Automate form creation with text tags

Add specially formatted text (tags) into your Word or PDF documents and Legalesign will automatically convert them into form fields. You can go straight to sending out your document for online signature or approval. Upload to Send in a couple of clicks.

Tags eliminate time on document preparation; you can upload and send out your document in only a few seconds, even with complex forms.

The PDF upload page includes a quick shortcut if you know your document will be immediately ready to go with tags. Tick the options to process tags and to go straight to the send page.

How to convert tags

After you upload your Word/PDF file you will be redirected to the PDF Edit page. Click on 'Actions' down the left hand column to expand that menu, and then click the button 'Process for the tags'.  If you use tags all the time, use the advanced upload page 'Documents' > 'Upload PDF' or contact support to turn on auto-tagging for your group.

This video shows a document with tags signatures from 2 signers. It shows you how to find the 'process for tag' on the PDF edit page, and then sending out that document for signature:

How to use tags

This is a text tag to add a signature: <<t=signature>>

The start and end symbols, '<<' and '>>',  tells Legalesign you are writing a text tag that will become a field.   The content between those symbols defines what kind of field you want. 't=signature' will add a signature, shorthand for 'type=signature'.

The 'type=' or 't=' part of the tag is an 'attribute'. Attributes are the detailed settings on your field, e.g. the font size, whether it is required, other validations, etc. A full table of attributes can be found below.

Legalesign assumes the tag above is for signer 1.  If you have multiple signers you will need to include the signer attribute to confirm which signer you are referring to. For example in the tags below we add a signature for signer 1 and another for signer 2 (a second signer), using the long-hand and the short-hand attribute names.

<<type=signature;signer=1>>   terse version: <<t=signature;s=1>>

<<type=signature;signer=2>>  terse version: <<t=signature;s=2>>

As you can see adding more attributes is easy; just split them with a semi colon,  write the attribute (long or short-hand version) followed by the '=' symbol, then the value you want.

And as you will have noticed, the short-hand name of an attribute is usually the first letter of the long-hand name.

In the attributes table below you'll see all the possible attributes and the values you can use.

Font size

If you do not use fontsize (fs) attribute the system will try and work it out from your document. 

Field width

The field width will be the distance between the first '<' and the last '>'. Add blank spaces to increase the width. Reduce the width by using the terse shorthand, reducing your font size and using the fontsize (fs) attribute.

Field height

Height is the height of your '<' and '>'.  Use the height or 'h' attribute to increase/decrease height. Its value will be a multiplier on the current height. 2 will make it twice the height, 0.5 will make it half the height etc.

The h attribute will not work for signatures or initials. Signatures and initials have a fixed aspect ratio and so the height will be automatically applied based on field width.

Field background

Will always be white.

Field types

Legalesign has four types of field:

1. 'sender' field - completed when sending out the document to be signed (so PDF is re-usable)
2. 'signer' field - a field for a signer to fill out
3. 'signature' -  a signature field, at least one is needed
4. 'initials' - an initials field.

Required/optional

The system will assume everything is required, unless you mark it as optional (use attribute r=0).

If using checkboxes make sure you add the optional attribute - r=0 - if you want the signer to be able to leave a checkbox unticked.

Known issues

Extracting positioning info from PDFs is non-trivial and so, if you can, make your DOC/PDF as simple as possible. Avoid these situations:

• Tags breaking across lines; and
• tags of a different font/height from surrounding text.

Attributes

The only required field is type (t)

Attribute	Terse	Accepts	Description
align	a	String	Align text within a field. Use one of following values: c, centre, r, right.
no border	b	1/0	Field have a border by default, use 1 to hide the border (signer fields only)
default	d	String(60 chars max)	Default pre-filled value
field	f	Integer	See list of possible field types below
fontsize	fs	Integer	Font size
height	h	Integer or Floating point	A multiplier on the height of the field, which is the height of the line in the document. Not applicable to signature or initial fields.
index	i	Integer	Index - ordering for fields, will be top down if left blank
label	l	String (60 chars max)	Tell person purpose of field, recommended for sender fields
labelx	lx	String (2000 chars max)	A hidden value field for you own reference id or other meta
linkfield	lf	Integer	Set a logic for a field - 1 = one of a group, 2 = one of a total, 3 = conditional upon
linkvalue	lv	Alphanumeric (60 chars max)	A value related to the logic for the field
noprint	np	1/0	Do not print the value of the field on the signed PDF
options	o	-	Extra field information. Use this for dropdowns and secret code fields. For dropdown split the options with the symbol ^.
refname	rn	Alphanumeric (120 chars max)	The ref name for a field. Used with logic functions and integrations
required	r	1/0	All fields are required, set r=0 to make optional.
signer	s	Integer	What signer this field applies to (does not apply to sender fields)
type (REQUIRED)	t	String - see right	Must be one of these values: signature, initials, signer, sender
xadjust	x	Integer or Floating point	Move a field right (plus) or left (minus) from where its tag is placed, e.g. x=50 will move a tag 50 pixels to the right
yadjust	y	Integer or Floating point	Move a field down (plus) or up (minus) from where its tag is placed, e.g y=-50 will move a tag 50 pixels up the page.

