Tips from Docusign

Have you ever received a lengthy, complex contract and wished you could instantly understand the most critical clauses without having to read through dozens of pages? So… if I told you that artificial intelligence could summarize it for you, would you believe me?The feature called AI-Assisted Signing leverages artificial intelligence to automatically extract and summarize key insights from your agreements. This advanced capability allows you to highlight the core components of a document so signers can quickly grasp what they are agreeing to.You can use AI-Assisted Signing to break down dense legal jargon, highlight important terms, and provide an easy-to-read overview directly within the signing experience. When you enable this feature, it automatically generates a clear summary of the document's most critical points. I invite you to watch this short video on AI-Assisted Signing from our Trainer Tip series, to learn how to simplify the signing process for everyone! Key Take-aways: AI-

We’re back with a fresh lineup of resources at Docusign University (DSU) to help you refine your agreement processes. Whether you are optimizing your workflows or mastering new skills, we have the tools to support your goals. Explore our latest training and tools to conquer your next project. 🌟 The HeadlinersOur live, instructor-led sessions are designed to help you command your agreement processes and implement expert-backed best practices across your entire organization.Build use case-specific workflows:Automate Procurement Requests: Docusign IAM Use Case: Learn to implement automated, end-to-end procurement request workflows. Manage Sales Contracts: Docusign IAM Use Case: Master end-to-end sales contract management with Docusign IAM. 📚 More to ExploreCollaborative hubs like Agreement Desk and Workspaces are designed to help you streamline team interactions and manage your documents more effectively.Get Started with Agreement Desk: Unlock efficient agreement management by using Doc

Do you use headers and footers in your Microsoft Word documents and wonder why they don't appear when creating eSignature templates in Agreement Template Builder (ATB) or expected to live edit them? By default, the builder hides them on the editing canvas to provide a clean, uncluttered workspace while you edit agreement text.Showing headers and footers directly inside the live edit view allows you to verify document formatting and layout geometry early in the design process, but is for viewing purpose only.Header/Footer visibility toggles Agreement Template Builder canvas allow you to: Verify company logo and that the correct headers/footers are being utilized, directly in the live editor Optionally switch between First Page, Even Pages, and Other Pages views to inspect complex Word layouts Eliminate unnecessary back-and-forth navigation to the full document preview window (preview mode can be used to confirm proper placements as well as rendered output i.e. Page X of Y in the foo

Managing user permissions in Docusign CLM can be challenging when non-admin team members need access to specific administrative capabilities without requiring full account control.Delegated permissions in Docusign CLM allow administrators to assign specific management rights to non-admin users, helping teams maintain operational momentum while preserving security guardrails. What This Feature Does (and Why It Matters)Delegated permissions in Docusign CLM give non-admin users granular administrative access to specific features without granting full system administrator status.Using delegated permissions helps organizations: Save administrative time: Reduce administrative overhead by distributing safe routine tasks. Improve team efficiency: Eliminate bottlenecks by empowering functional leads. Maintain security and governance: Protect system settings by enforcing the principle of least privilege. Example Use CaseConsider a reporting manager who needs to create, edit, and delete custo

Has there ever been a time when you changed the formatting on a standard field, or created a drop-down field with a number of options and thought to yourself that you would want to use these fields on other envelopes or templates at any time? Docusign eSignature gives you the ability to do just that.You can do this by creating Document Custom Fields. You can create them in a number of different ways.You can create them as an Account Admin to use for yourself or share with other account users As an account user, you can create document custom fields just for you as a user You can also create Document Custom Fields during the envelope creation processIt is an easy process and you will see how easy in the following video:  Key Take-aways:Document Custom Fields will definitely save you time where you have fields that you would normally have to format each time As an Admin, Document Custom Fields can be shared account-wide so that other account users can use themAdditional Resources:For thi

Many organizations have certain colleagues that are in charge of maintaining the documentation used to send to clients/vendors/customers and colleagues to ensure we are always sending the most up-to-date documents.  We often need to build into our Workspaces a process that ensures we never send outdated documentation, so for this, we need to include an Upload Request in WorkspacesExample use case:A Legal Team wants to ensure that the complex sales contracts their organization sends out are compliant with all regulations and contain all the necessary clauses and terms for the customers’ region and verticals. They use upload requests to reach out to those in charge of these contracts so they include the correct clauses and information.How to add an Upload Request:Step 1: Open your workspace and Click the Add Button and Select Upload RequestStep 2: Type the Name of what you need uploaded and a Due Date if applicable.  A description might be helpful for the user to know specifics about the

