Genie Snap^® eSignature Guide

eSignature is part of the same Genie Snap platform as forms and submissions, installed on servers you control. Route one document, or several as one envelope, to signers in order. Each signer signs in, consents to electronic records, and completes only their own fields. Signers who haven't signed are reminded automatically, and a request can be set to expire. Every step is recorded in an audit log, and the finished PDF is sealed with your organization's certificate.

To start and manage signature requests from your own systems, see the eSignature API.

eSignature Overview

PDF Text Tags Syntax

To make a PDF template eSignature‑ready, embed standard text tags into your document before uploading. The system scans PDFs for the following Tag Field Types:

Supported Tag Field Types

Append numbers to group tags by signer (e.g., 1 for Signer 1, 2 for Signer 2). Any mix of tags can be present for each signer — for example, Signer 1 may require signature, date, and full name, while Signer 2 only requires signature and date.

Starting From an External Document (Document Setup)

Open Document Setup and drop in one or more PDF or Word (.docx) files — Word documents are converted to PDF automatically. Document Setup then walks through four steps, shown across the top of the page:

1. Upload: Add, remove, rename, or reorder documents, then select Prepare Documents. Each document is scanned for the tag syntax above.
2. Signers: Add each person who needs to sign, in signing order, with their name, email address, role, and the instruction they'll see, or load a saved signer list. If tags were found, one signer is listed for each signer number detected.
3. Tag: Select a document.
   • Already tagged: the signers found are listed and you can continue. Select tag manually instead if the detected text isn't really signature tags.
   • Not tagged: choose the active signer, select a field type (Signature, Full Name, Date Signed, Initials, and the others in the table above), and drag it onto a blank area of the page, not over existing text or images.
   • A document only needs fields for the signers who fill something in on it.
4. Send: Continue to Routing opens Set Signing Order & Routing, where you enter the email subject and start the signature process.

Saved Signer Lists

If you send to the same people often, save the Signers step as a list and load it next time. Saved lists require you to be signed in. If you aren't, Saved lists and Save list ask you to sign in first, and your documents and signers stay in place.

• Save list: name the list and save it as Personal (only you) or to one of your teams (everyone on that team can use, update, and delete it). For each signer, choose whether to keep their name and email. Signers you don't keep are saved by role only, for someone who changes every time, such as the client.
• Saved lists: shows your personal lists and the lists of every team you belong to. Selecting one replaces the signers on the page. Signers saved by role only are highlighted with Fill in for this send; enter their name and email before continuing.
• If your documents already have fields for more signers than the list has, empty signers are added for the rest.
• Changes you make after loading a list apply only to this request. To change the list itself, select Save list, then Update or Save as new.
• Instructions are saved with the list. Each signer's email language is chosen in the routing step and isn't saved.
• Deleting a list doesn't affect requests already sent with it. If you leave a team, its lists no longer appear for you.

By default, an envelope is limited to 20 documents with a combined size of 300MB, and each individual document is limited to 25MB. Your administrator can change these limits for each site.

Document Setup shows a running total as files are added and blocks anything over either limit. Larger uploads are sent in small pieces automatically so the browser doesn't time out; there's nothing to configure.

You don't need to sign in to start. If you aren't signed in when you send the request, or when you use a saved signer list, Document Setup asks you to sign in at that point, and your documents, placed fields, and signers stay in place while you do. See Signing In.

Either path leads into the same Set Signing Order & Routing step described next. From there, the request behaves exactly like any other eSignature routing: it lands as a standard Submission in the Submissions list, and the same signer authentication, status lifecycle, audit trail, and administrator tracking described in the rest of this section apply identically regardless of which path started it.

Starting From an Internal Form Submission (Document Review and Workflow)

eSignature requests can also start directly from filling out one of your own forms — no separate Document Setup step required. This applies to any form whose generated document should be routed for signature.

