Send a document from a template
Click Use template, type the real name and email behind each role, and send. Fields, subject, signing order and expiry all come from the template.
Sending from a template is one dialog. Click Use template, put a real person behind each role, and click Send document, and the invitations go out with the template's own subject, message, fields and signing order already applied.
Who can do this
Anyone the template is shared with, on any plan. It has to be published: a draft says "Publish the template before sending." and an archived one says "Restore the template before sending."
Send a document from a template
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Open Templates. Click Use template on the row, or open the template and use the same button in its header.
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Fill in a Name and email for each role. The heading on each block names the role and whether it is a SIGNER or a CC.
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Click Add CC for anyone else who should get the finished copy. Those extras are added after the template's own recipients, so the signing order is not disturbed.
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Click Send document. The dialog closes on the new document's page.
Where your workspace allows scheduled sending, a picker sits below the recipients. Choose a time and the button becomes Schedule send, which builds the document now and dispatches it later. More in schedule a document to send later.
Signing in person instead
If the signer is standing in front of you, switch on In-Person Signing at the top of the dialog and tick the role who will sign here. That person gets no email at all, the button becomes Start in-person signing, and the session opens on your device as soon as you click it.
Only one role at a time can be ticked, and only Signer roles are offered, since a CC never signs. The Use in person button on the template page is a shortcut to the same dialog with the first signer role already ticked. Full detail in host an in-person signing session, which needs Business or above.
What a template carries over into the document
| Comes from the template | Not set in this dialog |
|---|---|
| The same PDF, with every field where you left it, including size, label, required flag and options | Field placement. To change it, duplicate the template and edit the copy |
| Any file requests set on a signer role, so the real signer is asked for the same uploads | The email subject and message, which live on the template's email and sending defaults |
| The email subject and message, the signing order and the auto-remind setting, straight from those same sending defaults | A draft or review step. Send document dispatches at once unless you schedule it |
| An expiry worked out from the template's default number of days, or your workspace default when the template has none | Extra fields for this one send. The template's placement is used exactly as saved |
| The completion redirect, when your plan includes it | The CC list, beyond whatever you add with Add CC |
The document takes the template's name, so several sends from one template look alike in the list. Open one to see its recipients. Meanwhile the template's own page counts the send under Used, and its Activity tab records who used it and when.
If something goes wrong
- A red notice about your monthly limit sits at the top of the dialog. You have used every document your plan allows this month. The send button stays disabled until the next cycle, or until you move up a plan.
- "This template has no placeholders." Nothing to fill in, so nothing can be sent. Its owner needs to add at least one role.
- The send button is disabled with a schedule chosen. The time is in the past or under a minute away. Pick something further ahead.
- The In-Person Signing switch carries a small padlock next to the label. In-person signing is a Business feature. The switch still takes a click, and clicking it opens a panel naming the plan over the dialog, so everything you have already typed stays where it is.
- A signer says the wording is wrong. Subject and message come from the template, not from this dialog. Fix them on the template's Settings tab before the next send.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to fill in every role?
Every Signer role, yes, and the dialog will not submit without a name and email for each. CC roles are optional and any you leave blank are dropped from the document. Add extra copy recipients on top with Add CC, which do not have to exist on the template.
Can I change the fields before it goes out?
Not from this dialog. It sends in one step, using the template's field placement exactly as saved. If this one document needs different fields, duplicate the template and edit the copy, or send the file through the normal wizard instead.
Does using a template send the document straight away?
Yes, unless you schedule it. Send document dispatches the invitations immediately, with no draft step and no review screen in between. Where scheduled sending is available, pick a date and time instead and the button changes to Schedule send, which creates the document now and holds it until then.
Where do the recipients I typed go afterwards?
Into your contacts, matched on email address so nobody is duplicated. The name field also suggests saved contacts as you type, so the second time you send the same template you can pick a signer from the list rather than typing an address again.
Why is the send button disabled?
Either the template has no roles to fill in, you are at your plan's monthly document limit, which the dialog says at the top, or the schedule you picked is not far enough in the future. Scheduled sends have to be at least a minute ahead.
Keep going
Create a template
Build a reusable template from a file, or turn a document you have already sent into one. Both remember the roles, the fields and the email settings.
ReadSet a template's email and sending defaults
Set the subject, message, signing order, expiry, auto-remind and completion redirect once on the template, and every document sent from it inherits them.
ReadPublish, share and archive templates
A draft is private until you publish it. Publishing asks who can use it, archiving takes it out of circulation, and deleting is reserved for unused drafts.
ReadHost an in-person signing sessionBusiness and up
Tick a signer as in-person, name the host who will be with them, and hand over your device instead of emailing a link.
Read