.

A window named Create new Document will open. Drag the window aside and click the USE TEMPLATE button of any documents you want to include. Once you do, they will appear on the window.

This newly opened window has many other uses which are annotated below.

  1. Use the blue negative button to remove unwanted documents from the window. Keep in mind that they only appear once the user has hovered over one with their cursor.
  2. Checkboxes are used to select templates, which then can be moved around using the blue arrows on the right. The double up and down arrows move selected templates to the top or bottom of the document respectively, while the up and down arrows move selected documents up or down by one place. The order of the documents in this window will also be the order in which they appear when adding tags.
  3. If you’re satisfied with the templates you have selected, click OK to combine all the templates and continue in the document-creating process.
  4. If you wish to exit the window, simply click the “X” at the top right hand of the screen, or the Cancel button.

Once you have selected all your required templates and clicked OK, you can go about adding tags and the rest of the signing process as usual.

Masking Sensitive Information using Masked Text Tags

When working with documents online, a document sender may need to obtain highly sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII)—like credit card numbers, social insurance numbers—from their recipient. Senders can maintain high standards of privacy and security while obtaining such sensitive information by using the Signority Masked Text Tag.
The Signority Masked Text Tag is like a regular Text Tag, and senders can request any type of information from a recipient using the Masked Text Tag. In order to use the Masked Text Tag, simply drag and drop the tag from the left-hand side list of tags onto the document in the appropriate place.
Once you drag and drop the tag, a popup window will appear, prompting you to change the name of the Masked Text Tag to something more recognizable. This is especially important if you are requesting more than one piece of sensitive information, since you will be retrieving the masked information through a .csv file.

Sending out a document with a secure masked field works the same way as any other document.
On the recipient side, a recipient can enter in the requested information into the tag area. Once the recipient clicks away from the tag, any content entered into it will be hidden with the tag’s name, followed by asterisks. At any point in time before finalizing the document, the recipient can click the tag, review the information that was entered, and edit as needed.

Once the document has been finalized, you can access the finalized PDF document either from the email notification that you receive, or you can access the document from your Signority account. The finalized PDF will have the content entered into any masked tags encrypted and hidden. In order to access the sensitive information, you will need to navigate to the document under the “Documents” page in your account, and click on the Document Title to view the document. In the page to view the document, click on the “More” dropdown menu in the top right corner. You will see an option to “Export masked tags to .csv file”.

Clicking on this option will automatically download a .csv file containing the information stored in the Masked Text tag(s).
Once the requested sensitive information has been recorded and stored securely, you will have the option to permanently delete the masked tags values from your Signority account. In the same “More” menu, simply click on “Delete masked tags values”. You will see a popup window asking you to confirm the deletion.

Once you have confirmed the deletion, all content that was entered into any Masked Text Tags will be permanently deleted, and you will no longer have access to it. In addition, the options to export and delete the masked tags values will no longer be available under the “More Dropdown”.

How to use Anchor Text

Anchor text is a group of text-based placeholders for different Signority tags such as signature or initial tags.  For longer documents, using these can save a lot of time.  You can manually type in the anchor text into the document and the system will automatically place the corresponding Signority tag where the anchor text has been typed.  This feature is very useful for API integrations.  In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to use anchor text when creating a new Template.

Anchor Text Basics

Before we get started with the tutorial, we need to know what the designated anchor text characters are.  Below is a list of anchor text characters and what Signority Tag they correspond to.  The first letter defines the tag type, and the digit represents the recipient.  Placing an “o” in front of the tag-defining character makes the tag optional.

