How to send a document for signature
Sending a document for signature means uploading your PDF, specifying who needs to sign it, placing the fields each signer has to complete, and sending each of them a secure link — no printing or physical delivery involved. The whole process typically takes a few minutes for a straightforward document.
Before you start
- Your document as a PDF. If it's currently a Word or Excel file, convert it to PDF first — most word processors have a built-in "Save As PDF" option.
- The email address of each signer. This is how each person gets their unique signing link.
- A sense of what fields each signer needs to complete — signature, initials, date, or text.
Step-by-step
- Upload the PDF to the platform.
- Add each signer by email address, and a name if you want the document to address them by it.
- Set a signing order, if it matters who signs first — see How to collect signatures from multiple people if the document has more than one signer.
- Position the fields on the document: a signature field wherever a signature is required, and any initials, date, or text fields each signer needs to complete. If the same signer needs to initial every page, see How to require initials on every page.
- Review the document and field placement once more before sending — this is the last point where adjusting something is simple.
- Send it. Each signer receives an email with their own unique link, and doesn't need to create an account to open it.
What each signer experiences
Each signer gets a link tied specifically to them — not a shared link everyone uses. They can review the full document before completing their assigned fields, and once they're done, the document moves on to the next step (the next signer, if there's a signing order, or straight to completion if they're the last one).
Tracking the status of your request
Once sent, you can check the status of each signer from your dashboard — whether they've completed their part or are still pending. Reminders to signers who haven't finished are sent automatically, so you don't need to manually chase anyone down; see Signature reminders that actually get documents signed for how that works.
Sending the same type of document repeatedly
If you send the same kind of document often — a standard service agreement, an NDA — it's worth keeping a well-organized base version of that document so you're not rebuilding the field layout from scratch each time. If you need signers to fill out and submit their own information through a public link rather than you uploading a document per person, a reusable public webform is a better fit than re-sending a base document manually each time.
Adding more context for the signer
A document sent with no context beyond the file itself can feel impersonal or even suspicious to the recipient. Including a short message explaining what the document is and why they're being asked to sign it tends to lead to faster completion than sending a bare link with no explanation.
Deciding which fields each signer actually needs
Not every signer on a document needs the same fields. A tenant signing a lease might need a signature, initials on every page, and a date field, while a co-signer might only need a single signature at the end. Before placing fields, it's worth going through the document once with a clear sense of what each specific signer is actually agreeing to — over-requiring fields (initials on pages that don't need them) adds friction without adding evidentiary value, while under-requiring them can leave gaps in the record for pages that genuinely mattered.
Sending to an internal team vs an external party
The process is the same either way, but the framing often isn't. For an internal document — a policy acknowledgment, an internal approval — a brief, direct message is usually enough, since the recipient already has context from their role. For an external party — a client, a vendor, a new contractor — a short explanation of what the document covers and any relevant deadline tends to reduce the back-and-forth of someone opening the link unsure of what they're looking at.
What happens if a signer's email bounces
If the email containing the signing link doesn't reach the signer — a typo in the address, a filter blocking it — the request stays pending without anyone being notified unless you're separately checking delivery status. If a signer reports never receiving anything, double-check the email address you entered was correct before assuming it's a delivery problem on their end.
Preparing a document for signing well in advance
If you know you'll need to send the same type of document repeatedly — say, a standard onboarding packet — spending a bit more time up front getting the field placement exactly right pays off across every future use of that base document, since you won't need to re-position fields each time you reuse it as your starting point.
What happens once everyone signs
Once every required signer completes their part, the final document is generated with every signature embedded, along with a completion certificate summarizing who signed, when, and a hash of the document for integrity verification. You and every signer typically get access to download that final version.
Sending a document for signature, as described above, works well when you're the one initiating the request and already know who needs to sign. If instead you need people to submit their own information through a link you share broadly — a job application, an intake form, a request for proposal response — a reusable public webform is a better fit than uploading and sending a base document to each person individually, since it's designed for an unknown or larger number of respondents filling out the same fields rather than a fixed, known set of signers.
Send your first document
Esignapi's free plan covers everything described here — upload, add signers, position fields, and send — for your first documents at no cost.
Frequently asked questions
Can I send the same document to multiple people separately, not as a group?
Yes, you can create separate signature requests for the same base document if each recipient needs their own independent copy rather than being part of the same multi-signer request.
What happens if I made a mistake in the document after sending it?
You'd typically need to cancel the existing request and send a corrected version as a new request, rather than editing a document that's already out for signature.
Can I include myself as one of the signers?
Yes, most platforms let you add yourself as a signer alongside external recipients if you also need to sign the document.
Do signers need to download any software?
No, signing happens entirely in the browser through the link they receive — no software installation required on their end.
How do I know when a document is fully signed?
You can check the status from your dashboard at any time, and most platforms also notify you (for example, by email or webhook) once every required signer has completed the document.