Getting started: Send, sign, and navigate like a pro
Welcome! If you're new to Dropbox Sign, you’re in the right place. This course will guide you through the essentials of using Dropbox Sign as an admin. You'll learn how to send signature requests, create reusable templates, track documents, and customize your personal settings. By the end, you’ll feel confident navigating your admin account. Depending on your plan, you may also have access to advanced features, which are covered in the final lessons of the course.
6 minutes de lecture
What is an eSignature?
An electronic signature or eSignature lets people sign documents online, instead of using pen and paper. eSignatures are widely recognized as legally binding in the European Union, the UK, the United States, Canada, and many other areas of the world.
Your Dropbox Sign account allows you to easily send and sign documents, from NDAs and new hire onboarding, to sales agreements and purchase orders—any document that requires a signature.
All signature requests completed through Dropbox Sign include an attached audit trail. This is a comprehensive transaction trail between all signers. To provide you with a transaction history, we track and timestamp various information from the moment the document is submitted for signature to when it is completely signed and secured, such as IP addresses. To read further about audit trails check out our trust center.
To ensure any tampering of your transaction log is detectable, we process the transactions log with hashing technology. Should you ever need to rely on a transaction log, we’re right by your side to assist you.
Navigating your account
Before sending out your first signature request, get to know your account.
When you log in to your Dropbox Sign account you’ll land on your dashboard—your central hub for managing documents and tracking activity. From here, you can quickly send out a new signature request, start with a template, or upload a document to sign yourself. You’ll also see a real-time view of your most recent documents, their status and any actions needed from your side.
To keep things organized, use the left-hand navigation panel to move between key sections: “Documents” shows all your activity in one place, “Templates” lets you create reusable forms, and “Team” is where admins can manage users and permissions (if you're part of a team plan). Whether you’re sending your first contract or reviewing the status of a signed agreement, the dashboard is designed to keep everything clear, actionable, and right at your fingertips.
In the top right corner of the homepage is a small circle containing your initials. Click this icon and a dropdown menu will appear, allowing you to create your own saved default signature, access your settings, the API tab and API Dashboard and the Admin console if you’re an admin or manager.
Creating and sending a signature request
Sending a signature request
On the homepage use the Sign documents button in the top left corner to initiate a signature request (in other words, requesting flow), then follow these steps:
Upload the document(s) you would like to have signed. You can upload directly from your computer, select a template already in your template library, import files from your cloud storage account, or simply drag the file into the designated area. Then click Next.
Add the name and email address of the individual(s) you want to sign the document. You can add up to 20 individuals. Then click Next.
Optional: If you have more than one signer, you can set up a signer order by using the toggle under Signer settings. Signer order allows you to determine who will sign first, second, third, and so on. If you choose not to enable signer order, your signers will receive the request without having to wait on another individual.
Place the fields you’d like to have filled out by your signer(s) using the signer fields on the left side of the editor page. When you've placed all of your fields down click Next.
Review your signer’s information, then create a title for the document. This title will also be the subject line of the email your signer(s) will receive.
Optional: Add a message to the email that will be sent to the signer(s).
Click Send for signature and the request will be sent to the signer(s) via a Dropbox Sign-generated email.
Self signing
Need to sign something yourself? No problem, you can complete documents just as easily using Dropbox Sign. When you receive a document to sign, you can use the signature requesting flow. You'll want to save the document(s) you've received to your computer or to your cloud storage account then follow the steps below.
From the homepage click Sign documents to start the signature request flow.
Upload the document(s) you’d like to sign. You can upload directly from your computer, import the files from your cloud storage account, or simply drag the file into the designated area. Then click Next.
Instead of adding the signer’s name and email address, click I’m the only signer.
Place fields in the locations where you need to fill out information and fill them out as you go through the document, then click Next.
Review the information and choose either to download the completed document or send it via email to the signature requester.
Dropbox Sign templates and bulk sending
Dropbox Sign templates are one of the most powerful tools available to streamline recurring document workflows. As an admin, it’s essential to understand not only how templates are created and used, but also how to manage, share, and scale them.
What are templates?
With templates, you only do the setup once. After that, it's like having a digital assistant sending documents for you. Unlike one-off documents, templates are designed for consistency and efficiency. They’re perfect for frequently used forms like NDAs, hiring packets, sales agreements, and waivers. For teams managing repeatable processes, templates ensure compliance and save significant time across departments.
Within Dropbox Sign, templates are stored in the Template Gallery, a centralized hub that makes it easy to search, find, and organize your document templates. The gallery includes a wide variety of template categories, such as business, finance, HR, tax, and real estate, helping teams quickly identify the right document for their needs.
To open the Template Gallery, admins can log in at sign.dropbox.com, select Templates from the left menu, and click Gallery. This is where you’ll find ready-to-use templates created by Dropbox, organized by category to help you get started quickly.
If you’re looking for templates created by you or your team, head to Templates in the left-hand navigation panel, then click Saved. That’s where all your personal and team-shared templates live.