Tag Type Mandatory version Optional Version Recipient
Signature Tag \s1\ \os1\ Recipient 1
Initial Tag \i1\ \oi1\ Recipient 1
Date Tag \d2\ \od2\ Recipient 2
Radio Button \r2\ \or2\ Recipient 2
Checkbox \c2\ \oc2\ Recipient 2
Text Tag \t3\ \ot3\ Recipient 3
Masked Text Tag \mt3\ \omt3\ Recipient 3
Number Tag \n1\ \on1\ Recipient 1
Note Tag Not Applicable \ono1\ Recipient 1
Attachment Tag \a3\ \oa3\ Recipient 3

Defining Radio Buttons with Anchor Text

Radio buttons are a bit unique in Signority.  Since radio buttons always come in groups of two or more, Signority uses a special method to identify them with anchor text.  Let’s say you want to create three radio buttons for your first recipient to choose their gender from.  Then you would type \r1_gender_1\, \r1_gender_2\, \r1_gender_3\ in the respective spots.  The initial “\r1” tells Signority that there should be radio buttons where the text is placed.  Then “_gender_” tells Signority that the radio buttons are all part of the same group called “gender”.  Finally, the digits following “_gender_” distinguish the radio buttons from each other.  These final digits can also be replaced using letters from the alphabet (A, B, … , Z).
Note that there must always be at least two radio buttons in each group.

New Document with Anchor Text

Now that we have the basics, here’s how to create a new document in Signority with anchor text.  First, you will have to create a document in your desktop that has anchor text in them.  In the demo document below, there are two recipients.  For the sake of demonstration, we’ve made the anchor text black, but when you’re using anchor text, you can change the text colour to be white so that it can’t be seen.

Once you have your document prepared, sign into your Signority account and click on “+New” in the top left corner of your Dashboard.  Then click “New Document”.  You will be brought to the document upload page.  At this point, make sure to tick the checkbox next to “Add tags automatically based on anchor text” on the right side of the page before uploading your document.
Once you have uploaded your documents, click “Add my recipients” or “Next” and add your recipients.  Signority will automatically detect how many recipients need to sign the document based on the anchor text that you have inputted.


After adding your recipients, continue to the document editor by clicking “Next”.  You should see Signority Tags placed on top of the areas where you inputted anchor text.

From here, double check to make sure everything is in the right place.  Then click send and wait for your document to get signed!

New Template with Anchor Text

Here’s how to create a new Template with Anchor Text.  The first step is to create a document and type the placeholder text into them.  In the example below, there are three tags for each of two recipients: a signature tag, a text tag, and a date tag.  Note that when preparing a document, the text can be set to be white so that the recipient does not see the tags during the signing process.

Once you have a document set up, sign into your Signority account and click on the “+New” in the top left corner of your Dashboard.  Then select “New Template” and choose one of the options that is shown in the window that pops up.  For this example, we will create a Regular Template.
You will then be brought directly into the document designer page.  From here, click on “Add files”.


In the window that pops up, tick the checkbox next to “Add tags automatically based on PDF anchor text.  Then upload your document(s).

When your document is uploaded, you should see the Signority tags automatically placed onto the document.

In this example, the anchor tag text is visible for demonstration purposes.  When you are preparing your documents, you can set the text to be white so that they are not visible on the document.

After this step, the template is ready for use.

Resizing Anchor Tags

Anchor tags can be resized by inputting a custom width and height into the anchor text. In general, the format for defining width and height of an anchor tag is \s1_W_H\, where W and H are replaced by custom numbers. Only Signature tags, Initial tags, Text tags, Masked Text tags, Number tags, Date tags, and Note tags can be resized.

The size of the tag is determined by multiplying the width and height by the default size of the tag. Below is a table containing each tag’s default size.

Tag TypeDefault SizeExampleActual Size
Signature TagWidth: 107, Height: 33\s1_2_3\
W = 2, H = 3
Width: 214, Height: 99
Initial TagWidth: 85, Height: 27\i1_1.35_0.5\
W = 1.35, H = 0.5
Width: 114.75, Height: 13.5
Date TagWidth: 53, Height: 13\d1_2_1\
W = 2, H = 1
Width: 106, Height: 13
Text TagWidth: 107, Height: 13\t1_2.4_1\
W = 2.4, H = 1
Width: 256.8, Height: 13
Masked Text TagWidth: 107, Height: 13
Number TagWidth: 107, Height: 13
Note TagWidth: 107, Height: 13

In the example below, anchor text has been used to create and resize a text tag, a signature tag, and a date tag. The text is set to 0.75 times, or 75% of the default width, and 1 time, or 100% of the default height. The signature tag is set to 1.5 times, or 150% of the default width, and 1 time, or 100% of the default height. Finally, the date tag is set to 1.2 times, or 120% of the default width, and 1 time, or 100% of the default height.