Examples

A signature for one signer:

<<t=signature>>

Required sender field with label 'Our business', prefilled value (default)  'My Biz Name' and fontsize 12:

<<t=sender;l=Our business;d=My Biz Name;fs=12>>

Required signer field for first signer, requiring an email:

<<t=signer;s=1;f=1>>

Non-required dropdown field for signer 1, with dropdown options i) something, ii) or, iii) other:

<<t=signer;s=1;r=0;f=20;o=something^or^other>>

A required signer field for signer 1, widened and 3 times the height of the line:

<<t=signer;s=1;h=3;                   >>

Fields - these are values for the 'field' (f) attribute

Use this to change the appearance or validation on a sender or signer field (e.g a checkbox or dropdown, or formatting requirement, like a date).

1	Email
2	yyyy/mm/dd
3	yy/mm/dd
4	dd/mm/yyyy
5	dd/mm/yy
6	mm/dd/yyyy
7	mm/dd/yy
8	yyyy.mm.dd
9	yy.mm.dd
10	dd.mm.yyyy
11	dd.mm.yy
12	mm.dd.yyyy
13	mm.dd.yy
14	yyyy-mm-dd
15	yy-mm-dd
16	dd-mm-yyyy
17	dd-mm-yy
18	mm-dd-yyyy
19	mm-dd-yy
20	Dropdown - use options attribute for values
24	✔/✗
25	✔/blank
26	✗/blank
30	yyyy/mm/dd (auto sign day - signer only)
31	yy/mm/dd (auto sign day - signer only)
32	dd/mm/yyyy (auto sign day - signer only)
33	dd/mm/yy (auto sign day - signer only)
34	mm/dd/yyyy (auto sign day - signer only)
35	mm/dd/yy (auto sign day - signer only)
36	yyyy.mm.dd (auto sign day - signer only)
37	yy.mm.dd (auto sign day - signer only)
38	dd.mm.yyyy (auto sign day - signer only)
39	dd.mm.yy (auto sign day - signer only)
40	mm.dd.yyyy (auto sign day - signer only)
41	mm.dd.yy (auto sign day - signer only)
42	yyyy-mm-dd (auto sign day - signer only)
43	yy-mm-dd (auto sign day - signer only)
44	dd-mm-yyyy (auto sign day - signer only)
45	dd-mm-yy (auto sign day - signer only)
46	mm-dd-yyyy (auto sign day - signer only)
47	mm-dd-yy (auto sign day - signer only)
48	d mmmm yyyy (auto sign day - signer only)
50	Whole number
51	Number
52	Currency
53	1 number
54	2 numbers
55	3 numbers
56	4 numbers
57	5 numbers
58	6 numbers
59	7 numbers
60	8 numbers
61	9 numbers
62	10 numbers
63	11 numbers
64	12 numbers
65	1 character (any text)
66	2 characters (any text)
67	3 characters (any text)
68	4 characters (any text)
69	5 characters (any text)
70	6 characters (any text)
71	7 characters (any text)
72	8 characters (any text)
73	Secret code (use option for code - signer only)
74	Attach file (to email to sender after signing - signer only)
75	Attach file (append to final PDF, PDF only - signer only)
76	Attach file (zip with final pdf for admin only, signer gets pdf only)
77	Force to title caps
78	Force to uppercase
79	Force to lowercase
80	mm/yy
81	mm/yyyy
82	mm.yy
83	mm.yyyy
84	mm-yy
85	mm-yyyy
90	Drawn field (draw anything with mouse/touch)
91	Dropdown list of countries
92	Dropdown list of name honorifics
93	Regular expression field - use options (o) to define expression and optionally an error message (use ^ to separate)

Contact support with any queries.