Zefort Sign is an electronic signing service that allows you to send signing requests via email to one or more recipients. This article describes how the signing process works for both the sender and recipient of the signing request.

Please see our overview video of how to create and send signature request:

 

Zefort sign process in nutshell:

1. Start signature process
2. Select document and attachments
3. Add signature parties
4. Check and edit signature process details before sending
5. Signing / approving the document
6. Downloading the signed document

Sending the signing request

To start signature process, you can either upload a new document or select document already existing in Zefort.

Start signature process

You can upload new document…

1. click “Sign document” (icon on top right corner)
2. click “Select document” or drag and drop document: you can also download attachments at the same time
   Note: uploaded document is automatically added to Zefort

… or use a document that is already uploaded in Zefort. There are multiple ways to do that.

Start signature process quickly from your contract desktop:

• Cards view: click “Sign” icon on the contract card toolbar
  
• Table view: click menu menu ••• > “Sign main document”
  

 

If you have already opened contract, you can start signature process in different ways:

• Contract toolbar: Open menu (•••) and click “Sign contract’s main document”
  
• Files & emails tab: select document to be signed, open menu … and click “Sign document”
  
• Signatures tab: click the link “sign main document”
  

 

Select document to be signed and add attachments

If you have contract with attachments, select the document which you want to be signed by dragging.

You can add more attachments if needed: upload new files from your computer or select documents from Zefort

Add signature parties

• Add parties:
  • you can quickly add yourself or contract owner as a signature party: just click + MYSELF or +OWNER [1]
  • add  individual Zefort user(s) or user group(s) [2]
  • add external party: type the name and email address and click the add button (+) [3]

• Choose party roles [2] and set authentication requirement [3,4]
  • open Details [1] to select a role for each party (approver, signer or CC), give title to signer and select in which language they will receive notifications (English, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish)
  • select authentication level: light authentication with email, 2-factor authentication with SMS or strong authentication with bank ID
  • you can select whether SMS or strong authentication is required before the document can be viewed

 

• Set signing order for parties: parallel, consecutive or flexible [1] and drag parties to [2]
  • parallel: approvers will approve the document first, then signers get the signature request simultaneously and after the document has been signed and approved by all parties, CC gets email link to the signed contract
  • consecutive: approvers get the request for approving in the selected order; once the document has been approved by all approvers, signers get the request for signing in the selected order. After that CC gets link to the signed contract
  • flexible: you can freely choose the order of parties

Check and edit signature process details

• Documents [1]: see which main document and attachments are included and click edit if you want to make changes
• Signing parties [2]: check approvers, signers and viewers, required authentication level. You can still edit if needed, or choose if SMS or strong authentication is required before viewing documents.
• Title [3]: give name to the document
• Attachments [4]: choose whether it is mandatory to view all attachments before the document is signed or approved
• Target binder [5]: select to which binder you want to add the signed document
• Message [6]: write down a message to parties if you wish
• Signing invitation expires [7]: choose the date and time when the invitation is no longer valid
• Send [8] or save as draft [9] and send later

Now the request for approving and signing has been sent to parties by email. Next step is approving and signing the document.

Receiving and signing the document

All signers will receive a signing request to their email addresses. The signing request includes your name, the filename of your document, the expiration date and your custom message. Zefort users will also see the signature/approval request when they log in to my.zefort.

From the email, the signer is directed to a web page where the document can be reviewed. On that page, the signer can either sign or decline signing the document. If the signer declines, you will be notified via email.

You can monitor the signing status from the Signatures tab of your document.

Saving the signed document

Once all signatures are completed, you and the signer(s) will be notified via email.

The email includes a secure download link that can be used for downloading and saving the signed document. As the document owner, you don’t have to download the document separately as it is automatically stored in Zefort.