Create Contracts with E-Signatures

Generate contracts from data and collect legally binding electronic signatures from one or more parties using DocsAutomator eSign.

What You’ll Build

By the end of this guide, you will have an automation that:

Generates a personalized contract from a template
Sends the contract to one or more signers for electronic signature
Tracks signing status and sends reminders
Saves the fully signed PDF back to your data source

Prerequisites

A DocsAutomator paid plan (e-signing is included on all plans at $0.50 per document, charged when the recipient first opens it)
A Google account for creating the template
A data source (this guide covers API, but the same principles apply to Airtable, Google Sheets, and other sources)

Step-by-Step Setup

Create the Contract Template

Create a Google Doc with your contract text and add placeholders for dynamic content and e-signature fields.Data placeholders:

Placeholder	Purpose
`{{client_name}}`	Client’s full name
`{{client_email}}`	Client’s email address
`{{company_name}}`	Your company name
`{{contract_date}}`	Date of the contract
`{{contract_id}}`	Unique contract identifier
`{{scope_of_work}}`	Description of services
`{{total_amount}}`	Contract value

E-signature placeholders:

Placeholder	Purpose
`{{esign.signature_1}}`	Client’s signature
`{{esign.date_1}}`	Client’s signing date (auto-filled)
`{{esign.text_1_printedname}}`	Client’s typed name or title
`{{esign.signature_2}}`	Your company’s signature
`{{esign.date_2}}`	Your company’s signing date

The number after each e-sign placeholder (1, 2, etc.) corresponds to the signer number. Signer 1 sees fields tagged with _1, signer 2 sees fields tagged with _2, and so on.

Place the signature placeholders where you want them to appear in the final document, typically at the bottom of the contract.

Create the Automation

Click New, then New automation in your DocsAutomator dashboard
Name it “Client Contracts”
Add your contract template
Open the Data / Placeholders panel, click Connect, and pick your data source:
- API for programmatic contract generation
- Airtable, Google Sheets, or another source for UI-based workflows

Map Fields to Placeholders

Connect your data source fields to the template placeholders.

API
Airtable / Google Sheets

When using the API, placeholders are mapped automatically from the data object in your request. No additional mapping is needed in the UI.

Enable E-Signatures

In your automation’s output settings, enable the E-Signature section. DocsAutomator automatically detects e-sign placeholders in your template.Configure signers:For each signer, provide:

Email: Where the signing invitation is sent (use a placeholder like {{client_email}} for dynamic values)
Name (optional): Displayed in the signing portal

2 Signers (Client + Company)
1 Signer (Client Only)

Signer 1: Client — email from {{client_email}}, name from {{client_name}}
Signer 2: Your company representative — enter a static email and name

Signer 1: Client — email from {{client_email}}, name from {{client_name}}

Signing order:

Parallel (Default)

Both parties receive the signing invitation simultaneously and can sign in any order.

Sequential

Signer 1 receives the invitation first. Signer 2 receives theirs only after Signer 1 completes.

Customize Signing Emails

Customize the three email types sent during the signing workflow:

Invitation email: Sent when a signing request is created
Reminder email: Sent to signers who haven’t completed signing
Completion email: Sent to all parties once everyone has signed

Use template variables in your emails:

{{documentName}} — the contract name
{{signerName}} — the recipient’s name
{{signButton:Sign Now}} — a call-to-action button (invitation/reminder only)
{{downloadButton:Download}} — download link (completion email only)

Email sender options:

DocsAutomator Mail: Sent from DocsAutomator’s infrastructure (default)
Gmail: Sent from your connected Gmail account for a branded experience

Reminders: Enable automatic reminders and set the interval (e.g., every 3 days) and maximum number of reminders.

Configure Additional Output Actions

Beyond e-signatures, set up additional post-generation actions:

Save signed PDF to data source: Automatically saves the completed signed PDF back to your Airtable attachment field, Google Sheets column, etc.
Save to Google Drive: Archive signed contracts in a specific Drive folder
Notify webhook: Send a POST request with the signed PDF URL and signer details when signing completes

Test the Workflow

Generate a test contract to verify the full flow:

API
Airtable / Google Sheets

Send a test request:

curl -X POST https://api.docsautomator.co/createDocument \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "docId": "YOUR_AUTOMATION_ID",
    "data": {
      "client_name": "Jane Smith",
      "client_email": "jane@example.com",
      "company_name": "Acme Corp",
      "contract_date": "February 10, 2025",
      "contract_id": "CONTRACT-001",
      "scope_of_work": "Website redesign and development",
      "total_amount": "$15,000"
    }
  }'

The response includes:

{
  "success": true,
  "pdfUrl": "https://...",
  "signingSessionId": "session_abc123",
  "signingLinks": [
    { "email": "jane@example.com", "url": "https://sign.docsautomator.co/..." }
  ]
}

Monitor Signing Status

Track signing progress in the DocsAutomator dashboard or via the API:

Dashboard: View all signing sessions with status indicators (Pending, In Progress, Completed, Declined, Expired)
API: Call GET /esign/sessions/{sessionId} for detailed status
Webhooks: Receive automatic notifications when signing completes

Status	Meaning
Pending	Created, waiting for signers to open
In Progress	At least one signer has started
Completed	All signers have finished
Declined	A signer declined to sign
Expired	Signing link expired before completion

Delivery Methods

DocsAutomator supports two ways to deliver signing requests:

Email Delivery (Default)
Link Delivery

Signers receive an email with a link to the signing portal. This is the simplest approach and works for most use cases.

Invitation emails are sent automatically when the document is generated
Reminders can be configured to follow up with unsigned parties
Completion emails notify all parties when signing is done

Retrieve signing URLs from the API response or dashboard and deliver them through your own channels (in-app notifications, SMS, custom emails, etc.).

{
  "signingLinks": [
    {
      "email": "jane@example.com",
      "url": "https://sign.docsautomator.co/..."
    }
  ]
}

Signing links expire after the configured expiration period (default: 30 days).

DocsAutomator never emails the signers of a link-delivered request. Invitations and reminders are both suppressed, including the reminder buttons in the dashboard, so a signer only ever hears from you.Your own team is still notified. When every signer has finished, the completion email goes to your notification recipients with a link to the signed PDF.

Next Steps

eSign API Reference

Programmatic control of signing sessions

Compliance & Legal Validity

Legal standards and compliance details

E-Sign Date Formats

Customize date formats in signed documents

Notify Webhook

Receive notifications on signing completion

Getting Started

Integrations

Features

Use Cases

Account & Billing

Resources

Create Contracts with E-Signatures

What You’ll Build

Prerequisites

Step-by-Step Setup

Parallel (Default)

Sequential

Delivery Methods

Next Steps

eSign API Reference

Compliance & Legal Validity

E-Sign Date Formats

Notify Webhook

​What You’ll Build

​Prerequisites

​Step-by-Step Setup

Parallel (Default)

Sequential

​Delivery Methods

​Next Steps

eSign API Reference

Compliance & Legal Validity

E-Sign Date Formats

Notify Webhook

What You’ll Build

Prerequisites

Step-by-Step Setup

Delivery Methods

Next Steps