1. Select the form from the Form Workflows list (for example, Contact Information) to open it for filling.
2. Complete the form and submit it. The user lands directly on the Document Review and Workflow dialog, showing the document generated from the submission.
3. If the document is tagged — see the tag syntax above — select Start Signature Process. The Set Signing Order & Routing dialog described next opens immediately, pre‑populated with the signers detected in the document.
4. If the document does not contain any signature tags, Start Signature Process is replaced with Add Signature Fields:
   • Set the number of signers, select a field type (Signature, Full Name, Date Signed, Initials, and the others from the table above), and drag it onto the document.
   • Drag placed fields to move them, or remove one with the × on the field. Fields are color-coded and labeled per signer.
   • Select Done — Continue to Routing to write the fields into the document and open Set Signing Order & Routing, exactly as the tagged path does.
5. Submission Task is unrelated to the signing process — use it to communicate with other consumers of the submission's output, independent of whether a signature is ever requested.
6. Selecting Download PDF saves the current generated document without starting a signature request. Closing the dialog without selecting either signature option leaves the submission unaffected — a signature request can still be started later.

From here, the request behaves exactly like any other eSignature routing: it lands as a standard Submission in the Submissions list, and the same signer authentication, status lifecycle, audit trail, and administrator tracking described in the rest of this section apply identically regardless of which path started it.

Set Signing Order & Routing

This dialog is the shared next step for both paths above — it opens automatically from Start Signature Process or Add Signature Fields → Done. It can also be opened later for a submission that was created without immediately starting a signature request:

1. Navigate to the Submissions page.
2. Locate the target submission and select the Signature icon from the Operations column.
3. If a signing order has not yet been set for this submission, the Set Signing Order & Routing dialog opens.

The dialog displays the Document Target (the submission being routed) and the Initiator (the logged‑in user), both set automatically. Below that, specify each signer in sequential workflow execution order:

• Order — the sequence number (1, 2, 3…). Signer 2 cannot open the document until Signer 1 completes signing, and so on down the line.
• Role / Position — labels each signer's function on the document (for example, Primary Signer, Approving Field Officer, Approving Regional Officer).
• Signer Name and Signer Email Address — required for every signer added to the routing order.
• Email language — the language of that signer's emails. It starts as your own language. See Languages.
• Instructions — optional, signer‑specific notes, shown on their own line under each signer. If you leave the suggested instruction unchanged, each signer sees it in their own language.

Select Start Signature Process to send the document to the first signer in the order. Only Signer 1 is notified initially; each subsequent signer is notified automatically once the prior signer completes.

Signer Authentication & Signing Experience

Each signer receives a delivery email containing a secure link. The signing experience is fully hosted — signers do not need a Genie Snap account.

• Sign-In on Every Envelope: Opening the link always starts with a fresh sign-in, and the document stays locked until the signer signs in.
  • Signers whose organization uses single sign-on can select Continue with SSO.
  • Everyone else, or anyone who selects Use an email code instead, enters a one-time code sent to their email.
  • Either way, the email address they sign in with must match the one the request was sent to, so every signature in the audit trail is tied to that signer's own email address.
• Consent to Electronic Records: Before any field can be completed, the signer reviews a disclosure covering their right to a paper copy, how to withdraw consent, and what they need to view and keep the document, and then agrees to use electronic records and signatures for this document. A signer who does not agree can decline, which opens Contact with the decline reason selected.
• Document Review: The signing page highlights only the fields tagged for the current signer (for example, Full Name, Sign, Date Signed). Fields tagged for other signers remain visible but inactive.
• Next Field: Steps the signer through each of their required fields in order.
• Complete Signing: Enabled once the signer has consented and all of that signer's required fields are completed. Submitting advances the workflow to the next signer in the order, or finalizes the document if this was the last signer.
• Signing a Field: Signature, initials, and stamp fields can be drawn on screen, or filled by uploading an image (PNG or JPG, up to 5MB).
• Download Original: Saves the document as sent, for review, before or after consenting.
• Contact: Lets the signer message the requester directly from the signing page, for a question, a correction, or to decline to sign.

Languages

Document Setup, the signing page, sign-in, the consent disclosure, and every eSignature email are available in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, and Portuguese. Your administrator can add more languages. The documents themselves are signed as they are; they aren't translated.

