[Advisor] Get Started with eSignatures: Creating Templates (Dropbox Sign)
In This Article:
AdvicePay now offers eSignature functionality through a partnership with Dropbox Sign to allow you to get financial planning agreements and other documents signed as part of your payment requests or independently. Easily upload your templates and become more efficient instantly!
eSignature access is enabled or disabled by the Enterprise firm's primary account (your broker dealer or "home office).
📍 Watch this video demo on how to use eSignature
Important: All signature request email links do expire after 30 days. To refresh the link, please send a reminder on the document or share the URL link from inside AdvicePay.
Please note: Dropbox Sign no longer supports using Safari 11 or below and will no longer work in Internet Explorer 11. We suggest using Chrome or Firefox.
How to Prepare Documents for Signing
Please note: that template creation permissions are managed by the Account Owner ("Home Office"), and so may not be available on your particular account! If template creation is disabled, you can still send out documents if they've been set up by the firm.
1. Under Documents or Templates, click the Add New Template button. If this is your first template, a brief tutorial will appear to guide you on the key steps of the process.
2. Fill in the Template Name, Description, and (optional) + Add New Role to add additional signees if it's possible that more than one person will need to sign the document. This is great for adding your client's partner and/or yourself as a signee on the document! When sending out the document, extra roles can be removed whenever needed.
Best Practice Tip! Roles cannot be added or removed from a template itself, but roles can be removed on a per-document basis when sending! For this reason we highly recommend setting up your template so that it contains all the possible roles that might need to enter something onto the document during the signing process: Client, Spouse/Partner, Advisor, Compliance, Administrative, etc.
When sending out a document, based on the template, you can then easily exclude any role that you don't need!
To set a default signing order for all documents created from this template, toggle the Enable signing order button to on and drag the fields up or down to rearrange the order in which signatures are obtained.
If desired, this signing order can later be adjusted on a per-document level when sending as long as the Allow edits to signing order before sending document toggle is also set to on. If you want to close the template to any adjustments and require the template-level signing order to be used, you will toggle that button off.
3. Drag and drop your document file into the Files box, or click within the box to browse + select a file from your computer folders.
To add multiple documents for merging into one template, click + Add Another File. This is useful for sending a complete packet of documents to new clients.
Accepted File Types: PDF, DOCX | Size limit: 10 MB
4. Click Add Template
5. After you're taken into the template editing screen, click and drop or drag and place your desired fields into the document:
Tip: At minimum there must be one (1) non-date field -- such as a signature, checkbox, initials, textbox, etc. -- assigned to each signee in order to complete the template.
6. Click Continue. Your final template will now appear under Templates.
Template Setup Tips
Whether you simply need to assign specific fields to different signees or want to take advantage of more advanced options like AdvicePay's auto-populated fields, there are variety of features available to you to make a stellar template.
Multiple Signees
If your template has more than one signee role (established in the first step of setup!), drag and place another Signature field into the document. Assign the field to a different signee by using the field's drop down selector as shown below.
All fields -- initials, checkbox, sign date, etc. -- can be assigned to specific signees.
Templates cannot be edited to add more signee roles. To add more signees, you will want to upload a new template from scratch.
Auto-Filled Fields
Please note: This function will not automatically auto-fill the boxes before or when sending.
It will auto-fill fields in all locations with the same field request, only once the information has been entered in the first box. It is meant to reduce the repetition of the input of information throughout the document each time for the same field.
If your template requires you to enter in the same information in multiple field boxes, you can now use the Auto-fill fields to make this process easier!
When multiple of the same Auto-fill fields are used in a document and the Assigned To: is the same person, that person only has to type the information in once during the signature process and it will automatically fill in the same subsequent fields with the same information.
(This is super helpful, for example, when you may have multiple identical fields and do not want the signee to have to type the same information over and over.)
Watch this video tutorial for more help:
AdvicePay Auto-Populated Fields
Important: If you would like for AdvicePay (Sender) to automatically populate information, our auto-filled feature option only works with Standard Fields - Textbox field box.
To set up fields that automatically populate when the document is sent out for signature:
- Select the Textbox field, then drag and place it into your document template.
- In the field's drop down menu under under Assigned To, select: Sender
- In the field's drop down menu under What text goes here?, select either:
- Client Name -- and any other Signee Role names (when sent, this will auto-populate the printed name of the signee for that role)
- Advisor Name (when sent, this will auto-populate the printed name of the client's advisor)
- Invoice Amount (when sent with a payment request, this will auto-populate the invoice amount)
- Invoice Frequency (when sent with a payment request, this will auto-populate the invoice frequency)
- Up Front Invoice Amount (when sent with a payment request, this will auto-populate the upfront invoice amount for one-time invoices attached to subscriptions)
- Split/Rep Code (when sent with a payment request, this will auto-populate any advisor rep code added to a payment request)
- Advisor Signature (this is another way to add your printed name to the document)
Making Edits to Field Size & Placement
To adjust the field size to better fit your document or to allow clients to enter lengthier inputs (e.g. email addresses), grab the corner of the field with your cursor and enlarge/reduce it. Making the box larger in height will increase the text size!
Click and drag the entire field to move it around the page:
To remove a field you've added, hover over it and click the ⓧ icon.
Ready to do more with eSignature?
Check out the articles below!
- How to Edit or Delete Templates (plus Swap/Replace Underlying Documents)
- How to Pre-Fill Custom Information on an eSignature Template or Document
- How to Send Documents Out for Signature
- How to Cancel or Void an eSignature Document
- How Emails Work with eSign Documents: Invoices and Signing Order
- How to Sign Documents