Have you ever come across an envelope where you needed to add dozens (or even hundreds) of similar fields? For example, a 40-page document where each page needed an Initial Here field for each recipient? So… if I told you that you could automate this, would you believe me?The feature called AutoPlace adds fields near each occurrence of a given string in a template or single envelope. This advanced field action allows you to specify a string of characters in your document or template for automatic placement of the field.You can use AutoPlace with any field type – you can even define custom fields to include the AutoPlace setting. When you AutoPlace a field, it is automatically placed at all instances in your document of the specified word or characters.I invite you to watch this short video on AutoPlace from our Trainer Tip series, to learn how to automate this step! Key Take-aways:AutoPlace can help to prepare your documents faster. You can apply automation based on a ‘trigger’, such a

If your team spends too much time digging through sent envelopes or compiling manual tracking spreadsheets to see your agreement statuses, you’re not alone.Here’s how to simplify that part of your eSignature workflow and build a streamlined view of your contracts using Custom Dashboards and Reports.What This Feature Does (and Why It Matters)Custom Dashboards and Reports in Docusign Insights let admins and teams create tailored, visual summaries of their eSignature transaction data. By combining individual charts and tables into a central hub, teams can:Save time by eliminating manual report generation and data tracking. Improve visibility with real-time tracking of critical envelope metrics across departments. Enhance decision-making by turning raw agreement volumes and statuses into clear, actionable visual insights.Example Use CaseThe most common situation where this feature helps admins is when leadership needs an instant, at-a-glance breakdown of envelope volume by type (e.g., NDAs

Description:Every contract and agreement you generate is different, but how can you ensure that the right contract language is included? Did you know that you can create dynamic, adaptive document templates in Docusign IAM? And that you can build conditional logic that will show or hide potentially large portions of contract language?IAM Admins and users are using Document Templates to: Pull in trusted data from systems of record like Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics Apply approved, standardized language and formatting Use conditional logic and dynamic tables to reflect the details of each customer, product, or transaction.   Example use case:A Legal Team wants to ensure that the complex sales contracts their organization sends out are compliant with all regulations and contain all the necessary clauses and terms for the customers’ region and verticals. They use document templates and ensure that conditional logic looks at the appropriate sender fields to include the correct clause

After creating a Web Form that uses an eSignature Template, you may find yourself a bit perplexed about how to edit the template over time and map new fields to your existing Web Form.  Allow us to clear things up!When you create Web Forms in Docusign eSignature, you are prompted to choose either to use an eSignature template from your account or create a standalone Web Form (for use in Workflow Builder (formerly Maestro) workflows). Creating Web Forms with eSignature templates, as opposed to sending traditional envelopes, has several benefits:Simplifies and streamlines the recipient experience, making filling out complex agreements easy and straightforward Reduces the risk of incomplete or incorrect information being filled into your agreements Creates an adaptive flow that conditionally shows the right fields, pages and even documents to your signers when it’s the right time Allows recipients to only have to fill in information once, and have that information replicated across your a

Feel like you have countless email threads and slack/MS Teams conversations related to an agreement? Well, you can consolidate all your questions, feedback, and conversations related to a document using CLM comments.With CLM Comments you can:Tag Others: By typing @ in a comment, CLM sends an email notification to the tagged individual or team. Create Tasks: Comments can be turned into assigned tasks. Tagged users receive task items in their task inbox. Sync MS Word Comments: Comments sync seamlessly between Docusign and desktop versions of Microsoft Word (for .docx files) upon upload and download. Receive Slack Notifications: You can view, reply to, and resolve CLM comment tasks directly from the Docusign for Slack app. Let’s look at an example. Maybe I am a Sales Representative who is drafting a contract for a customer. I want my manager to review the document and provide me with feedback. I can easily highlight text on the contract and add a comment tagging my manager. I can even ass

If your team spends too much time manually building out collaborative project hubs from scratch for every recurring transaction, you are not alone. Manually creating a new workspace, adding individual upload requests, and assembling the exact same envelope templates for every internal promotion or new account onboarding is highly repetitive and prone to inconsistency.Here is how to make that setup step faster and more consistent.Workspace Templates in Docusign let admins pre-package entire multi-step agreements into a single blueprint, helping teams streamline collaboration and deploy complex workflows instantly. Pre-packages multi-step agreements transactions, including upload requests, envelope templates, and static documents. Eliminates repetitive manual data entry, shifting deployment from minutes to seconds. Restores compliance and consistency by standardizing the exact files and tasks required for complex internal or external operations. Creates a centralized collaborative

Does your team spend too much time manually downloading completed envelopes one by one to save on a local server or backup system? As agreement volumes grow, manually downloading PDFs and copying form data becomes incredibly time-consuming, while increasing the risk of operational errors and compliance gaps.You can simplify and automate this routine to keep your archiving process consistent and secure. Docusign Retrieve acts as an automated extraction assistant for your infrastructure, allowing you to schedule and batch-export documents and data directly to your organization's local or cloud systems.  Key Take-aways:Docusign Retrieve is a software application that automates the mass export of envelopes, documents, and signing data. Additional costs may apply depending on your plan and negotiation with our sales team. With this tool, admins and users can: Ensure Data Security: Archive signed agreements locally behind your own corporate firewall. Eliminate Manual Data Entry: Export ind

