How To Request eSignatures in Google Docs (Docusign Alternative)

The only thing you'll need is the document that you want signing. So, I've got this independent contractor agreement here. And if I scroll down to the end of the agreement, probably used to seeing something like this where I've got a side for the client and aside for the contractor for their details and their signature. I'm not going to print this. I'm going to get a legally binding signature in the document digitally. So, I'm going to click insert and choose e signature fields like this. And the first thing I need to do is set up who the signers are. Who are the people that are actually going to sign this document? So, I'm going to click here and then choose manage signers. And the first one is going to be me, Dean Stokes. And I'm going to put client in here just so that you can see. I'm going to click add another signer. And I'm going to put Tanya Joy, who is the contractor, and click save. Then I've got the different fillable fields that I could add in here. So, I'm going to start with the signature. And all I do is I click and drag this across. You see this one is blue in color because right now I have Dean Stokes selected. So, whilst I'm still on me, I'm going to drag the name one across over here as well. And then there's a date sign field that will autofill. I'm going to click and drag that one across, too. Now, I'm going to click up where my name is and change to Tanya. I'm going to do the same thing for her. Click and drag the signature over here. And then the name. And then the date as well. And you can see you have other options here like custom text fields if you want something different. And also initials, which I'm leaving out. Then once I'm ready, I just click request e signature. And it gives me the information here that I need to fill out. The first is my email address. So let's put that in here. Then Tanya's email address. Let's put hers in here. And a message if I want to put something of my own in, but there will be a message there that says this form needs signing. I'll leave it blank for now. You can choose the audit trail language. I'm going to leave that as English. And I always check send automatic reminders. This just means if someone hasn't signed it after three days, Google Docs will send an automatic chasing email to save you doing it manually. Then I'm going to click request signature and basically it's going to turn this file into a PDF that can't be edited apart from the signature that's going to happen. It's showing me where it's put that PDF. I click okay. Now let's go and see what this looks like for the people that need to sign it. So this is my inbox. You can see that I've got this e signature request email here. Here's what it looks like. Again, I didn't put a custom message in, but that would appear in this email if I did. I click sign, and it's going to open up a new tab with the PDF for me to fill out those fields. So, I can scroll down the document and see where it is. And I can click start, or I could click on either of these fields. I'm going to click start. Takes me there automatically. Click here to add my name. You see, it does the nice thing where it gives me a version of my name that looks like handwriting. And I click adopt and sign. And then I click sign. and it's using that as my signature. Then once I'm done, I go to the top and click mark complete. Make sure I accept the terms of service, click agree, and then I can close the window. And it looks really similar for Tanya here as well. In fact, in this thread now, Tanya will see down here that I have completed it already. And so that list of people that need to sign it still has her with a clock next to it. She clicks sign, does exactly the same thing that you just saw. And that's it. That's how easy it is to collect e signatures in Google Docs. If you want more tips for using Google Docs, check out this video where I share 12 pro tips.