Anchor text can also be used in API integrations with Signority.  For more information about our API, you can check out our online API documentation. 
If you don’t have a Signority account, check out our plans and pricing, and sign up for a free trial today!

Signority Integration with Amazon S3 Bucket for Storage

With the release of Sprint 44 on November 19, 2019, you could to store signed documents from your team in your Amazon S3 bucket.  Here’s a quick step-by-step on how to set up this exciting new integration!
First, you need to register an Amazon Web Services (AWS) account.  After your account is set up, go to your AWS console and select “S3” from services menu.
AWS S3 Bucket setup
Once you arrive at the S3 console, create a bucket, and give it a name.  Bucket names are global and you cannot use a name that others have used.
AWS S3 bucket naming.
Once you have created the bucket, you will see it show up on the console.
 AWS S3 bucket created
Now, you will need to get your Access Key ID and your Secret Access Key.
Go to your account and select My Security Credentials to find your Access Key ID and Secret Access Key.
AWS Get security credentials

AWS Create Access Keys
If you don’t have an Access Key, select Create New Access Key.
AWS Create new access key
Then, save your keys.  You will need the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key to activate the integration in Signority.
Once you have done that, sign into your Signority account and click on “Profile Settings”.

Click on the Integration tab then click on Activate next to AWS S3 Bucket.


You will see a pop-up window where you enter your Access Key, Secret Access Key, Bucket name, and Region.
S3 Integration. Enter info.
Once you’ve entered all the information, hit “OK”, and you’re ready to start signing!  You should see a test document named “Welcome_to_Amazon_s3” appear in your S3 bucket. From now on, whenever a document is finalized, a zip file will be saved in the S3 bucket. Anyone on your team can create documents to be stored in the bucket.

S3 bucket signed document
ExampleDocument has been signed and automatically stored as a zip-file in the S3 bucket.

The billing admin and proper team admins can configure the S3 budget setting. Regular users don’t have permission to configure the integration.   
Also, if at any time you want to deactivate Amazon S3 integration, just click on the “Deactivate” button.  You can find it in the same place that you activated the integration.
More storage integrations with Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Dropbox will be coming soon!

Sharing Documents and Templates with Your Team

A document or a template can be shared by any of the roles within your team. When the document or the template is shared, it will be shared to the subteam where the user is in.

Select the file, From the action drop-down menu, chose “Shared/Unshare with my subteam. 

A notification window will pop up. Select “Share”. 
If you do not want to share the file, go through the same process and select “Unshare”. 
Be aware there is a general setting in the “Profile Settings” under “My Profile”.

By default, document sharing is OFF and template sharing is ON

If you turn the Automatically Share doc to team “On”, each newly created document will be a shared document to your subteam. 
 

Template Overlay for Dynamic Documents

Ever have dynamic documents, such as an invoice or an expense form? The content of the document may change from use to use but the placement of the tags remain the same. In these instances, the Template Overlay can dramatically save you time and effort.
With the template overlay feature, you can create a template of a blank document, and then when needed, overlay the tags from the template onto a new document you have uploaded.

Preparing the Template for Overlay

To use the template overlay feature, you first need to make a template of the document in question. You can get a step-by-step guide on how to create your template here.
But briefly, begin by using the +New button in the top right and select New Template. When prompted, select the Regular Template option.
On the Editor page, Add the file you’ll use for the overlay and then Edit Recipients to create roles for your signers.
Once the Roles are created, add Tags to collect signer information by dragging and dropping them into place on the document.
When you’re done, click on the More option and select Save File.