 New Quarter, New Skills! We are kicking off Q2 with a fresh lineup of resources designed to help you command your agreement processes with total confidence. Whether you are streamlining your legal workflows or onboarding a new team, Docusign University (DSU) has the tools to help you conquer every challenge.Ready to unlock a few new powers? 🌟 The HeadlinersOur live, instructor-led sessions are designed to help you command your agreement processes and implement expert-backed best practices across your entire organization.Simplify New Hire Onboarding: Learn how to build an end-to-end process from generation to storage for HR agreements IAM Demo: Streamlining Legal Contract Approvals: Our instructors demonstrate how you can accelerate your legal review process. Accelerate Signing for Sales Agreements: Optimize your sales cycle using the Salesforce extension Docusign IAM.  📚 More to ExploreOur new and updated guides help you accelerate Docusign enablement and implementation. Docusign Ad

Is Docusign’s AI engine, Iris, not collecting all of the valuable information you need from your agreements? Are the attributes that come out of the box with Docusign not enough to capture some of the unique details of your agreements that you would like to use for searching and gaining insight to your contracts? Well thankfully, you can create custom extraction fields and “teach” Iris how to identify their values on your contracts automatically, whenever a new document is added to your IAM account. This has several benefits to your organization:Boost productivity by tracking the data points in terms that are unique to your organization or industry Simplify compliance monitoring with more consistent and precise agreement records Enhance strategic decision-making with greater visibility into your agreement dataExample Use CasePerhaps you would like to track your agreements by particular discount codes that are included within the language of your sales contracts. This is not an attribut

If you are unclear as to how to rename documents in CLM you are not alone. This is a frequent question we get from students in the CLM training classes. One way is to use the Name Template field as part of an Attribute Group.Keep in mind, this is not the only way to rename a document in CLM; however, this is an automatic way of renaming documents using attribute values applied to the document. This saves your users time and ensures consistency across the repository. Example Use CaseLet's say there has been a recent influx of third party NDAs being uploaded into the account. A Contract Admin is in charge of renaming them all using a consistent naming convention. There could be 10s, 100s, or 1000s of documents at a time so manually renaming is time consuming! In this scenario, there is no workflow processing to automatically rename them.How to Use an Attribute Name Template:To reference an attribute as part of the Name Template, put the attribute name in a double set of square brackets e

How to use destination URLs to redirect PowerForms and envelopesWhen signers finish, the handoff back to your website can feel abrupt or worse, they may see prompts that distract from your workflow. Destination URLs let you send signers to the right page every time, from a simple homepage redirect to a personalized “Thank you” experience or follow up a decline with a feedback survey.Set destination URLs on a brand and apply that brand to your envelopes, templates, or PowerForms. For email envelopes, a quick signing setting removes the account sign-up prompt so the redirect is seamless.Keep signers on your site after completing or declining Reduce drop‑off by eliminating extra clicks or prompts Personalize confirmation pages with merge fields (for example, [[RecipientName]] ) Create distinct post‑sign paths for Completed vs. Declined Instant redirect for PowerForms; one‑click Continue for email recipientsExample Use CaseYou host a PowerForm on your website for service requests. On finis

Did you know that Conditional Routing and Signing Groups can be combined to automate how agreements move through your organization?When creating a template, you can configure "smart" logic that routes an envelope to different teams based on data within the document. For example, an expense report under $500 can be automatically routed to a Finance Signing Group, while anything over $500 goes to a Department Manager.In the event that a specific individual is unavailable, using a Signing Group ensures that any member of that group can sign on behalf of the department, preventing bottlenecks in your workflow.Take a look at this Trainer Tip video where we explain how to automate an approval process using these powerful features. Key Take-aways:Automate Logic: Route envelopes to different recipients based on data like amounts, department or regions. Eliminate Manual Steps: Remove the need for senders to manually choose the next recipient in a workflow. Ensure Coverage: Use Signing Groups so

Do your team spends too much time manually switching between different tools to collect data, verify identities, and send documents for signature? If yes, you’re not alone! A frequent challenge in modern workflows is the friction caused by disconnected steps, which often leads to delays and manual errors. Here’s how to simplify that part of your workflow and make the process faster and more consistent. Docusign Workflow Builder (formerly Maestro) allows you to orchestrate these steps into one seamless, automated journey.  Key Take-aways: Docusign Workflow Builder (formerly Maestro) in Docusign IAM lets admins build and deploy custom agreement workflows without writing any code. This helps teams:Save time by automating repetitive tasks across different applications Reduce errors by eliminating manual data entry between steps Improve consistency by ensuring every agreement follows the same secure path. Additional Resources:Free Complementary Training: Get Started with Docusign Workflow B

