Remember when you actually had to have a pen and paper to sign something? How quaint. Since Formstack makes everything from capturing data to processing payments easier than paper, it was only a matter of time before we made electronic signatures easier than paper, too. Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating, collecting, reviewing, and saving forms with electronic signatures.
When is an Electronic Signature Useful?
Including electronic signatures means that you can use Formstack to build all sorts of forms. You can include a signature field on petitions, vendor contracts, Terms of Service agreements, contests, HR forms, or incident reports.
Is This Legal?
For many cases, electronic signatures are equivalent to pen-and-paper. Check out this guest post on the legality of electronic signatures in online forms. (If you are dealing with complex legal or international issues with your form, you’ll want to talk to an attorney.)
Adding a Signature Field to a Form
When you are building your form, look at your “Form Field” options. Scroll down to “Signature” and drag it into your form. That’s it! When you publish your form, your users will be able to sign their names with a mouse or a fingertip. Electronic signatures are stored as image files in your Formstack account.
Reviewing Submissions with Signatures
Click on the “Submissions” tab and you will see a list of all of your form’s submissions. When you click on them individually, you will be able to view the signature image along with the rest of the information that the user submitted.
Creating Reports with Signatures
You can create a report to review some or all of your form’s submissions. When you export your data into a PDF, the report will include the image file of the signature. That way, the signature stays with the rest of your user’s data, just like in a paper form. (If you need to create a different type of report, such as CSV or RTF, the signature image will not export. Instead, a link to the image is included.)To create a PDF report, go to the “Submissions” tab. Find the two drop-down menus at the bottom of the page. Choose "All Submissions" or select the submissions you would like to export and choose the "Selected Submissions" option. Lastly, select “PDF” in the second drop-down. Click “Go” and Formstack will create a PDF file of your submissions.
Safely Collect Electronic Signatures with Formstack!
If you're ready to leverage web forms for your contracts, sign up for a free trial of Formstack today! During your 14-day trial, we'll give you the tools you need to sign your documents online. Try us now!