• Each signer: the request email is sent in the Email language you choose for that signer. When the signer opens the link, the signing page uses their browser's language if it is one of the site's languages, and their later emails (reminders, the completed copy) follow it.
• You, the requester: Document Setup and the emails sent to you use your browser's language.
• Consent: each signer accepts the disclosure in the language their signing page is shown in, and the Audit Log records which language it was.
• Records: the Audit Log, the status history, and the API's webhook statuses are always in English, with times in UTC, so they read the same for everyone.

Tracking, Resending, and Aborting

Selecting the Signature icon on a submission that already has a signing order opens Existing Signing Order & Routing instead of the setup dialog, showing a live status table for every signer:

• Delivered — timestamp the signing request was emailed to that signer.
• Opened — timestamp the signer opened and authenticated into the document.
• Signed — timestamp the signer completed and submitted their signature.

Each column reads Pending until that step occurs for that signer. From this dialog:

• Abort Signing Process: Cancels the routing entirely. No further signers are notified and the document does not complete. Use this to correct a wrong signer, replace a document, or cancel a request that is no longer needed.
• Resend to Active Recipient: Re‑sends the delivery email/link to whichever signer is currently active in the order, without disturbing signers who have already completed their step. It also restarts the wait before that signer's next automatic reminder.
• Tracking History: Opens the full Comment and Task Status History log for the submission, showing every eSign status transition with user, timestamp, and message.

The real‑time status of the signing workflow is continuously reflected in the Submissions list.

Automatic Reminders and Expiration

The signer whose turn it is gets reminder emails until they sign. A reminder is the signing request email again, in the signer's language, with Reminder: (or its translation) in front of the subject and the same secure link. If the request is set to expire, the reminder also gives the expiry date.

Requests started from the dashboard (Document Setup, a form submission, or the Signature icon) use your site's settings, which are set by whoever installs Genie Snap. Requests started through the API can set their own values for each request; see Reminders and Expiration in the API reference.

When a request expires, it ends the same way as Abort Signing Process: no further signers are notified and the document does not complete. The status becomes eSign Expired, the requester and the signer who was waiting are emailed that the link no longer works, and the requester can start a new request from the submission. Integrations receive the Abort event with the status eSign Expired.

Reminders and expiration stop as soon as the request is completed or aborted. Each reminder and expiration is recorded in the Audit Log, and an expiration also appears in Tracking History as a status change. On sites with more than one web server, each reminder is still sent only once.

Submission Status Lifecycle

eSignature status updates automatically as each signer completes, and is visible directly in the Submission's Status column and Comment/Task History:

1. Submission created
2. eSign Started — routing has been set and the first signer notified.
3. eSign #N Signed by [Name] ([email]) — repeats for each signer in order as they complete.
4. eSign #[final] Signed... and eSign is Complete — all signers have completed; the submission's Completed indicator updates.

A request can also end before it completes: eSign Aborted when it is cancelled with Abort Signing Process, or eSign Expired when it reaches its expiration date.

Signature Files & Audit Trail

From Submission Details → Signatures, every generated artifact for the signature routing is available for download. A discrete file is captured at each signer's step, so the complete signing history — not just the final result — remains available for review at any time.

Each signature routing also generates a downloadable Audit Log (CSV), tied to the document's unique ID, recording every step. It is always in English, with times in UTC:

Certificate Seal

When the last signer finishes, the completed PDF is sealed with your organization's X.509 certificate. Opening it in a PDF viewer shows whether the document has changed since it was signed. The seal also carries the document's DocumentUniqueId, which links the signed file to its Audit Log. The certificate is set up by whoever installs Genie Snap. A certificate from a trusted certificate authority shows a valid signature in PDF viewers; a self-signed certificate still detects changes, but viewers warn that the signature can't be verified.

Together, the per‑signer signed files and the Audit Log form a tamper-resistant, chronological chain of custody suitable for compliance, legal, and regulated‑industry recordkeeping — generated automatically, with no separate eSignature vendor or integration required.

Signed files belong to their submission, so the form's records retention rule and any legal hold apply to them too.

Administrator File Access

Administrators can select the Submission's Description link at any time to open the complete Submission Details modal. From here, admins can:

• View and download all intermediate and final signed files, and the Audit Log.
• Resend the completed, executed document to the requestor or any signer.
• Review Form, Files, and Tasks tabs alongside Signatures for full submission context.