What is collaborative field editing and how does it work?

Collaborative Field Editing in BoldSign is an advanced feature that allows you to assign specific form fields that multiple signers can edit during the signing process. Every change is tracked, ensuring a clear and transparent workflow for all participants.

Supported field types

Collaborative editing is available for the following commonly used form fields:

• Textbox
• Radio Button
• Checkbox
• Editable Date
• Dropdown

For more information on setting up collaborative field editing, refer to our article, How to create collaborative field editing for form fields.

Collaborative field options

To give you fine-grained control over the collaborative process, BoldSign offers the following options:

• Require Initials: When enabled, collaborators must provide their initials each time they modify a field. This serves as a formal acknowledgment of the change.
• Require Approval: If a collaborator edits a field after other signers have already completed signing, this option triggers a re-signing process. Those signers will be notified and required to re-sign the document to approve the changes.
• Required for Collaborators: This setting ensures that the collaborative field must be filled out by the designated collaborators. The field cannot be left blank, guaranteeing that essential information is captured before the signing process is completed.

Tracking and notifications

BoldSign maintains a complete history of all collaborative activities through the Audit Trail and Document History.

Audit trail

The Audit Trail provides a high-level summary of key events. For collaborative fields, it logs:

• Which field was changed, who modified it, and the exact time.
• When the Require Approval option triggers a re-sign, it records who initiated the process and which recipients were asked to re-sign.

Document history

The Document History offers a detailed, line-by-line breakdown of every change, including:

• Which field was modified, who changed it, and when.
• The original and updated values of the field.
• Full details of the re-signing process, including who was asked to re-sign and when the request was sent.
  
  

Notifications for Field Changes

• General Notifications: When Require Approval is enabled, any signer who has already completed the document will receive an email notification prompting them to re-sign after a collaborator makes a change.

• Notifications with Signing Order: If signing order is enabled, the re-signing process follows the original sequence. After a change triggers re-approval, the re-sign request is sent to the first signer. Subsequent signers are notified that re-signing is pending, but they cannot access the document until the previous signer completes their re-signing. The process continues in order.

Limitations and restrictions

Collaborative field options cannot be used under the following conditions:

• Single Recipient: The document must be sent to more than one recipient. Collaborative fields are not supported for single-signer or self-signed documents.
• Recipient Type: Collaborators cannot be in-person signers, group signers, or reviewers.
• Feature Conflicts: Collaborative settings are incompatible with:
  • Documents using Print and Sign.
  • Fields with data sync tags
  • Fields with conditional logic
  • Formula fields (collaborative fields cannot be part of a formula)