Smarter Drafter Signature streamlines document creation by automatically merging a user's saved signature from their profile directly into a form. This allows not only a user to use their own signature, but with the relevant permission, it enables them to select another user when filling in a form and have their signature brought into the document.
Profile Signatures refers to the ability to use the signature image uploaded by a user to their Smarter Drafter profile. Forms can be built to use a signature from another user or always use the signature of the logged in user submitting the form.
The following guide will walkthrough how to configure the ability for a form filler to use another users signature in a generated document.
To learn about how to setup a form to always use the logged in users signature, see configure User Profile fields in the Word Add-in guide.
Setting up a form with User Profile Signature
Signatures can be used by User Mapping a file upload field with a new Signature option in its properties.
- Either create a new or open a form in form build.
- In a form section, add a Name field and User Map this to the Full Name field.
- Then in the same section add a File Upload field.
- Name the field and use the new Signature option. Using this option will allow the file upload file to be used in User Mapping, but also additional capabilities such as preventing a form filler from downloading a signature image.
- Click save, and in the section where the field was added, select options and then Map fields to Users.
- Scroll down to the Signature option, and then select the field related to the signature to be used.
- The form is now setup with profile signature.
- In the document, using the builder Word add-in, select the relevant form, find the field and click add.
- A placeholder Signature image will be added into the document. This is by default sized to a standard height appropriate for signatures in documents to render, however the height and width can be changed by selecting the image and updating this.
For an uploaded signature to display correctly in documents, recommended image size with a width of approximately 450 pixels and a height of 150 pixels should be used. This provides a good aspect ratio and ensures the signature is large enough to be legible without being disproportionately large.
The recommended file type for a signature is PNG format.
Profile Signature permission set
For security and privacy, an administrator must control who can access and use signatures in forms. A new permission called 'Profile Signature' has been added to the Filler settings in permission sets. By default, this is set to 'No Access'.
An administrator can create a new permission set or update an existing with one of three options:
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No Access: Users cannot access others signatures when filling out a form.
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Access to All Users: All users with this permission can access any user's signature when filling out a form, unless the user with the signature has disabled this option in their own profile settings.
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Specific Users: This allows you to select a specific list of users whose signatures users with this permission can access, unless the user with the signature has disabled this option in their own profile settings.
A user can always access their own signature, therefore if users need to use their own signature they do not need to have permission setup to do this. Permissions apply to being able to access another users signature from their profile.
User Opt-In to allow their signature to be used by others
Each user can opt out entirely from having their signature used by others, regardless of the permissions set. By default, all users will be opted out.
User experience when filling in a form
The user experience of filling out a form with a signature field is designed to be seamless.
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Signature is Accessible: If the user has access to the signature, it will automatically appear in the form field when they select the user. The user will see a confirmation message that the signature was "successfully taken from the user profile." They can still upload a different file if needed. The file name will not be visible.
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Signature is Inaccessible: If the user does not have access to the signature, the form field will display a message informing them of this. Users in this scenario can still upload a file, or if the field is set to be optional, skip this question.
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No Download Option for Submissions: For security reasons, if a submission is created using a signature, users viewing the submission answers will not be able to download the signature file. This applies only to files with the "Signature" option selected. Other file fields (like attachments) can still be downloaded.
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Form Cloning: When a form is cloned, the signature mapping will only carry over if the user cloning the form has access to the mapped signature. If they do not, the signature will not be populated, and the field will show the "no access" error.
Common Issues & Solutions
Issue: Signature from a user does not appear when filling in a form.
Solution: Ensure that the selected user has a signature image uploaded into their profile and allowed the option for others to use their signature. Ensure you have permission set which allows access to the users signature.
Issue: When filling in a form, the signature field is empty or I see a "No Access" error.
Solution:
- Check if the form has the Signature field properly mapped. A File Upload field with 'Use as' option set to 'Signature' must be used, and user mapped to the Signature field.
- Check you have permission to access the users signature.
- The user whose signature you are trying to use may have disabled the "Allow signature to be used" option in their own profile settings. This setting overrides all permissions, so even if you have "Access to All Users," the signature will not appear. The user must enable this option in their profile.
Issue: When I clone a submission with a mapped signature, the signature doesn't appear in the new form.
Solution: Cloned submissions will check if the user who cloned the form has access to the signature of the users in the form. Check if you have the relevant access to the users profile signatures.
Issue: I've mapped the Signature field into the document, when I create a submission it gets stuck in pending and fails.
Solution: What could be happening is that the Signature field mapped into the document may have an additional item mapped. Remove the element and retry.
Always have Design mode enabled to help identify any potential issues that will impact submissions.
