Automatically create document from template and sign it using DocuSign

Work on document template in Editor

In Editor, you can compose document templates online, or upload pre-made ones and modify them in case of need.

Download the contract template we’ve prepared for this case and upload it to the process.

Once you did it, you’ll see the template preview:

You may notice {{tokens}} in the document template. We highlighted a couple of them purple to attract your attention and describe how the templating syntax works.

Word DOCX templating syntax. Everything in {{curly braces}} is variables that the templating engine will replace with specified data. Also, in our template there are nested tags referring to products - {{products.name}}, {{products.quantity}}, {{products.price}}, and {{products.cost}}.

They let the process know that we want to display properties from some object. In our example, it’s a collection of products. The templating engine will automatically understand that there are multiple products and create table rows for each of them.

Find out more information on Plumsail Documents Word templates in the documentation.

Insert signing tags into the template. You can insert special tags into the template to define the location of e-signatures and other associated information like initials, the date signed for a particular signer. These tags are not related to Plumsail Documents templating syntax. They’re from DocuSign. They ease the process of signing. Signers don’t need to search for the place where to sign and then drag and drop fields manually.

We placed some of the DocuSign tags at the end of the document template and made them invisible by changing the font color to white:

This is how they will appear for the signer. Names and dates will be auto-filled.

More information on DocuSign signature and other related tags is in our documentation.

Test document template

To see how the resulting document will look, you can test your template. For that, click the Test template button.

You will see the dialog where you can fill in the auto-generated testing form. Form fields are created based on tokens from your document template. You can adjust the look of the testing form by changing token types.

Once you’ve tested the template, press Save&Next to proceed further - to the Settings substep.

Customize document settings

• Switch the Template mode to Active. It will remove a Plumsail watermark from the resulting document.

• Fill in the name of the result file.

• Select PDF format for the output file.

• Protect the result PDF if required.

Email subject and message

To make the content of the email subject and message dynamic, you can use tokens from the template. They will work just the same way as in the template. Meaning they will be replaced by specified data too.

Look at the picture:

We inserted {{buyerName}} and {{Number}} tokens, and they will transform to the real name of the customer and the contract number dynamically every time.

You don’t have to personalize the message manually.

Recipients

It’s possible to add as many recipients as you need. In this example, we added just two - from the vendor company and from the customer side. We assigned their roles - Needs to sign. There are other options you can select.

Advanced settings

Expand Advanced to customize more settings. For instance, we enable Sequential signing that means the strict order in which recipients should receive and sign the document. It’s essential for us that our CEO signs the contract first, and the customer receives the copy signed by the vendor for signing.

To change the order, you can drag and drop recipients like this:

Also, in advanced settings of the DocuSign delivery, you can set an expiration period and reminders.

The DocuSign delivery step is completed. Press Save&Next.

You can add as many deliveries as you need. For example, if you want to store your contracts somewhere, you can choose Cloud storage deliveries like OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, and others.

Check out the full list of deliveries and how to manage them.

Bind web form to process

Now you need to associate this web form with the process. On the step Start process, switch to a tab Web Form. Click on Bind form.

You’ll see the dialog with the dropdown showing all your Plumsail forms. Select the form for creating purchase agreements. Press Bind.

From now submissions of the bound form will trigger the process. Submission data will populate the DOCX template, the process will convert it to PDF and will send it to DocuSign for signing.