Using Template Overlay

Now that you have created a template, you can use the Overlay feature whenever you create a new document.
Use the +New button again and this time select New Document. The process for document creation is the same as always, you can check out our guide here.
Begin by uploading the dynamic version of the template you want to overlay. Usually, this is when the user generates a new document for their signers, such as an expense form or an application, that has the changed content compared to the template. What you’re going to be using are the tags that are in the template and overlaying those tags onto the new document.
Once the document is uploaded, Add Recipients and edit any recipient settings you want, like automatic reminderscustomized invitation emailsetc.
Once you’re done, move on to the Editor page. You should see the new document uploaded. Click on the More option in the top right and select the Overlay option.
Template overlay option on editor page
When prompted, select the Template Overlay you wish to use and confirm or customize.

When you have specific pages from the template to overlay to the document, Drag and Drop to the proper pages.

If done correctly, the overlay should be applied and the document will have the tags from the template visible on the Editor page. Add any extra tags you may need, make sure all the tags are properly assigned to their signers, and then send the document to collect your signatures!

Further Reading

Publishing Template Links for Online Document Signing
Bulk Send Documents for Signing
Track and Monitor Document Status and History

Tag Settings: Assigning Tags to Specific Signers & Making Tags Optional

Tags are an integral part of Signority’s eSignature platform. This is how we’re able to collect any kind of information from your signers, so assigning tags to become a crucial part of the workflow. If tags are assigned or setup improperly, the workflow will need to start over, even if the signers entered their information and added their signature! So let’s go over the right way to do it and divert any issues before they happen.

Assigning Tags to the Right Signers

In any workflow in Signority, whether it’s with a regular document or a specific type of template, adding and assigning tags are a crucial part of the process. We’ll be going over how to assign tags to the right signers and what they look like for specific types of signers within Signority.
First, we’ll go over how to assign tags to specific signers.
If you’re sending out a regular document, the process will be the same. Upload the document you need signed and Add Recipients until your signer list is set.
When you get to the Editor page, drag and drop a tag into place and then click on it to bring up the options directly above. Use the drop-down menu to find the correct recipient. Notice that the tag colour will change to something else, making it easier for you to distinguish which tags are for which person.
By default, the tag will be assigned to the first recipient in the list, but as soon as you’ve switched recipients, we’ll assign new tags to the most recent recipient.
See how to add tags and assign them to the right signers
There are also minor changes for other signer types and roles. If your document needs a witness signing, you can set up a witness for specific signers. Tags that are assigned to witnesses, though, look slightly different than regular tags. You’ll notice the icon of a person to indicate a witness tag.

There’s also a slight difference for Signing Hosts. Signing hosts are used whenever you want to conduct an In Person Signing, for people who do not have email or for those who are present in person and still want to use eSignature. You can learn how to set up an In-Person Signing here.
With Signing Hosts, you’ll also notice that assigning tags to them will show with a house icon on the top right.
assigning tags to in person signer
With these different tag images, it’s good to know exactly what each difference means so that you can complete your workflows without any hiccups. If you want an overview of what the tags do, click here.

Assigning Tags as Optional

With all of these tags so far, you’ll notice a * (asterisk) in the top right corner of each tag. This indicates that the tag is mandatory and signers are required to fill in mandatory tags to complete their signing.
To make a tag optional, select a tag and use the cog icon to bring up the Settings.
In the Settings window, uncheck the Required box and then click Save.

Once you’ve saved the settings for the tag, the tag will no longer have the * red star anymore.
That’s all for how to set up tags. Remember to ensure these steps are taken each time you start a new workflow to minimize the chances of wrongly assigned tags or having mandatory tags in places that should be optional.

Further Readings

Create Electronic Signature Documents for Others
Create an Electronic Signature Template for Easy Document Sending
Publish a Template Link for Online Signing