The Visual PDF Mapper enables you to easily map lead fields to an e-signature document by dragging lead fields to the appropriate PDF fields.
This article is the first in a series of three articles where we discuss the steps for creating a new e-signature document in the CRM and mapping it to the lead.
The articles cover the following topics:
- Preparing the PDF file for e-signature
- Creating the e-signature document
- Mapping the PDF to lead fields
In this article, we'll show you how to prepare your PDF document for e-signature.
The PDF Document Checklist
To prepare the PDF document for e-signature you will need to complete the following checklist steps:
- Remove the password protection from the PDF document (if any).
- Review the PDF form fields and add fields that might be missing (textboxes and checkboxes only).
- Add the special Adobe signer fields to the PDF document.
You may also fine tune your PDF document further using the following optional steps:
- Make PDF form fields editable, read-only, or required for the signer.
- Hardcode static fields (fields that always show the same values).
- Add file upload fields to the PDF document.
- Add reserved or calculated fields to the PDF document.
Note: In order to edit the PDF form you must have Adobe Acrobat or other similar PDF editing software installed.
1. Remove the PDF Password Protection
Password protected documents can't be used for E-Signature in the CRM.
To remove the password protection please follow instructions in our article on Unlocking PDF Files.
2. Add Missing PDF Form Fields
The PDF document may not always have all of the fields that you need in place, and so it is necessary to review the document and add the missing fields (and optionally remove any redundant fields).
Important: The CRM lead can only be mapped to PDF text boxes and checkboxes—other types of fields (such as radio buttons or dropdowns) are not supported and we recommend removing them from the PDF (or replacing them with checkboxes or text boxes as needed).
To begin editing a PDF form in Adobe Acrobat, open the document and click Tools > Prepare Form:
The PDF form fields are now shown in the form editor and you can use the field toolbar to add, edit, or delete form fields:
Once you add a field you may need to change some of its properties, such as the field name, font size, and similar.
To change the properties of a field simply double-click on it to open the Properties window as shown in the below example, and then update the properties:
Note that you can also update multiple fields simultaneously.
To select multiple fields in an area of a page, drag a selection marquee around the area:
Once the fields are selected, right-click on any field within the selection to open the Properties window:
Any changes that you make in the Properties window now are automatically applied to all of the selected fields.
When you finish editing your PDF form click the Preview button to exit the edit mode and see how the PDF file will appear to the signer:
For more information on editing PDF forms please see Adobe's PDF form field basics guide.
3. Add Adobe Signer Fields
To enable your document for e-signature you will need to add one or more Adobe signer fields in your document.
The signer fields are normal text fields that have been named using a special naming convention prescribed by Adobe.
They are also used to determine if the document will be signed by a single person or multiple individuals.
Below is an example of an Adobe signature field as seen in a generated e-signature document.
When clicked, the signature fields opens a popup window that allows the user to type their signature:
There are numerous types of signer fields you could add to your document, however the four most commonly used ones are the signature, email, date, and initials fields.
Here are the examples of the field names for those four field types (in bold):
- Signature field: signer1_es_:signer1:signature
- Email field: signer1_es_:signer1:email
- Date field: signer1_es_:signer1:date
- Initials field: signer1_es_:signer1:initials
For example, to create a signature field for the 1st signer simply double-click on the appropriate text field in the PDF file to open its properties window, and then copy and paste the 'signer1_es_:signer1:signature' text in the Name box:
You can proceed to rename the other text boxes (such as the signer's email, initials, etc.) in a similar way.
If the document requires signatures from a second signer, then you can rename the signature fields for the 2nd signer using the examples below (in bold):
- Signature field: signer2_es_:signer2:signature
- Email field: signer2_es_:signer2:email
- Date field: signer2_es_:signer2:date
- Initials field: signer2_es_:signer2:initials
Note that you may add signature fields for any number of signers in a similar way, by simply changing the numbers in the field names to correspond to the signer number (for example signer3_es_:signer3:signature, signer4_es_:signer4:signature, etc.).
Important: You will need to set up one signature field and one email field for each person signing the document at a minimum.
Here is an example image of the signature, email, and date fields that have been set up for two signers:
If the document needs to be signed in multiple places, then you can simply copy and paste the fields over as many times as needed:
If you require the signer to add their initials to the document simply add the initials field in the appropriate location:
Some signature fields such as personal guarantee signatures may be optional.
To make a signature field optional, simply name it 'signer1_es_:signer1:optsignature' (note the 'opt' part in red).
Here is an example of two signature fields that are set as optional fields:
Note: If you do not add any signature fields to your PDF document then an error message will be shown when you attempt to generate the e-signature document.
For a complete list of supported signature fields please see the Adobe Sign Text Tag Guide
4. Set Up Editable, Read-Only, or Required Fields (optional)
To set a field as a required or read-only field, double-click on the field to open its properties, and select the Read Only or the Required checkbox:
Fields marked as read-only will be populated with the information from the lead, but the signers will not be able to change it.
Fields marked as required will need to be filled in by the signer. The e-signature document cannot be submitted until all required fields in the document have been filled in.
5. Hardcode Static Fields (optional)
The e-signature information that never changes (such as fixed rates and fees, ISO information, and similar) doesn't have to be mapped to the lead, and can simply be hardcoded in the PDF file.
You can hardcode such information by manually entering the required information in the appropriate fields, and then making the fields read-only (and not mapping them to the lead).
The other way to hardcode data is to open the PDF document in edit mode, and write the required information directly on the PDF pages:
6. Add File Upload Fields (optional)
By renaming fields in a special way you can enable signers to upload supporting documents such as driver's licenses or bank statements along with their agreement.
For more information please see our article on Enabling Attachment Uploads In E-Signature Apps
7. Add Reserved or Calculated Fields (optional)
Any field on the PDF form can be reserved for a specific signer by adding the appropriate signer suffix to the field name.
For example, to reserve the home_address field for the second signer, add the "_es_:signer2" suffix to that field, so that the name of the field finally becomes home_address_es_:signer2.
When the e-signature document is generated and sent to the first signer, the signer will not be able to edit the home_address_es_:signer2 field which will appear as a read-only field to them.
However after the first signer signs the document, the system will send the document to the second signer who will then be able to edit the field normally.
You can reserve fields for other signers in a similar way by adding suffixes to fields such as _es_:signer3, _es_:signer4, etc.
Adobe's calculated fields allow you to dynamically calculate new values based on the signer's inputs and show the new information in the document.
For example, you may want to calculate the merchants total annual sales volume by adding the values of each card brand. Assuming that the card brand fields in the PDF file are called visa_vol, mc_vol, and discover_vol, you could set up a calculated field to automatically calculate the sum of these three fields.
To set this up, simply create a new text box in the PDF document and name it as follows: signer1_es_:signer1:calc(visa_vol+mc_vol+discover_vol)
For more information please see Adobe's guide on calculated fields.
Next article: Creating the e-signature document