How to automatically place form fields using Text Tags in the BoldSign web app?
Text Tags are placeholders embedded within a document that BoldSign automatically detects and converts into form fields during document preparation. They provide a quick and efficient way to add fields such as signatures, initials, dates, and text fields without manually dragging and placing each field.
Text Tags are especially useful for frequently used documents because they help ensure fields are placed consistently in the correct locations every time.
Text Tag syntax
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A Text Tag is enclosed within double curly braces ({{ }}). Each tag must begin with {{ and end with }}. Values inside the tag are separated by the pipe (|) character.
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The Text Tag syntax consists of up to five sections:
{{Field Type|Signer Index|Required|Field Label|Field ID}}
Example: {{text|1|*|Enter name|field_1}}
Syntax parameters
| Section | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Field Type | Yes | Defines the form field type (e.g., text, sign, init, date, editdate, title, company). |
| Signer Index | Yes | Identifies the signer to whom the field is assigned. |
| Required | Optional | Controls whether field completion is mandatory: • Use * to mark a field as required, for example: {{text|1|*}}.• If the tag ends after the Signer Index without a closing pipe (|), the field is also treated as required, for example: {{text|1}}.• To make a field optional, leave the Required value blank, for example: {{text|1|}} or {{text|1| |}}. |
| Field Label | Optional | Defines the placeholder or display text shown within the field. Placeholder text is supported only for Text (text) and Editable Date (editdate) fields. |
| Field ID | Optional | Provides a unique identifier for the field. |
Example:
{text|1|*|Enter Name|field_1}}
In this example:
- text specifies the field type.
- 1 assigns the field to the first signer.
*marks the field as required.- Enter Name is displayed as the placeholder text.
- field_1 is used as the field ID.
Options and usage
Date format:
- Date format values are supported only for the Editable Date (editdate) field type.
- The value specified in the Field Label section is used as the date format, such as dd/MM/yyyy, MM-dd-yyyy, or yyyy/MM/dd. Other field types do not support date format values.
Supported formats:
- MM/dd/yyyy, dd/MM/yyyy, dd-MMM-yyyy, MMM-dd-yyyy, MMM dd, yyyy , dd MMM, yyyy , yyyy, MMM dd, yyyy/MM/dd, dd-MM-yyyy, MM-dd-yyyy, and yyyy-MM-dd
Example: {{editdate|1|*|dd/MM/yyyy}}
Field ID:
Field IDs can contain:
- A-Z
- a-z
- 0-9
- Hyphen (-)
- Underscore (_)
Each Field ID must be unique within the document and cannot be reused across multiple fields.
Field sizing
You can adjust the size of a field using the Text Tag itself:
- Width: Increase the field width by adding spaces immediately after {{ or before }} in the Text Tag.
- Height: Increase the field height by increasing the font size of the Text Tag.
Hide Text Tags
- BoldSign does not remove Text Tags from the document after they are converted into fields.
- To hide Text Tags, set the Text Tag font color to match the document background color. For example, use white text on a white background so the tags are not visible in the document.
The Text Tags remain in the document and are only visually hidden.
Supported fields
The following form fields support Text Tags:
| Field Name | Text Tag | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Textbox | text | Example 1: {{text|1|*|Customer Full Name|customer_name}} Example 2: {{text|1|}} |
| Signature | sign | {{sign|1|}} |
| Initial | init | {{init|1|*}} |
| Date Signed | date | {{date|1|}} |
| Editable Date | editdate | {{editdate|1|*|dd/MM/yyyy}} |
| Title | title | {{title|1|}} |
| Company | company | {{company|1|}} |
Supported Areas
- The feature is available in both document and template.
How to add document field using Text Tag?
Follow these steps to add a document field using Text Tag:
- From the Dashboard, click
Create Newand selectCreate New Document. - Upload a document that contains Text Tags in the
Add File(s)section. - Complete the required document details and click
Next.
- On the Configure Fields page, a message appears indicating that Text Tags have been detected.
- Click
Convertto automatically convert the Text Tags into BoldSign fields.
- Review the generated fields and make any necessary adjustments.
- Select a field to view and modify its settings from the right-side panel.
- Click
Sendto send the document for signature.
- The Text Tag feature must be enabled for your organization before you can automatically place document fields using Text Tags. If this feature is not enabled, Text Tags in documents or templates will not be detected and converted into fields.
- To enable the Text Tag feature for your organization, contact the BoldSign Support team.
