Working with Templates
Templates are used to store Agreements that you wish to send to recipients. When you send a Request you select a Template to use for that Request.
There are 2 types of Templates that you can create in the fmESignature Link file:
- Docusign Templates: these are Templates created within DocuSign where you upload the documents, create the tabs and setup the recipients/roles
- Non-Docusign Templates: these are Templates that you create in the fmESignature Link file and can link documents that include PDF files (including dynamic PDFs created from a FileMaker layout), Microsoft Word documents etc. You add the Docusign tabs (Sign Here, Initial Here, Date Signed etc) for each recipient for each document
A completed Template record looks like this:
Template ID: this is generated automatically by the fmESignature Link file to uniquely identify a record.
Account: you select the Accounts record that you wish to associate with this Template. When sending a Request you also specify an Account record and only Templates that are associated with the same Account record will be available for sending.
Name: used to briefly describe the Template and appears in the Template drop down menu when selecting a Template for a Request.
Description: a short description of the Template that summarises the Template in more detail for your users.
Email Body: allows you to customise the email body that is used in the Docusign email when sending the request to the recipients.
Email Subject: used for the email subject that is used in the Docusign email when sending the request to the recipients. You must enter an Email Subject for each Template.
Completed Event Webhook: to receive a Webhook notification when the Envelope has been completed (signed by all parties) enter the Webhook URL here. The url must start with https. See our Webhooks guide for more information.
Docusign Template: flag to indicate if the Template record is a Docusign Template.
Set Same Routing Order for all Recipients: when ticked all Recipients will receive the signing request email at the same time.
Custom Expiry/Reminder Settings: Allows you to specify values for custom expiry and reminder settings. You must enter values for ALL fields to use the custom expiry/reminder settings.
Last API Result: stores for last response from the Docusign API when working with Docusign Templates. You can also click the Last API Response Details popover button to view more details from the last API response.
There is a Duplicate Template button at the top that will duplicate the Template record, including related Template Documents, Template Document Tabs and Template Roles.
For Docusign Templates where the Docusign Template flag has been checked you will also see the following fields/buttons:
DocuSign Template ID: stores the Docusign Template ID that you can paste from Docusign and download the Template details from Docusign.
DocuSign Template JSON (optional): can be used to store the Docusign Template JSON file that you can download from Docusign when sharing Templates. The Save to Desktop button next to this field will download the file to your desktop.
There are also 2 additional buttons that appear at the top:
Open Template in Docusign: this will open the Template in the DocuSign Admin website.
Download Template from DocuSign: this will download the Template from DocuSign including all Template Documents, Template Document Tabs and Template Roles.
Template Documents
The Template Documents tab is where you create one or more related records that represent a document that is to be sent as part of the Template:
For each Template Document you specify the following:
Name: a name used to describe the Document.
Document #: the order that the Document will appear to the recipient/signer if you have more than one Document.
Type: the source/type for the Document. You can specify either a DocuSign Template, FileMaker Container Field or FileMaker Layout.
FileMaker Layout: if you select FileMaker Layout for the Document Type you can enter the name of the FileMaker layout to use when creating the PDF file from the layout.
PDF Form Fields Only: if you select FileMaker Container Field for the Document Type ticking this checkbox will instruce DocuSign to transform any PDF form fields automatically into DocuSign tabs.
File: if you select FileMaker Container Field for the Document Type you can insert the file (PDF, Word document etc) into this container field. The Preview button to the right will preview the file in a FileMaker in a popup window.
To add a new Document to the Template click the Add Template Tab button and complete the details.
Template Document Tabs
A DocuSign Tab – also called a Field or Tag – are used in several ways. First they are used to indicate to a recipient where a signature or initials are required. Second, tabs can be used to show data or information to recipients, such as dates, company names, titles, etc. Third, tabs may be used as editable information fields where signers can add data to a document.
Some Tabs are automatically populated by DocuSign (such as Full Name) from the data you send as part of the signing request. You specify the position for each tab using x/y co-ordinates or by using the Auto-place (anchor tagging) feature to have DocuSign automatically place tabs at every location where a specified text string, also known as an anchor, is found in a document.
We recommend using the Auto Place (anchor tagging) feature for positioning the tabs, especially if you're working with documents where the length is not fixed. See the fmESignature Link (DocuSign Edition) AutoPlace Tabs (Anchor Tagging) page for further details.
To specify the Docusign Tabs for each Document click the View Document Tabs button. You can add the following Tabs to a Template:
Full Name: Displays the recipient’s full name. This value can’t be set.
Sign Here: Allows the recipient to sign a document. May be optional. This value can’t be set.
Initial Here: Allows the recipient to initial the document. May be optional. This value can’t be set.
Email: Allows the recipient to enter an email address. This is a one-line field that checks that a valid email address is entered. This value can be set.
Company: Displays the recipient’s company name. This value can’t be set.
Title: Displays the recipient’s title. This value can’t be set.
Text: Allows the recipient to enter any type of text. This value can be set.
Date Signed: Displays the date that the recipient signed the document. This value can’t be set.
First Name: Displays the recipient’s first name. This value can’t be set.
Last Name: Displays the recipient’s last name. This value can’t be set.
Radio Group: A Radio Group tab places a group of radio buttons on a document. The radios property is used to add and place the radio buttons associated with the group. Only one radio button can be selected in a group. This value can be set.
Date: A Date tab enables the recipient to enter a date. This value can't be set. The tooltip for this tab recommends the date format MM/DD/YYYY, but this format is not enforced. The system retains the format that the recipient enters.
Number: A Number tab enables the recipient to enter numbers and decimal points (.). This value can be set.
Signer Attachment: This type of tab enables the recipient to attach supporting documents to an envelope. This value can't be set.
Formula Tabs: The value of a formula tab is calculated from the values of other number or date tabs in the document. When the recipient completes the underlying fields, the formula tab calculates and displays the result. This value can be set.
When you click the View Document Tabs button a card window appears with the details for all the tabs for the selected document:
To add a new tab click the Add Document Tab button. For each Document tab you can specify the following:
Type: select the Tab Type from the drop down menu.
Recipient ID: specify the recipient/signer ID for this tab. This tells Docusign to only show this tab for the specified recipient for this document.
Pixels from Left: if you are using Fixed positioning to place the document tabs instead of AutoPlace enter the value in points (a point is 1/72nd inch or 3.527 points per millimeter) that you wish to position the tab from the left side of the document.
Pixels from Top: if you are using Fixed positioning to place the document tabs instead of AutoPlace enter the value in points (a point is 1/72nd inch or 3.527 points per millimeter) that you wish to position the tab from the top of the document.
Page #: if you are using Fixed positioning to place the document tabs instead of AutoPlace enter the page number of the current document that you wish this tab to appear on.
Tab Label: the label associated with the tab. This value may be an empty string. If no value is provided, the tab type is used as the value
Value: you can leave this blank if you do not want to pre-populate the value that appears for this tab. You can enter a hardcoded value for the tab or use a FileMaker merge value (e.g. TemplatesDocumentTabsContactsTemp::Company) if you do wish to pre-populate the value for the tab.
Locked: you specify a "locked" property for certain custom tab types such as text and numbers. This allows you to control whether signers can modify the contents of these tabs - see here for more details.
Tooltip Text: The name of the tab - for example, Sign Here or Initial Here. This is also displayed as the custom tooltip text.
You can also click the Gear icon to specify some additional settings depending on the Type you have selected for the tab. Here's the additional settings for a Text type tab:
For more details on setting the Required/Optional property for a tab see here.
You can also specify the Auto Place/Anchor Sting settings if you are using the Auto Place method for specifying the location of the tab:
Sample Templates
The fmESignature Link file includes six sample Templates to help you get started:
These demonstrate the different methods for creating Templates where the documents for the Template come from a different sources (FileMaker layouts and static PDF files) as well as a Docusign Template with multiple roles. Here's a summary of each of the included sample Templates:
TMPL1000 - Customer Agreement Standard
This Template comprises a sample agreement generated as a FileMaker PDF using the 'Customer Agreement PDF' layout and requires a single Recipient. It is using fixed positioning for placing the Document Tabs.
TMPL1001 - Sample Tenancy Agreement
This Template uses a Docusign Template with two roles (Landlord and Tenant). You will need to upload the .json file for this Template to you own Docusign Sandbox environment if you would like to test this out. See the Sending Envelope Signing Requests using Docusign Templates video for a demonstration on how this template works and how to work with Docusign Templates.
TMPL1002 - FileMaker Container Field Sample
This Template comprises a single Document where a static PDF is stored in the container field and requires a single recipient.
TMPL1003 - Auto Place Agreement
This Template demonstrates how to use Auto Place to position the Docusign tabs. It comprises a sample agreement generated as a FileMaker PDF using the 'Customer Agreement Auto Place PDF' layout and requires two recipients. It also demonstrates how to work with Radio Group tabs. See the Templates: Auto Place Anchor Tags video for a demonstration on how this template works.
TMPL1004 - Auto Place Agreement with Payment
This Template demonstrates how to request a Payment when sending an agreement, also using Auto Place to position the Docusign tabs. It comprises a sample agreement generated as a FileMaker PDF using the 'Customer Agreement Auto Place PDF' layout and requires a single recipient. See the Signing Request with Payment video for a demonstration on how this template works.
TMPL1005 - PDF Form Field Transformation Example
This Template demonstrates how to use the PDF form field transformation feature to transform PDF form fields automatically into DocuSign tabs. The locations of the created tabs will match the locations of the fields from which they were generated. It comprises a single Document where a static PDF is stored in the container field and requires a single recipient - there are no tabs specified as the PDF Form Fields Only checkbox is checked.
We have some short videos demonstrating sending signing requests using a Docusign template and a non Docusign Template -check out the videos page to view these videos.