Place signature fields
A signature field is the box a signer signs in. You put it on the document yourself, on the page and in the spot where the signature belongs. This happens on the Fields step of the signing wizard, the step before Review.
Add the signers first
Nothing can be placed until Papers knows who is signing, because every field belongs to one signer.
You add them on the step before, Recipients: enter each person's Name and Email and choose Add. Add me adds you in one click. Until somebody is on the list, the field buttons on Fields stay greyed out.
The three kinds of field
Field tools offers three:
Signature is the full signature. Every signer needs one.
Initial is for initialling a page or a clause, which South African contracts often ask for on every page.
Date signed is filled in automatically with the date the person signed. Do not make somebody type today's date; use this instead.
Place a field
Click a field in Field tools to drop it in the middle of the page you are looking at, or drag it onto the spot where it goes. Drag a placed field to move it, and drag the handle in its bottom-right corner to resize it.
Put it over the line the signature belongs on, sized about as big as a signature. A field the size of a postage stamp gets a cramped signature.
You can also work from the keyboard. Tab selects a placed field, the arrow keys move it, and holding Shift moves it further. Delete removes it, and Enter opens its menu.
Place fields for the right person
Field tools shows who the next field belongs to: Placing fields for a name, with the person's place in the list, such as "signatory 1 of 2". With more than one signer there is a button for each person, and Next: followed by the next person's name moves you on. Place one person's fields, then switch.
Each placed field shows its kind and takes its signer's colour, the same colour as the dot beside their name. This is the mistake to watch for on a two-signer document: place every field with one name selected and both signature boxes belong to the same person, so the second signer has nothing to sign. Check the colours before you send.
To move a field to somebody else, click it and pick the right person under Reassign to….
A field marked Unassigned belonged to somebody you removed from Recipients. Reassign it or delete it. Review will not let you send until you do.
Keep them lined up
Snap to grid in Field tools aligns fields as you place them. It is on to start with. On a document with a row of signature blocks, leave it on.
More than one page
Scroll to the page you want and place the field there. A field belongs to the page you put it on.
To repeat a field on every page, click it and choose Copy to every page. The copies sit in the same spot on each page.
Initial every page
For a contract that needs initialling throughout, use Initial every page under Field tools. Set up page initials adds an initial box for each signer at the bottom right of every page.
Place the Signature fields first. Skip pages where the person signs is ticked to start with, and it leaves out the pages where that person already has a signature field.
Remove page initials takes the boxes away again. A box you have moved since is left where it is.
Change your mind
Move, resize or remove a field before you send. Click a field for its menu: Duplicate adds a copy below it, and Delete removes it. Once the request is sent the layout is fixed, because the signers are looking at that exact document.
If you have to change a sent request, void it and start again. See track signatures and send reminders.
Going back to change the document data
For a request made from a template, choosing Back on Recipients opens Re-edit document data? Choose Go back to Step 1 to return to Details, or Stay here to keep what you have.
If you go back and change the document's data, Papers re-renders the document and clears the fields you placed, because the content has moved and the old positions no longer mean anything. Choose Save & continue when you are done, and expect to place the fields again afterwards.