After a client signs an E-Signature Agreement, a confirmation email is sent to the client with a copy of the signed PDF document.
The PDF document is not secured by default and anyone with access to the document can open it.
To secure the PDF document, you can enable the PDF password protection in the E-Signature application settings.
You can also secure the E-Signature page so that the recipient will need to enter a password to view and sign the document. The E-Signature document will be canceled if a signer enters the incorrect password in 5 consecutive attempts.
In this article, we provide the steps for securing both the PDF document and the E-Signature page with a password.
Securing Your E-Signature Documents
To secure an E-Signature document navigate to Manage > Administration > E-Signature > Import PDFs, locate the application you wish to edit, and click the Edit button:
In the application settings popup, select a lead field to use as the password:
Note that the dropdown only shows the secure text fields (such as the Federal Tax ID, SSN, etc) and not all of the text fields.
After you select the password field, two additional options will appear below the dropdown:
The first option (Allow Sending If No Password) allows sales reps to send documents as unsecured PDFs (for example when the password field is empty or has less than 4 characters).
If you wish all of your PDF documents to be secured, then do not select this option.
The second option (Enable Signing Password) adds password protection to the E-Signature page so that the client will need to enter a password to view and sign the E-Sign document.
After selecting your password options save your changes and your E-Signature document will now be password protected.
The Password Field
The password for opening the PDF files will be the last 4 characters of the text that was saved in the selected password field (on the lead from which the e-sign document originates).
For example, if you selected the Federal Tax ID field as the password field, and the lead's tax ID is '123456789', then the PDF password for that lead is '6789'.
If the "Allow Sending If No Password" option has been enabled and the password field is blank (or has less than 4 characters), then a popup window will appear when you send out a new E-sign application as shown in the below example:
You can now click Okay to send the application as an unsecured PDF or cancel the operation.
Updating The E-Signature Email Template
After you have enabled password protection on your E-Signature apps, you should also update the E-signature confirmation email template to instruct the client on how they can open the PDF.
For example, if you selected the Federal Tax ID field as the password field, you should update your template to let the client know that they can open the attached PDF file by entering the last four digits of their Federal Tax ID:
Opening the E-Signature Page
If the E-Signature page has been password protected, then your client will need to enter a password before they can view and sign the E-Signature document sent to them:
Opening Secured PDFs
After the client signs the agreement, a secured copy of the PDF file will also be saved on the lead.
Secured files on the E-Sign tab and the Attachments tab are displayed with a lock icon.
To view the password for opening the PDF file simply hover your mouse over the lock icon:
In order to preview a secured file on the lead, you will first need to enter the document's password:
The password is also required if the PDF file is downloaded and opened in Adobe or other PDF software:
