E-Signatures in BambooHR FAQ
Purpose: This help guide will walk you through frequently asked questions about e-signatures in BambooHR. Each question will provide you with an explanation and/or resource for how to troubleshoot in your account.
Table of Contents
- Can I create an e-signature form without the employee needing to sign it?
- Why does this signature form show as “Complete,” but there are still blank fields?
- When trying to view a document, I get an error that says “Sorry, we can’t provide a preview for this file.” What should I do to get past that error message?
- If my signing order on a signature template and/or reporting lines change, will the pending signature requests update to be the new signers?
- Why does my form go blank when I set up my e-signature document?
- How do I delete a signature request from my inbox?
- Are e-signatures legally binding?
- Can I request signatures in groups?
- What font is used?
- Why won’t the employee’s name populate in the request field when I’m trying to request a signature?
- Can I preview an e-signature document before it goes to the employee so that I can make sure all of the fields look correct?
- I requested that this employee sign a document, and now I’m in BambooHR and can't find it.
- An employee reports that the e-signature document is blank when they open it to sign it.
- How do I duplicate a field quickly?
- How can I align fields on an e-signature document?
- Can I place hyperlinks in e-signature documents?
- I had a placeholder in my e-signature document that’s blank after completion. What happened?
Please note that all signers need to have an access level in order for e-signatures to function properly.
No. We’ve designed the system so e-signatures are stored automatically in the employee profile. In order to do this, we’ve made the employee a required signer on the signature forms.
If the employee is inactive or terminated and can’t access the forms, you can request that another user (usually the employee’s former manager) fill out the form about the employee. As an administrator, you’ll request the signature from the manager. Be careful not to use any of the placeholders here. The manager will need to fill out any information about the employee by hand. Since this form will automatically go to the manager’s signed documents folder, it will need to be manually moved to the employee’s folder after completion by an admin.
There are a few different reasons a completed signature form could have blank fields upon completion:
- If the fillable boxes on your signature template aren’t marked as required, employees can choose not to complete those boxes.
- If the signature template is attached to an onboarding task and isn’t marked as required, it’s possible for employees to choose not to sign the whole form (even if the form has required fields on the template itself). See the Signed Documents report to see who chose not to sign forms.
- If your signature template contains placeholders (i.e., Employee Name, SSN, Birth Date, etc.) and doesn’t have data entered on the first step of the New Hire Packet or on the employee profile, the placeholder will stay blank.
Oftentimes, we find that this happens due to a browser issue. We’d recommend first going through the troubleshooting steps found in this help guide. Another possible reason for this error message is the configuration of the user's custom access level settings. Double-check your custom access level settings by navigating the following steps: Settings > Access Levels > Company Files.
If you still experience issues, feel free to reach out to our support heroes.
In extenuating cases, they can sometimes rebuild completed signature documents. If a document does need to be rebuilt, please be ready to provide the name of the document(s) and the webpage URL for the employee profile(s) you are experiencing this with.
No, the signers on pending requests won’t update to reflect changes. In other words, the signers are locked in place at the time the signature is requested. If you need to update the signers on a template, you can cancel the pending signature request and then request a signature again.
If you’ve scanned the document or are using an upload that has some misalignments, the system may try to cancel out any discrepancies in alignment. This will result in some text disappearing. It’s best to re-upload a higher resolution image or create the document as a file on your computer and upload it.
You can delete forms under the Signed Documents Report in the Reports tab. Click the name of the document. Hover over the employee’s name and then use the “x” to delete the request.
Additional Information: Signed Documents Report
Yes, depending on if the laws are applicable to your business. We always recommend consulting a legal expert to ensure that your company is protected and compliant with local laws.
Additional Information: US Electronic Signature Laws FAQ
Yes! You can request signatures in groups by typing the access level name or the location name into the request box.
There are a few fonts used depending on whether you’re viewing the font in-app or printing it as a PDF. In-app, the font is Source Sans Pro. When you print as a PDF, the font will be Helvetica if printing from a Mac, and Arial when printing from a Windows computer. The size of the text depends on the size of the text box. The signature is in the font of Herr Von Muellerhoff.
You must enable the employee in an access level with a current hire date (not a date in the future). You can still send signature requests to onboarding employees via the New Hire Packet or from the action menu on their employee profile.
There isn’t a preview option. However, you could add a checkbox in the bottom corner of the document, assign the box to yourself, and set yourself as Signer One. You can add the remaining signers below. This will allow you to view the document before it goes to the other signers. All you have to do is check the box then click 'confirm signature' to get it sent on its way.
If you are assigned to a custom access level, your access level may not have access to the employee's Signed Documents folder. Full Admin users can check and update your access level. If you’re a Full Admin user, you can go to the Signed Documents Report and company inbox.
This is likely caused by a browser error. Follow the steps in this guide to make sure the employee is using the system as optimized. If they’re signing the document with a mobile device, have them switch to the web browser. Reach out to our support heroes if any issues continue.
- For a Windows computer: Click on the field, hold down Alt, and drag your mouse to where you want the new field to be.
- For a Mac computer: Click on the field, hold down Option, and drag your mouse to where you want the new field to be.
Click on the field, hold down Shift, and start to drag the field. Notice that lines will appear on the form that will allow you to line things up.
Yes, you can add hyperlinks to an e-signature document by adding the hyperlinks to the original document, uploading the document to the Files tab, creating the signature template, and then instructing your employees to download the file to view the link(s) before signing the document.
This is most commonly caused by a blank field in the employee profile. The e-signatures can only pull information from the employee profile. The other reason might be that the employee chose not to sign the document. This will happen if their signature isn’t required.