Creating and managing templates
Understanding templates vs template links
While both templates and template links help automate signature requests, they serve different purposes:
Templates are ideal when you want to send a document directly to specific individuals via email. You can assign multiple signer roles, customize each request, and manage signer-specific fields. These are best suited for controlled workflows, like employment contracts or partner agreements.
Template links allow for a more flexible, open-ended approach. Instead of entering specific recipients, you generate a shareable URL. Anyone with the link can complete and sign the document. This is especially useful for waivers, sign-up forms, or any document where a high volume of anonymous or ad-hoc signers is expected.
Additionally, templates support multiple signers per document, while template links are limited to one signer per instance.
Creating a new template
To create a template, begin by logging into Dropbox Sign and navigating to the Templates section in the left-hand menu. From there, select Create template located in the lower-right corner of the page. You’ll be prompted to upload your document, which you can do by dragging and dropping files directly into the window, uploading from your device, or importing from a third-party app.
Once your file is uploaded, you’ll move on to assigning signer roles. These roles act as placeholders that can be reused each time the template is sent, such as "Buyer" and "Seller" in a sales agreement. In the next step, you’ll enter the template editor, where you can place all necessary fields (signatures, dates, checkboxes, or merge fields) onto the document. Merge fields are particularly useful for inputting data that the sender will customize before sending, such as dates, names, or reference numbers.
Before finalizing your template, take a moment to preview it to ensure all fields are correctly positioned and logically ordered. Then add a template title and, if desired, include CC recipients or a default message to accompany future requests. When everything is ready, simply click Save template.
Once you’ve created and saved a template, you’ll be able to find it in a few different places, depending on what you’re looking for.
The homepage gives you quick access to your most recently used and starred templates, so you can jump back into your work faster. For the full list of created templates, both personal and team-shared, head to Templates, then click Saved.
From there, you can easily use, duplicate, or edit your templates, or share them with teammates.
Just a heads-up: while templates can be shared, only Admins and the original creator can make changes.
How to create a new template link
To create a template link, go to the Templates tab in the sidebar, then click the dropdown arrow next to Create template and select Create template link.
The process begins by uploading your document, either by selecting a file from your device, dragging and dropping, or importing from a connected cloud account. Once uploaded, you can assign signer roles. Template links are typically used for single-signer workflows, so you’ll usually only need one role. In the document editor, place the necessary fields your signer will complete. If there’s any static data you'd like to pre-fill (such as your own company name or return address), you can use the “Me (now)” signer role to populate those fields before the template is saved.
Once your fields are placed and your document is complete, you’ll review the setup, name the template, and save it. After saving, a URL will be generated that you can copy and distribute however you’d like, via email, on a website, or embedded in a digital form. This makes it especially useful for waivers, event sign-ups, or general consent forms where recipients self-initiate the signing process.
In-person signing with template links
In addition to online workflows, template links can also be used for in-person signing, a helpful feature for face-to-face interactions like onboarding sessions or client meetings. To enable this, locate the desired template in your library and click the three-dot menu to the right of its name, then click In-person signing, tick the box under the disclaimer, and then click Save.
Dropbox Sign will email you a special setup link that can be used on a tablet or shared device, allowing individuals to sign on the spot. This functionality is perfect for settings where digital convenience meets physical presence, like job fairs, reception desks, or service counters, eliminating the need for printed paperwork.
Managing your templates library
After a template is created, you can access it in your templates library. The library can be found in the main menu on the left side of the homepage.
The page automatically opens to a list of the templates you’ve created as well as templates that have been shared with you by other team members. To the left of a template’s name will be a star icon, which you can click to favorite a template. Now this will appear in your Starred templates and on the homepage so you can find your favorite templates quickly.
To the right of a template name is a list of action items. The default action is Use template. If it’s a template link, the default action will be to Copy link.
Clicking on the three dot icon to the right of a template name will open a dropdown menu of additional options for editing, renaming, duplicating, bulk sending, sharing, and deleting a template.
Duplicating is helpful when you need to create templates for the same underlying document but with different fields to be filled out or with pre-populated fields.
To share a template click on Share. In the pop-up window, enter in the name of the individual users you’d like to share the template with or whole team names.
If you decide to share a template with a team member or the entire team, it's important to remember that only you and your admins will have access to edit the template and they can’t be shared externally.
Bulk Requesting
You're able to send signature requests in bulk, up to 250 at a time, using Bulk send. To use this feature you’ll need to use a template which you've already created. Additionally, each individual request sent will need to be for a single signer only. For example, if you have a volunteer event with 50 different volunteers, all who need to sign a liability waiver, you can use Bulk send to send each individual the waiver to sign.
To send a request using Bulk Send, head to the top left corner of the Dropbox Sign homepage and follow these simple steps:
Select the template you want to send for signature, then click Next.
Step 1 allows you to download the CSV template. It’s pre-formatted with the fields your template needs, like signer names, email addresses, and any merge fields. So you don’t have to guess. Once it’s ready, move to Step 2 and upload your completed CSV file and click Next.
Create a title for your signature request. This title will also appear as the subject line in the email sent to your signers.
Optional: Add a personal message to the email for extra context or a friendly nudge.
Click Send for signature and Dropbox Sign will take care of the rest, sending out individual requests to each signer on your list.