How to send a document for electronic signature (step by step)
Upload a PDF, drag on signature fields, add signers in order, and send — a practical walkthrough of getting any document signed online in minutes.
Getting a document signed electronically takes about two minutes once you've done it once. Here's the full walkthrough — from a PDF on your desktop to a completed, audit-trailed agreement in your inbox — using Signed, though the shape of the process is the same in any decent e-signature tool.
Step 1: Upload the document
Start from a finished PDF. Export it from Word, Google Docs, or wherever the agreement lives — what you upload is exactly what your signer sees, so proofread first. On Signed, you upload the PDF from your dashboard and it opens in the field editor. New account? Getting started covers the first-run setup.
Step 2: Drag on the fields
Place fields where each person needs to act:
- Signature — the main event.
- Initials — for per-page or per-clause acknowledgment.
- Date signed — fills automatically when the signer signs.
- Text — for a name, title, or anything typed.
- Checkbox — for opt-ins and confirmations.
If more than one person signs, each field is assigned to a specific signer, so everyone sees only what's theirs. The details of every field type live in Sending & signing.
Step 3: Add signers — and the order, if it matters
Enter each signer's name and email. If the sequence matters — the client signs first, then your CEO countersigns — set a signing order: signer two isn't emailed until signer one has finished. If order doesn't matter, everyone gets the link at once and signs in parallel.
Step 4: Set reminders and an expiration
The polite chase is the part software does best. Turn on automatic reminders so unsigned recipients get a nudge without you drafting an awkward follow-up, and set an expiration date if the offer or quote shouldn't live forever.
Step 5: Send it — signers don't need an account
Hit send and each signer gets an email with a secure link. They open it in any browser, on any device, with no account and nothing to install — click the link, review the document, fill their fields, done. This matters more than any feature on a pricing grid: every hoop a signer has to jump through delays your agreement. Anyone can *receive and sign* for free — the per-seat subscription covers the people *sending*; see Billing & plans.
Step 6: Track it, then download the sealed copy
Your dashboard shows each document's state — sent → viewed → signed → completed — with email notifications at each step, so you know the moment someone opens it (or doesn't). When the last signer finishes, everyone gets the completed PDF, and your copy carries a tamper-evident Certificate of Completion recording who signed, when, and from which IP. That certificate is what makes the document defensible later — the full story is in are electronic signatures legally binding?.
Send the same document often? Make it a template
If steps 1–4 describe a document you send weekly — the standard proposal, the NDA, the lease — do the setup once and save it as a reusable template. Next time it's: pick template, type the signer's email, send.
All of this is included in Signed's one plan — $20 per seat per month, unlimited documents (pricing); if you're comparing against the incumbent, start with DocuSign pricing explained.