How to Upload, Configure, and Map E-Signature Documents in Merchant Central

Overview

Merchant Central allows ISOs and their teams to upload, configure, and manage e-signature documents, making it easier to collect completed applications, agreements, and other signed documents from merchants.

For instructions on sending agreements to merchants, see the Sending Agreements for E-Signature article.

Mapping e-signature document fields to lead fields lets you automatically populate documents with existing merchant information. This reduces manual data entry, improves accuracy, and makes signing more convenient for merchants.

You can also include editable fields so merchants can provide additional information on the e-signature page. After the document is signed and submitted, Merchant Central automatically transfers that information to the corresponding lead fields.

This guide explains how to set up and manage e-signature documents in Merchant Central. You will learn how to:

• Prepare PDFs for e-signature.
• Upload and configure e-signature applications.
• Map PDF fields to lead fields using the Visual PDF Mapper.
• Create e-signature bundles containing multiple documents.
• Update PDF documents and manage existing field mappings.

Prerequisites

Before creating an e-signature application, ensure you have:

• Adobe Acrobat or similar software that supports editing PDF form fields.
• The Manage E-Sign PDFs & Mappings permission assigned to your user class.

Step 1: Preparing the PDF Document for E-Signature

Before uploading your PDF to Merchant Central, go through the following checklist to ensure that your document meets the e-signature requirements.

PDF Preparation Checklist

1. Remove password protection: If the PDF is password-protected, remove the protection. For instructions, see Unlocking PDF Files.
2. Configure PDF form fields: Make sure the PDF includes:
   • Text fields and/or checkboxes to map to the corresponding lead fields in Merchant Central.
   • At least one email and one signature field for every signer.

You can also configure these optional features:

• Set text fields and checkboxes as editable, read-only, or required for the merchant.
• Add fixed values directly to the document.
• Add file upload fields so merchants can attach supporting files when signing.
• Add signer-specific or calculated fields.

For detailed instructions on adding text fields, checkboxes, and signature fields, see our article on Preparing PDF Forms for E-Signature.

Step 2: Creating and Configuring the E-Signature Application

After preparing the PDF, upload it to Merchant Central and configure how the document is generated, delivered, and managed.

Each uploaded PDF becomes an e-signature application. You can configure applications individually or combine multiple applications into an e-signature bundle.

Accessing E-Signature Applications

1. Open the navigation panel in Merchant Central and select the E-Signature section.
2. Click Import PDFs.
   

The Manage Applications page lists your existing e-signature applications.

Adding a New E-Signature Application

1. On the Manage Applications page, click Add New Application.
2. Configure the options in the application settings window.
3. Select the PDF you want to upload.
4. Click Save.

After you save, the application appears on the page. From there, you can edit its settings and configure field mappings.

Configuring Application Settings

Application settings determine how the document is displayed, generated, and delivered to merchants.

• Category: Determines where the document appears in the e-signature dropdown on a lead.
• Application Type: Select eSignature Application, Generic Form (without e-signature capability), or eSignature Bundle.
• Display Title: The title shown in the e-signature document dropdown on a lead.
• Document Name: The filename of the PDF saved to the lead.
• Label (Unsigned): The label applied to the generated PDF on the E-Sign tab.
• Email Template: The email template shown when an e-signature document is generated.
• Signed Template: The confirmation email sent automatically after the merchant signs.
• Signed Notification: Determines whether the confirmation email and signed document go to both the sender (such as the sales representative) and recipients, or to recipients only. You can choose whether to attach the signed PDF to the sender’s copy.
• Signed Lead Status: Automatically changes the lead to the selected status when the document is signed.
• Password Field: Uses the last four characters of a selected secure field as the password for generated PDFs.
• Label (Signed): The label applied to the signed document.
• Confirmation Page: The page displayed to the merchant after completing the signature process.
• Help Banner: A customizable banner for displaying contact or support information on the signing page.

Step 3: Mapping E-Signature Documents to Lead Fields

After configuring the e-signature application, map its PDF fields to the corresponding lead fields with the Visual PDF Mapper tool.

The Visual PDF Mapper lets you drag and drop lead fields onto fields in an uploaded e-signature document.

For example, you can map business names, addresses, contact details, and other lead information to the corresponding PDF fields.

When you generate an e-signature document from a lead, Merchant Central automatically fills the mapped PDF fields with that lead’s information.

You can also use the mapper to:

• Map lead dropdown selections to PDF text fields or checkboxes.
• Automatically fill fields with sales representative information.
• Find, update, or delete existing mappings.
• Copy mappings from another e-signature application.

Opening the Visual PDF Mapper

1. On the Manage Applications page, find the application you want to map.
2. Click the Mappings button for that application.
   The Visual PDF Mapper opens, displaying lead fields on the left and the PDF document on the right.
   

The mapper uses colors to indicate mapping status:

• Grey: The PDF field has no mapping.
• Green: The field is mapped. The lead field and its corresponding PDF field appear in green.

Mapping Lead Fields to PDF Fields

To create a mapping, drag a lead field from the left panel to the corresponding PDF field.

1. Find the lead field you want to map on the left side of the Visual PDF Mapper.
2. Find the matching field in the PDF on the right.
3. Drag the lead field onto the PDF field to create the mapping.
4. Repeat for any other fields you want to populate automatically.

