Signature pages allow Vault to generate a page with electronic signatures for a document and attach that page to the viewable rendition. Signature pages only appear with downloaded renditions and do not affect source files.
Example Basic Signature Page Layout
Accessing Template Management
From Business Admin > Templates > Signature & Cover Pages, you can manage eSignature page templates as well as the Audit Export Cover Page and Report Export Cover Page template.
About Signature Page Templates
Vault supports both basic and advanced signature page templates.
Basic Templates
Basic templates are limited to a few lines of text in the header, footer, and signature blocks. An example layout is shown above. Basic templates are created in Vault as described below.
Advanced Templates
An advanced template uses a preconfigured XML Forms Architecture (XFA) PDF file which controls the specific fonts, styles, layout, images, and Vault fields captured when the template is rendered on a document. These are forms-enabled PDF files typically created in Adobe Experience Manager. You must create the files outside of Vault and upload them as templates.
Learn more about advanced templates below.
How to Create Signature Page Templates
To create a signature page template:
- From the Signature & Cover Page Templates page, click Create Signature Page Template.
- Select either the Basic Template or Advanced Template option button.
- Enter a name for the page. This value only appears in the Business Admin area.
- If creating a basic template: In the Header and Footer fields, enter text and use the token tool to add fields from the application. Vault will add this content to every signature page above and below the signature blocks as shown in the example above.
- If creating an advanced template: In the File Details field, click Choose and upload the XFA PDF.
- Enter text for Signature Block 1 and Signature Block 2 and use the token tool to add details about the signature (such as: signee name, date, workflow step). Only the fields available from the token tool are valid fields for signature blocks. These blocks display alongside each other and both blocks display for each signature as shown in the example above.
- Select a Location for the signature page. The page can appear at the beginning or end of the document.
- Optional: Click Download Preview to view the template and assess your changes. Vault translates any tokens into user-friendly labels in the preview.
- Click Save.
- Once you’ve created a template, assign it to a document lifecycle.
How to Edit Templates
To edit a signature page template:
- From the Signature & Cover Page Templates page, click on the template.
- Click Edit.
- Make any necessary changes.
- Click Save. The new template takes effect immediately for all new signatures.
Note: If Vault has already generated a signature page for a specific document version, that signature page only updates to the new template after a user manually or automatically regenerates the page.
How to Delete Templates
Deleting a template removes it permanently from the Vault. Before deleting, you must change the associated lifecycle to not use the template. To delete:
- From the Signature & Cover Page Templates page, hover over the template.
- Click on the X icon.
- Click Continue in the confirmation dialog.
About eSignature Page Generation & Regeneration
By default, Vault automatically generates or regenerates eSignature pages when documents enter their configured steady states. Users may generate and regenerate eSignature pages on documents in non-steady states using a user action or entry action.
Note: You must first configure the user action or entry action before users can perform them.
If a document corresponds to a lifecycle without a defined steady state, Vault generates the eSignature page on the first instance of a page view or by using a user or entry action.
About eSignature Page Language
When available, Vault generates eSignature pages in the Document Language. The Document Language field is only available in Vaults using multilingual document handling. If the Document Language field is blank or unavailable, Vault generates eSignature pages using the Vault’s Base Language.
About Advanced Templates
When creating XFA PDF files to use as advanced templates:
- You must use the “Text” field type to add a Vault field, regardless of the field’s type in your Vault. For example, include the document name by inserting a text field labeled name__v. Vault will not accept templates with text field names that do not match document field names in your Vault.
- You must specify a single location in the form for rendering signature blocks. To do this, create one table row that is flagged to repeat. Enter the text field name signature_block_1__v and another named signature_block_2__v in one or two cells within that row.
- To include images, such as your company logo, add them as image objects. Image field objects are not supported within Vault. Image objects must be flagged to embed the image in the PDF.
- Vault can support up to 150 mapped fields in the advanced template.
Here are a few suggestions to help ensure your template looks professional and functions as expected:
- Place form fields in tables so that the order and spacing of elements is preserved with field values of varying length.
- Use a custom Adobe object style to keep fonts, font sizes and weights consistent.
- Define which elements can be modified (for example: resized, split across pages, or hyphenated).
If you need help getting started, download this sample XFA eSignature template.
About Signature Dates & Times
Vault generally displays dates and times that are adjusted to the current user’s selected time zone. However, on signature pages, the signature date and time appears in UTC.
About Signature Page Sizing
Generated signature pages have the same dimensions as the first page of the viewable rendition. Note that they always use portrait layout. For advanced templates, Vault will not resize the template.
About Character Limits
When using tokens in the signature page header or footer, keep in mind that these areas have maximum character limits. Consider the maximum length of the fields related to each token. Vault truncates the text on a single line after it reaches the maximum, so you may notice that some details are not visible when the tokens resolve.
The limit is 80 characters per line. Both the header and footer allow two lines, but will not wrap text that goes over the limit.
About Row Limits
XFA templates can be configured to limit the number of rows when generating advanced signature pages. Vault does not support XFA templates configured with a maximum row limit. If the number of signatures in a document exceeds the limit, Vault does not generate the eSignature page.