How to collect signatures from multiple people

Collecting signatures from multiple people on one document means adding each signer with their own email address, deciding whether they need to sign in a specific order, and letting each of them complete their part from their own unique link — no coordinating printed copies or passing a single document from person to person.

Add each signer individually

Every signer is added by their own email address, which is also how each one receives their own unique, individual link. This matters because it means each person's signature is tied specifically to them — not to a shared link that anyone with access could use.

Decide whether signing order matters

Some documents need signers to go in a specific sequence — for example, an employee signs first, then a manager countersigns. Others don't care about order at all — each signer can complete their part whenever they get to it, independent of the others. If order matters, set it explicitly: the document won't move to the next signer until the current one in line has completed their part. If it doesn't matter, signers can all receive their links and sign in parallel, which is usually faster for documents where sequence isn't meaningful.

What each signer sees

Each signer only sees the document and the fields assigned specifically to them — their signature, initials, date, or text fields. They don't need an account, and they can review the full document before completing anything.

Tracking who's still pending

Once the document is sent, you can check from your dashboard which signers have completed their part and which are still pending. If a signer is taking a while, there's no need to manually follow up right away — automated reminders go out to anyone who hasn't completed their part yet. See Signature reminders that actually get documents signed for exactly how that timing works.

Requiring initials from every signer

If several signers each need to initial multiple pages of the same document, positioning those fields for each person individually — and having initials fill in automatically across the rest of that signer's repeated fields once they complete the first one — saves a meaningful amount of repetitive clicking. See How to require initials on every page for how that works.

What if a signer needs to decline instead of sign?

Most platforms let a signer decline to sign rather than forcing them to complete the document, which is useful when a signer disagrees with the content or realizes the document was sent to them in error. A declined signature is typically logged as its own event, distinct from simply not having signed yet.

Canceling a request partway through

If circumstances change and the document no longer needs to be completed — the deal fell through, the terms changed — you can cancel the request. Any signatures already completed by that point stay recorded as having happened, but the request as a whole is marked as cancelled rather than completed, and remaining signers stop receiving reminders for it.

Keeping track of several multi-signer documents at once

If you're managing more than one multi-signer document simultaneously, check your dashboard periodically rather than relying on memory — prioritize documents with the tightest deadlines or the ones that have been pending longest, since those are the ones most likely to need your attention.

Parallel vs sequential signing: which to choose

The choice between letting signers sign in any order (parallel) versus enforcing a specific sequence isn't just a preference — it depends on whether the content or validity of one signature logically depends on another having happened first. A countersignature that only makes sense after the primary party has agreed to the terms is a natural fit for sequential order. Two independent parties agreeing to the same set of terms with no dependency between them is usually better served by parallel signing, since it doesn't force anyone to wait on someone else's schedule.

A real-world example with three signers

Consider a services agreement between a freelancer, a client, and the client's manager who needs to countersign. A reasonable setup: the freelancer and client sign in parallel, since neither needs to wait on the other, and the manager's countersignature comes last in sequence, since it only makes sense once both parties below have already agreed to the terms. Configuring that distinction — some signers in parallel, with a final sequential step — captures the real-world approval logic rather than forcing every multi-signer document into a single all-or-nothing choice between fully parallel and fully sequential.

What happens to the document while it's partially signed

A multi-signer document in progress is neither fully valid nor void — it's a request still awaiting completion. Signers who have already completed their part have a recorded, timestamped action tied to them regardless of what the remaining signers do, but the document as a whole typically isn't treated as finalized, and no final signed copy with every signature embedded is generated, until every required signer has completed their part.

Adding a signer after the fact

If you realize partway through that an additional person also needs to sign, the straightforward approach is usually to cancel the current request and resend a new one with the complete, correct set of signers — rather than trying to add someone mid-flight to a request that's already out. This keeps the audit trail clean and avoids ambiguity about which version of the signer list any given completed signature applied to.

Checking in on a multi-signer document without micromanaging it

It's worth distinguishing between useful monitoring and unnecessary hovering. Checking a dashboard once a day (or whenever a reminder notification arrives) to see who's still pending is enough for most documents — there's rarely a reason to check more frequently than that, since the signing process itself, and the automated reminders tied to it, run independently of how often you look. Reserve direct outreach to a signer for cases where the automated reminders have already run their course and the document is genuinely time-sensitive.

Send a multi-signer document

Esignapi supports any number of signers per document, with an optional signing order, on the free plan.

Frequently asked questions

Each signer needs their own distinct link, so in practice each one needs a way to be individually addressed — typically a unique email address, even if two people share an inbox in unusual cases.

What happens if a required signer never completes their part?

The document stays pending indefinitely until they do, or until you cancel the request. Automated reminders continue for a limited period, after which it's generally worth following up through another channel.

Can I remove a signer after I've sent the document?

Typically not without canceling and resending — once a request is sent, the set of signers and fields for that specific request is fixed.

Do all signers need to use the same device or browser?

No, each signer completes their part independently on whatever device they have access to, whether that's a computer or a phone.

Can I see the order in which people actually signed?

Yes, the audit trail for the document records the timestamp of each signer's completion, so you can see exactly when each person finished, regardless of whether a specific signing order was enforced.