How to control which BoldSign fields update Salesforce fields after signing?

Salesforce users can precisely control which signer-updated BoldSign fields are written back to their Salesforce records using the Per-Field Writeback option in the BoldSign integration. When a document is completed, only the fields you explicitly enable will update the corresponding Salesforce record, keeping sensitive or system-maintained data safe from unwanted changes.

What is Writeback?

Writeback automatically updates Salesforce record fields with the values a signer entered in BoldSign form fields after the document is completed. For example, if a customer signs a quote and updates their Phone field in the document, the phone number on the Salesforce record can be updated automatically once signing finishes.

Field mapping in BoldSign supports two complementary behaviors:

• Prefill – The mapped Salesforce field value is automatically filled into the BoldSign form field when the document is sent.
• Writeback – The value entered or updated by the signer is written back to the mapped Salesforce field after the document is completed.

Each mapped field can participate in prefill only, writeback only, or both, depending on its type and the options you enable.

Prerequisites

• The BoldSign for Salesforce integration must be installed and connected to your BoldSign account.
• You must have permission to configure BoldSign templates (BoldSign admin access in Salesforce).
• A BoldSign template must contain at least one fillable form field (text box, checkbox, editable date, or Date Signed field) mapped to a Salesforce field.

Configure Per-Field Writeback

The Configure Template page opens in two ways, and the same per-field writeback logic applies in both:

• From the template list – open the BoldSign Setup app, go to Configure Templates, and click the gear icon on a template.
• Automatically, immediately after you create a template – in this flow, the Source Object selector is disabled and reuses the object you selected while creating the template. You can still map fields and enable or disable writeback for individual fields exactly as described below.

Follow these steps to choose which mapped fields update Salesforce after signing:

1. In Salesforce, open the BoldSign Setup app and go to Configure Templates.

2. Find the template you want to configure and click the gear icon under Action to open the Configure Template page.

3. Under Source Object, select the Salesforce object (e.g., Account, Contact, Opportunity) whose fields you want to map and write back to.

4. In the Field mapping section, each signer role is displayed on a separate card. For every BoldSign form field, choose the Salesforce field it should map to from the Salesforce source field dropdown.

5. Once a field is mapped, the Write back to Salesforce column shows whether updates will flow back after signing:

6. (Optional) Use the Write back to Salesforce checkbox in the role header row to enable or disable writeback for all fields in that role at once:

   • A checked header means all eligible fields in the role are enabled.
   • An unchecked header disables writeback for every field in the role.
   • A partially filled (indeterminate) header means only some fields are enabled — click to expand the role and review individual fields.
   • If a role has no eligible fields, the header checkbox is disabled.

7. Click Save to store your mapping and writeback selections.

Configuring more objects after the create-template flow: When you configure a template right after creating it, you can only map the source object selected during template creation. If you want to configure the same template for additional Salesforce objects, first Save the current mapping, then open the Configure Template page again from Configure Templates — the Source Object selector will now be enabled and you can repeat the process for any other object.

Writeback is evaluated per field. If you map multiple BoldSign fields to the same Salesforce field, the last value written wins—make sure only one writeback-enabled field maps to any given Salesforce field.

Supported Field Types

Most Salesforce field types can be both prefilled when sending a document and written back after it is signed, including:

• Text and Text Area fields
• Email, Phone, and URL fields
• Picklist, Multi-Select Picklist, and Combobox fields
• Date, Date/Time, and Time fields
• Number, Currency, and Percent fields
• Checkbox (Boolean) fields

The following field types have special behavior:

• Lookup / Reference and ID fields – prefill only. These fields can be prefilled from Salesforce when sending a document, but signer changes cannot be written back after signing. They show a prefill-only info icon in the mapping UI with the message: “This field supports prefill only. Changes made after signing cannot be written back to Salesforce.”

• Compound fields – not supported. Compound fields such as Address and Geolocation are not supported for either prefill or writeback.

• BoldSign Date Signed field – writeback only. On the BoldSign side, the Date Signed field captures the date the signer signed the document, so it has no Salesforce value to prefill from. It is never prefilled when sending a document; after signing, the signing date is written to the mapped Salesforce field if writeback is enabled. The UI displays “This field will be updated after signing. Value is not prefilled.” next to such fields.

Note: Unsupported values for enabled fields are skipped rather than rejected. For example, a text value that is not a valid picklist entry will not be written back.

How Writeback Works with Multiple Mapped Fields

• Writeback is applied per mapped field, per role. Each role’s (and each field’s) writeback choice is evaluated independently when a document completes.
• A role header checkbox operates on the role’s group of eligible fields only; it does not affect other roles.
• Only fields the signer actually filled or updated are written back. Unchanged or empty values are skipped, so existing Salesforce data is not overwritten with blanks.
• When multiple mapped fields supply values for the same Salesforce field across different roles or fields, the last processed value is stored.

How Writeback Is Triggered

Writeback runs automatically as part of the document-completion flow:

1. All signers complete the document in BoldSign.
2. BoldSign notifies Salesforce that the document is Completed.
3. The completed PDF and audit trail are downloaded and attached to the record.
4. For each mapped field with writeback enabled, the signer-entered value is converted to the correct Salesforce format (for example, dates and times are converted to Salesforce-compatible formats) and written to the source Salesforce record.

Limitations and Unsupported Scenarios

• Lookup / Reference and ID fields are prefill only. They cannot be written back after signing; map them only when you want to prefill values from Salesforce.
• Compound fields such as Address and Geolocation are not supported for prefill or writeback.
• Date Signed fields are writeback only. They are never prefilled; only the signing date is written back after the document is completed.
• Read-only fields and fields your Salesforce permission set cannot edit are skipped, even when writeback is enabled.
• Invalid values are skipped—for example, entering text in a mapped number field or picking a value not in a picklist will silently skip that field’s update rather than write invalid data.
• Direct document sends (documents sent without using a template) do not perform writeback because there is no template mapping to apply.
• Field-level security (FLS): writeback only updates fields the running user has permission to edit. Fields without edit access are skipped.
• Save Completed Document is a legacy setting; all completed documents are downloaded automatically regardless of this option.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How is per-field writeback different from the global writeback option?
A: Per-field writeback gives you individual control over each mapped field instead of treating all mapped fields as a single group. You can enable writeback for critical fields while leaving sensitive fields unchanged.

Q: What happens if a signer updates a field I disabled writeback on?
A: The updated value only appears in the signed document; the Salesforce record keeps its original value.

Q: What happens if the signer leaves a writeback-enabled field blank?
A: Blank values are skipped, so the existing Salesforce value is preserved rather than being erased.

Q: Can I use per-field writeback with picklists?
A: Yes. Picklist values are validated against the target field’s allowed entries; values that don’t match are skipped.

Q: The Source Object selector is disabled when I configure a template right after creating it. Why?
A: In the create-template flow, the configure page reuses the source object you selected while creating the template, so changing it is not allowed. The same mapping and per-field writeback options apply to that object. To configure additional objects for the same template, save the mapping, reopen the Configure Template page from Configure Templates, and repeat the process — the selector will be enabled.

Q: Does writeback change data on objects other than the source object?
A: No. Writeback only updates the Salesforce record the document was sent from.

Benefits

• Fine-grained control over which fields update Salesforce after signing
• Protects sensitive or system-maintained fields from unexpected changes
• No-code configuration directly from the Configure Template page
• Automatic, real-time updates upon document completion