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Smart Docs: eSignatures

Jenny Takahara, November 13, 2024

Note: The Smart Docs feature is included on the Professional, Power and Enterprise plans and is available for the Essential and Advanced plans as an add-on. Only users with account settings access are able to purchase the add-on for the company account. The add-on comes with a 14-day free trial during which you’ll have five signatures available (billing details required). Learn more about the terms and conditions of the add-on from this page.

The Smart Docs feature comes with an eSignatures functionality, so you can request document signatures from your customers without needing any extra tools.

Pipedrive's eSignatures feature offers Basic Digital Signing. Learn more about this type of signature in this article.

Request a signature

Sending a request

Note: After 60 days, incomplete e-signature requests will expire, meaning the links will no longer be valid and the document status will be “expired.”

To request a signature, you must create or upload a document with the Smart Docs feature on the deal or contact detail page. You can learn how to set up a document in this article.

You can request a signature in two locations:

In the document editor

In the detail view

Note: Requesting a signature will create another version of the document.

After clicking “Request signatures,” you’ll be prompted to review your document and manage your signers. The user requesting the signature (you) and the linked contact person will automatically be added as signers, but you can delete or add to this list. You can add up to 10 signers per document.

You can change the language of the invitation under “Invite Language.”

Authenticating your request

Signature requests require an authentication code.

When this security feature is activated, signers receive a one-time authentication code via email to check (but not guarantee) their email validity. The signer must use this code to sign the document.

Customizing your request

Personalize the e-signature request emails your customers receive by adding a custom subject line and message.

Note: Account settings admins can set the default state for the authentication code, as well as set the default messages for signature request emails, in the Smart Docs settings. Any user, however, can toggle authentication codes on or off for each signer.

Once you click “Next,” you can add signer fields to the document and drag-and-drop them to where you want them to appear.

Once you’ve placed a field into a document, you can hover your mouse to edit and configure each field.

Note: You can add up to 1000 signer fields to a document.

There are currently four types of signer fields available, with different configurations available:

Signatures	This is a required field and has no configuration
Initials	Can be toggled as a required/optional field
Text field	Can be toggled as a required/optional field Can add hint text to tell the signer what to write Can change basic formatting Note: Only Latin alphabet characters are supported in signer text fields.
Checkbox	Can be toggled as a required/optional field

If you’re adding signer fields into the document, you must include a signature field for every signer. You can switch between the signers in the “Select Signer” drop-down in the left panel.

You can also allocate a field to a different signer when editing fields.

Once you’re finished setting up the document, click “Send,” and the document will be sent with instructions to all signers. You’ll receive an email notification whenever someone signs or declines to sign.

If you don’t want to add signature fields in the document, you can skip this step by clicking “Send anyway.”

If you send the document without signer fields, the signatures will be placed on an additional page at the back.

Unsupported document types

The following document types are not supported for signature collection:

Encrypted documents (documents protected by a password.)
Documents already digitally signed.
Documents with read-only permissions.

When using one of these document types, no error will appear, and the Signature process will be done as usual. However, Pipedrive won’t receive it, so the document will never appear “complete.”

Signing the document

When a signer opens a signature request in their email, they can review the document. They can click the “Signature” field to sign the document by either typing or drawing, or use the dropdown in the top right corner to “Decline to sign” or “Download as PDF.”

Note: If the signer agrees to store cookies, you can see when and how many times the document was opened.

Once all the required signer fields have been completed, the signer can click the “Finish signing” button to continue.

Note: Digital signatures will only be applied to a document once all signers have completed the signature request.

The signer will be asked to submit an authentication code and check a box confirming they’ve read the document. After that, they can click “Sign” to complete the document submission.

When everyone has signed the document, a PDF of the signed document and audit trail will be automatically emailed to all signers and the user who requested the signatures.

Note: If you have connected Smart Docs to your cloud storage, the signed document and audit trail will automatically be saved to your selected cloud storage location. Learn more about connecting to cloud storage in this article.

Check the signing status of your document

The document on the detail page of your deal or contact will show the signing status of your document.

Click on the signing status to see information on each signer, document views and signing status.

Declined – the signer has declined to sign the document. You can resend the signature request by clicking “Re-send invite.”
Sent – the signature request is still pending. You can click “Send reminder” to email the recipient regarding the request.
Completed – the signer has already signed.

From this window, you can also “Cancel the signing” and use the “Download” option to download the original version of the document. If everyone has signed the document, you can also download the signed version of the document as well as the audit trail.

Note: Only one version of a document can be in signing at a time. If you want to sign an additional version of the document, you have to cancel the version in progress. If you already have a signed version of the document, you can’t request signatures for another version, you’ll have to create a new one.

How many signatures can I request?

Note: Only users with billing access can purchase the add-on and signature packs. Signature requests are per company account per month.

Depending on your plan, the number of signatures may vary.

Professional, Power and Enterprise: These plans have unlimited signature requests (reasonable use policy applies).
Essential and Advanced (add-on): Company accounts in these plans with the add-on enabled can purchase two tiers of signature requests:
- 30 signature requests per month.
- 100 signature requests per month.

Essential and Advanced (add-on trial): Company accounts in these plans using an add-on trial can request up to 5 signatures.

Note: If you’re on an Essential or Advanced annual plan, your company account has a monthly allowance of 30 or 100 signatures, depending on the chosen tier. Unused signatures won’t be carried over into the next month.

What is the Reasonable Use Policy?

Pipedrive closely monitors the usage of eSignatures. If we notice that the feature is being used for reselling, being abused in any other way, or is unduly burdensome, we reserve the right in our sole discretion to prevent or suspend a user’s access to the feature.

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