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Create a DocuSign Template for Your Custom Form

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Objective

To learn how to create a DocuSign® Template for your custom form. 

Background

In Procore, a custom form is a Portable Document Format (PDF) file that has been tailored to suit a business need. The Custom Solutions Team can work with you to create custom forms that support most client requests. The examples below detail the most commonly requested customizations:

Example
  • Add or remove the signature line(s).
  • Add, modify, or delete text (for example, add a legal disclaimer, edit a statement to add or change text, or remove a heading). 
  • Add pages (for example, add a cover page or legal disclaimer).
  • Rearrange, rename, and/or delete sections in a PDF form. 
  • Change the page orientation of a PDF (portrait or landscape).

Note: Custom forms do have some limitations. To learn about those, see What are the limitations of custom forms?

Things to Consider

  • Required User Permissions:
    • Sufficient user permissions on the Procore project tool being used to request a DocuSign® signature. 
  • Additional Information:

Prerequisites

Steps

Design Your Custom Form with Procore Custom Solutions

Procore will create a custom form that contains the hidden text (or anchor text) that you specify. This hidden text is used with the AutoPlace feature within DocuSign® to specify the location of completion tags (signer fields). To learn more about AutoPlace feature, see these links from DocuSign®:

DocuSign Fields Description
docusign-recipient-roles.png

Recipient Roles. In DocuSign®, a recipient role represents the recipients of an envelope. In Procore, your signature roles correspond to the users or contacts who will be signing your Procore custom form. The most common recipient roles in Procore include: 

  • Owner
  • General Contractor
  • Subcontractor

In the example on the left, there are two (2) recipient roles: Subcontractor and General Contractor. 
docusign-search-fields.png

Default Fields. These are the DocuSign® completion tags that are available for use in the Procore-DocuSign® integration by default. Although the recipients these tags are associated with in a custom form depend on the specific Procore tool it was designed for, each form typically includes one or more of the following completion tags:

  • Signature. This is a required field in DocuSign® and allows users to adopt a signature style and then apply that signature style to the signature field. 
  • Initial. This is a required field in DocuSign® and allows users to adopt a signature style and then apply their initials in that signature style to the initial field. 
  • Date Signed. This field automatically completes the DocuSign® form with the current date. 
  • Name. This field allows users to add their printed name to the name field. 
  • Email. This field is automatically populated with the user's email address. 
  • Company. This field is automatically populated with the recipient's company name. 
  • Title. This field is automatically populated with the recipient's job title. 

Custom Completion Tags in DocuSign® (circled). These will be used with the added hidden text (anchor text) you requested to be added to your form. They are used with the AutoPlace feature when creating your template. The most frequently added custom completion tags are:

  • Text. This is a free-form text field where a user in a recipient role can add text during the signing process. 
  • Checkbox. This is a checkbox that a user in a recipient role can mark during the signing process. 

In the example on the left, you also have the option to add other completion tags. To be used with the AutoPlace feature, they must have corresponding hidden text (anchor text) added to the form.

After Procore Custom Solutions completes your form, it is uploaded to Procore tool it was designed for use with. Procore Custom Solutions also provides you with a list of 'hidden tags'. Each hidden tag corresponds to one of the custom fields added to your custom form during the design process. 

Example

In this example, Procore Custom Solutions created a custom form for subcontracts. After the form is uploaded to your account by Procore Custom Solutions, you will receive a list of 'tags' that you use to configure your DocuSign®  template. Each tag corresponds to a location of a custom field added to your custom form.

For example: 

  • SubcontractorCheckbox1
  • GeneralContractorAdditionalText

Keep in mind that 'hidden tags' in the custom PDF will not be visible when you view your custom form in its printed or online format. Hidden tags are simply invisible text strings that mark the location where you want your recipients to complete their DocuSign® entry. To enable recipients to view the fill-in fields in DocuSign®,  you will use the DocuSign® Auto Place feature to place the corresponding DocuSign®  signature fields in your DocuSign®  template. 

Before you can get started with creating your template, you must first export your custom form from the Proore tool that your form works with as described in the next step. 

Export Your Custom Form from Procore

  1. Navigate to the Procore tool that hosts the custom form that you designed. To see a list of tools supporting Procore custom forms, see Supported Procore Tools. 
  2. Export your custom form from the Procore tool.
     Note
    In most Procore tools, the export Export menu is located in the top-right corner of a Procore tool and contains a PDF menu option. 
  3. Save the exported custom form to your computer so you can upload it to DocuSign® to create your template in the next step. 
Example

The illustration below shows you an example of a subcontract. Although you cannot see the 'hidden tags', the arrows in the example below point to the location where Procore Custom Solutions placed the hidden tags for you. When creating your template, the DocuSign® AutoPlace feature places your signing fields in these locations.  

INSERT SCREEN CAPTURE

Create a DocuSign Template for your Custom Form 

After you export your custom form from Procore, you can upload it to DocuSign® and begin creating your DocuSign® template.

  1. Log into your DocuSign® account at icon-external-link.png https://account.docusign.com.
  2. Navigate to the Templates page. 
  3. Click the New button and select Create Template from the drop-down menu. 
  4. Do the following:
    • Template Name. Enter a name for your template. 
    • Optional: Description. Enter a description for your template. 
  5. Under Add Documents, upload the document as follows:
    • Click the Upload button and browse to the custom form that you exported from Procore.
      OR
    • Use a drag-and-drop operation to move the custom form that you exported from Procore in DocuSign®.  
  6. Under Add Recipients, enter the appropriate recipient roles for each recipient box. You do NOT need to specify a name or email address.
    Example

    In this example, let's assume you are setting up a DocuSign® template for a subcontract and that you want two (2) recipient roles on your subcontracts:

    • Subcontractor. As the entity from whom you are purchasing a good or service, you want a member of your subcontractor's team to sign subcontracts first. 
    • General Contractor. As the entity purchasing a good or service, you want a member of your team to sign for the General Contractor role. docusign-recipient-role.png
  7. Review the list of hidden text strings that you received from the Procore Custom Solutions team.
    Example
    In this example, Procore has added two (2) custom fields to the custom form as shown below:
    • Checkbox. A checkbox for the subcontractor to acknowledge at the time of signing. 
    • Text. A text box for the general contractor to type some text in at the time of signing. 

      INSERT SCREEN CAPTURE
  8. Place your first field in DocuSign®:
    • Select the recipient role that you want to work with from the 'Recipient Roles' list in the left pane. 
    • Drag the appropriate DocuSign® field into your new DocuSign® template. For example, drop the Checkbox field on the left side of the page and drop it anywhere in the body of your new DocuSign® template. 
    • In the pane on the right, click the down arrow to expand the Location section. 
    • Under Auto Place, click the Set Up button. 
      The AutoPlace Fields window appears. 
    • Enter the appropriate hidden tag text string in the Place a copy of this field near every instance of " " box. 
    • Click Apply. 
      DocuSign® snaps the field into the appropriate location of the form's template. 
       Note
      For each recipient role, repeat the steps above for each custom field. When adding custom fields with the AutoPlace feature, be sure to correlate the proper location with the appropriate hidden text string. 
  9. Optional: Define a standard message for your template. You can change this to anything you like. To learn more about messages, read the icon-external-link.png DocuSign® User Guide.  
  10. Click Save and Close.  

See Also