Envelopes and signers

The envelope is bb-sign’s unit of work: it gathers one or more PDF documents, the list of signers and the conditions of the sending (code verification, link validity, expiry date and signing order). With it, you control the whole path of a signature, from draft to sealed documents. This page describes that path, cancellation and expiry.

Envelope statuses

Statuses

1. DRAFT Draft
2. SENT Sent
3. IN_PROGRESS In progress
4. COMPLETED Completed
5. CANCELLED Cancelled
6. EXPIRED Expired

Transitions

• DRAFT becomes SENT when send
• SENT becomes IN_PROGRESS when first signature
• IN_PROGRESS becomes COMPLETED when last signature
• SENT becomes COMPLETED when only signature
• DRAFT becomes CANCELLED when cancel
• SENT becomes CANCELLED when cancel
• IN_PROGRESS becomes CANCELLED when cancel
• SENT becomes EXPIRED when expiry sweep
• IN_PROGRESS becomes EXPIRED when expiry sweep

The application shows these statuses as DRAFT, SENT, IN_PROGRESS, COMPLETED, CANCELLED and EXPIRED, and lets you filter the envelope list by any of them.

• IN_PROGRESS appears on envelopes with more than one signer, from the first signature to the last. With a single signer, the envelope goes directly from SENT to COMPLETED.
• COMPLETED, CANCELLED and EXPIRED are final statuses.
• When the envelope completes, bb-sign seals every document with the organization’s certificate. While it does, the detail shows “Signed PDF processing…”. See Electronic signature and seal.

Signer statuses

Statuses

1. PENDING Pending
2. NOTIFIED Notified
3. VIEWED Viewed
4. SIGNED Signed

Transitions

• PENDING becomes NOTIFIED when the envelope is sent and the signer gets a link
• NOTIFIED becomes VIEWED when the signer opens the link
• VIEWED becomes SIGNED when the signer submits the signature

Each signer moves forward independently. In the envelope detail, the Signers list shows each one’s status (Pending, Notified, Viewed, Signed) and their Order #. If a signer is not going to sign, cancel the envelope or let it reach its expiry date.

Sequential or parallel signing

When creating the envelope you choose one of two modes, which the envelope detail shows as Sequential signing or Parallel signing:

Mode	What happens on send	Order
Parallel	Every signer is emailed at once and signs in any order.	The order number is informational.
Sequential	Signers are emailed one at a time, in the order set on the signers step.	Each signer gets their link once everyone before them has signed.

In sequential mode, several signers can share the same order number: they form a group and are emailed at the same time. When the group finishes, the next one receives the email “It’s your turn to sign”. See Signers and order.

Signing link validity

Each signer receives a unique link by email, valid for the hours set in Link expiry (hours) when creating the envelope; by default, 72 hours. The period starts when the link is generated: on send or, in sequential signing, when it becomes the signer’s turn.

Choose an expiry that gives each signer enough time, because an expired link is not resent. A link expiring does not change the envelope’s status, which stays in SENT or IN_PROGRESS until it completes, is cancelled or expires.

Expiry date

If you want the envelope to have a deadline, set a date in Expires at (optional); if you leave it empty, the envelope does not expire. bb-sign checks expiry dates every 5 minutes and marks as EXPIRED the envelopes in SENT or IN_PROGRESS whose date has passed. Pending signers receive the email “Signing request expired”. The deadline counts from the moment of sending, so a draft does not expire.

Cancel an envelope

A Manager of the workspace or an administrator can cancel an envelope in DRAFT, SENT or IN_PROGRESS with the Cancel Envelope button, after confirming. On cancellation, every pending signing link is deactivated and the envelope stays in CANCELLED permanently.

bb-sign does not send a cancellation email to signers; if needed, let them know yourself. See Cancel an envelope.

Send an envelope

To be sent, the envelope must be in DRAFT and have at least one signer and one document. On send, bb-sign generates a unique signing link for each signer.

Review the summary before sending

On send, the documents, the signer list and the signing mode are fixed, so that everyone signs exactly the same thing. If something needs to change afterwards, cancel the envelope and create a new one.

Labels can be changed in any envelope status. See Labels.