As an eSignature account Administrator, are you looking  to manage Agreement Manager - (formerly Navigator) permissions for the users according to the roles they perform ? Wondering which permission takes precedence, such as that set at Profile permission level or at Group level ? Then look no further as you’ll find the answers right here:. Agreement Manager - (formerly Navigator) permissions can be set in multiple ways:Permission profile: Neither default permission profiles—DS Admin, DS Sender, or DS Viewer—include any Agreement Manager - (formerly Navigator) permissions, not even the DS Admin profile, meaning you can grant Agreement Manager - (formerly Navigator) permissions independently of whether a user has the DS Admin, DS Sender, or DS Viewer profile. You can nevertheless create a Custom Permission profile that includes one or several Agreement Manager - (formerly Navigator) permissions User : You can manually grant Agreement Manager - (formerly Navigator) permissions. User Grou

If you need to stop certain subsets of CLM users from having the ability to send a document for signature, you want to be sure that you not only train them that it’s not part of their responsibility, but withhold that capability from the software entirely so it’s not even possible for them to do so. What This Feature Does (and Why It Matters)Navigation & Actions is a powerful feature in CLM for Administrators to hide certain menus and functions within CLM. Limit access by configuring certain subsets of users in certain assigned personas from sending. Reduce voided envelopes by ensuring documents aren’t sent in error Example Use CaseWe want users on our Sales team to be able to view documents and send them out for external review to their customers, but it’s not part of their role to then send those documents for signature.  That responsibility is for someone else on another team, so we want to hide the capability from everyone assigned in CLM to the Sales persona. How to Configur

There is a good chance you are already using Docusign eSignature Envelope Templates to streamline the creation and sending of envelopes. If so, have you ever wished you could streamline the sending process by sending two envelope templates at once? Well, actually you can! Combining templates is a useful action when you want to send all documents tied to those templates to all roles/recipients for those templates at one time. This process has several benefits:It allows you to save on the number of envelopes needed to send the envelope templates separately  It provides additional use case coverage across many parts of your organization It streamlines the signing process for your recipientsExample Use CaseLet’s say you work for a credit union and have created two templates - a Change of Address template and a Residential loan application template.Sometimes you send them together and other times you send them separately. To send together, you can combine the templates to streamline the pro

If your team spends too much time recreating the same fields across multiple document generation forms, you are not alone. A frequent challenge in CLM workflows is the manual effort required to maintain consistency when building or updating forms. Here is how to make that process faster and more consistent. What This Feature Does (and Why It Matters)The Forms Library in Docusign CLM lets admins create a centralized repository of standardized fields. This helps teams: Save time by pulling pre-configured fields into new forms instead of building them from scratch. Reduce errors by ensuring data points are labeled and formatted identically across the organization Improve consistency through a single point of control for field updates.  Example Use CaseA legal operations team needs to include a "Governing Law" dropdown menu on five different contract generation forms. Instead of building that dropdown five times, they create it once in the library and reference it across all five forms

Creating templates requires a lot of work. It can be very cumbersome at times. But did you know that Docusign University has, to date, almost 300 sample templates that you can download and use right away. With our sample templates, you can...Save time and effort Modify the template to meet your business needs Use our templates as a guide to help you build your ownIt’s really an easy process, and with the following video, you will see just how easy: Key Take-aways:Current templates are always updated with up-to-date documents New templates are always being added, so check back oftenAdditional Resources:For further education on templates feel free to register for our Template Creation Basics course in Docusign University Along with the above course we have a number of other webinars, deep-dives, and further knowledge on templates available in Docusign UniversityContinue the ConversationIf you have tried using a template from our library, we’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to as

🚀 New Quarter, New Skills!  At Docusign University (DSU), we want you to work smarter, not harder. Our team has been crafting new content to help you master the agreement process and elevate your workflow. Ready to unlock the power of your agreements? Let’s dive into the latest and greatest from DSU! 🌟 The HeadlinersThe "don't-miss" updates of the quarter:Docusign Agreement Preparation – Ready to revolutionize how you build documents? This live, instructor-led course shows you how to centrally manage templates and generate agreements faster than ever using the Intelligent Agreement Management (IAM) platform.  Docusign eSignature Sending Basics – Your essential guide to the fundamentals! Whether you're new to the team or just need a refresh, this live, instructor-led course walks you through how to send, sign, and manage agreements with total confidence.   📚 More to ExploreA quick look at our other new releases:Self-Paced Course: Build Agreement Workflows for Workflow Builder (former