The following mappings are supported:

1. Lead text field to PDF text field.
2. Lead checkbox to PDF checkbox.
3. Lead dropdown to PDF text field.
4. Lead dropdown option to PDF checkbox.

You can map a single lead field to multiple PDF fields so its value appears in multiple places. However, each PDF field can be mapped to only one lead field.

Mapped fields appear in green.

For a demonstration, see the video in the Video Tutorial section below.

Auto filling Sales Representative Information

You can automatically populate PDF fields with details of the sales representative sending the document.

To set up autofill:

1. Select the PDF field you want to populate.
2. Choose the sales representative detail you want to insert from the dropdown.
3. Click Add.

Available details include the sales representative’s name, job title, email address, phone number, mobile number, fax number, extension, and date formats.

Saving PDF Mappings

After mapping the required fields, click Save in the upper-right corner of the mapper.

Deleting an Existing Mapping

To remove a mapping from the PDF:

1. Hover over the mapped field in the PDF.
2. Click the Delete icon that appears.
   

Alternatively, remove the mapping from the lead panel:

1. Click the mapped lead field.
2. Find the mapping in the list that appears.
3. Click the Delete icon.
   

Finding a Mapped Field

The Visual PDF Mapper includes tools to help you find mapped fields in large documents.

To locate the lead field associated with a PDF field, click the mapped PDF field. The lead panel scrolls to the matching field and highlights it in blue.

To locate the PDF field associated with a lead field, select the mapped lead field and click the Search icon.

The PDF scrolls to the matching field and highlights it in blue.

Additional Tools in the Visual PDF Mapper

You can return to the Visual PDF Mapper whenever you need to update documents or mappings.

Use the shortcuts at the top of the mapping page to copy mappings from another e-signature application, upload updated PDFs, export mappings to CSV, or review mapping history.

Copying Mappings from Another Application

To reuse mappings from another e-signature application rather than recreating them manually, follow these steps:

1. Click Settings > Copy Mappings.
2. Select the application you want to copy mappings from.
3. To delete the current mappings before copying, select Clear previous mappings.
4. Click Copy.

Verify that the copied mappings match the intended PDF fields.

Uploading an Updated PDF

To replace the existing PDF with a revised version, click Upload in the upper-right corner of the mapper.

After uploading, verify that existing mappings still point to the correct fields, especially if field names or the PDF structure have changed.

Viewing Mapping History

To view an application’s mapping history, click History in the upper-right corner of the mapper.

The Mapping History window shows:

• PDF field name.
• Mapping change.
• Date and time of the change.
• User who made the change.

You can also search and export the mapping history.

How to Create an E-Signature Bundle

An e-signature bundle combines multiple e-signature applications into a single package.

Bundles save time because you do not need to select each document individually. They also help prevent incomplete document packages from being sent to merchants.

To create a bundle:

1. From the navigation panel, go to E-Signature → Import PDFs.
2. Click Add New Application.
3. Select eSignature Bundle as the application type.
4. Enter a display title for the bundle.
5. Optionally, select Audit Trail per Document to generate a separate audit trail for each signed document in the bundle.
6. Use the Add Application dropdown to select the individual e-signature applications to include.
7. Use the arrow icons to arrange the documents in the desired order.
8. Click Save.
   

After you save, the bundle appears on the lead’s E-Sign tab.

Understanding Duplicate Fields in E-Signature Bundles

When multiple PDFs are combined into an e-signature bundle, each document is populated with lead data according to its field mappings.

After the signer completes and submits the bundle, information entered by the signer is written back to the mapped lead fields in Merchant Central, but only from the first PDF form in the bundle.

Information entered in the other forms remains in the completed PDFs but is not written back to the lead.

The Problem: Duplicate Field Names Across Forms

When PDFs are combined into a single envelope, fields with identical names may behave unexpectedly.

For example, suppose three PDFs each contain a field named ContactName, Adobe Acrobat treats these as one shared field when the documents are merged.

This can cause two problems:

1. Unintended data synchronization: If a signer updates the ContactName field in one form, fields with the same name in other forms or pages may update automatically, without the signer realising.

2. Identical field names mapped to different lead fields: The same PDF field name can map to different lead fields in different applications. For example:

   • ContactName in PDF Form 1 maps to Business Contact.
   • ContactName in PDF Form 2 maps to Owner Name.
   • ContactName in PDF Form 3 maps to Control Officer.

   In this example, the merging process may use the ContactName value from PDF Form 1 to populate all three lead fields: Business Contact, Owner Name, and Control Officer. This can produce incorrect lead data, even if each completed PDF displays the intended values.

The Solution: Use Unique Field Names

To prevent these issues, assign every PDF field a unique name across all forms in the bundle. One option is to prefix each field name with the corresponding application or form ID. For example:

App123_ContactName
App123_Address
App123_Email

Use a different prefix for each form. This keeps field names distinct when the PDFs are combined and helps prevent unintended data synchronisation or incorrect updates to lead fields.

Duplicate Field Warning

If Merchant Central detects duplicate PDF field names within a bundle, a warning appears when you generate the bundle:

You can click Okay to dismiss the warning and generate the bundle. However, keeping duplicate field names may cause information written back to the lead to be incorrect. To avoid this, update the PDF field names before generating the bundle.

This issue does not affect bundles sent in read-only mode because merchants cannot edit the fields in those documents.

Video Tutorial

This tutorial demonstrates how to map different types of lead fields to PDF fields using drag and drop, and how to configure autofill for sales representative information.