Zoho Sign: Product Updates - Mid-2021

Zoho Sign: Product Updates - Mid-2021

Hello!

We are halfway through 2021, and it has been a busy journey for us at Zoho Sign.

Driven by the rise in remote work culture, the adoption of e-signatures by businesses and other organizations has become increasingly widespread. Here's an outline of all the features and enhancements we have introduced in Zoho Sign over the past six months and a sneak peek of what is coming.

What's new?
  • Document sharing
  • Template sharing
  • Windows app for signing with USB Token DSC
  • Print and sign support for regional conventions
  • Document type and folder management
  • On-demand bulk backup to cloud
  • Short-hand text tags
  • Merge enhancements in bulk send
  • Enhancements to limiting responses in SignForms
  • Enhancements to field properties in Document Viewer
  • Email bounce notifications
  • Support for spreadsheet upload
Document sharing
Administrators can now enable document sharing between users across the organization, allowing users to access and track the documents of other users that have been shared with them. This enhancement can be accessed by visiting the Users section and selecting the desired users to share documents between. It allows for better collaboration without compromising on internal data privacy.



Template sharing
Functioning largely similar to the document sharing enhancement, this allows administrators to now choose the users whom they want to share each template with. This helps with segmented access and prevents templates from being readily accessible to all the users upon creation. However, the users with whom a template is shared can only view and use it. Template creation and management is still only accessible to the administrators.



Windows app for signing with USB Token DSC
Zoho Sign now offers a USB Signer app on Windows that enables users to digitally sign documents using a USB token or drive carrying their digital signature. A USB token for digital signature is a digital signature certificate (DSC) in a password-protected device and in the physical form. This digital signature certificate is self-acquired by the signing individual from a regional certificate authority or identity provider. This type of signature is also referred to as advanced electronic signatures (AeS) in some legal contexts. Thus, this now allows users to sign documents using their personal or organizational digital signatures. The app can be downloaded on Windows from the Microsoft Store.



Print and sign support for regional conventions
Signers can now download the documents sent to them for signature, sign them physically, and then upload a scan of the signed paper documents back onto Zoho Sign to complete the digital signature process. Zoho Sign will attach its digital signature certificate onto the scanned copy that was uploaded and then proceed with the sign workflow as defined by the sender. This is handy in scenarios where regional conventions dictate that signers must sign documents physically and also maintain a copy in the form of signed paper documents. Alternatively, senders may also upload a scan of the signed paper documents they receive from signers, physically or via fax, on behalf of the signer and mark their signing activity as completed to advance the workflow onto the next recipient.



Document type and folder management
Users can now manage their document types and folders in Zoho Sign. By accessing the respective tabs in the Account settings section, users can edit or delete existing document types and folders or create new ones. Deleting a document type or a folder will not delete the documents associated with them. Users can associate documents with a document type and a folder, or modify existing associations, by editing the document signature requests from the Documents tab.



On-demand bulk backup to cloud
Users can now back up all their completed documents in bulk to one of the integrated cloud storage providers on-demand. Upon initiation, the backup task will immediately start saving a copy of all the completed documents belonging to their organization to the location specified in their cloud storage. Once the backup task is completed, an email notification containing a summary of the activity will be sent to the user from Zoho Sign. However, due to its potential to create a greater load on our servers, this feature will only be activated for organizations at the request of their administrators. Administrators can send a mail to our support team at any time requesting its activation.



Short-hand text tags
Users now have the option to use much shorter text tags in place of the older text tags in Zoho Sign. These tags function like merge tags for signer fields. When these tags are placed alongside the content in a document, they are automatically replaced by the corresponding signer fields upon upload to Zoho Sign for the signing process. An example of the newer short-hand text tag would be using {{FN:R1}} instead of {{First Name:Recipient1}}. For further information, users can send a mail to our support team requesting assistance and documentation.

Merge enhancements in bulk send
Apart from the predefined signer fields, users can now also merge recipient data onto custom text fields in documents when sending them for signatures using the bulk send feature. The data for the custom text field must be included in the bulk recipients CSV file in additional columns with the columns carrying the same headers as the respective fields' data labels. Similarly, a private note can also be added for each recipient by including the data in a column titled 'private_notes' in the CSV file.



Enhancements to limiting responses in SignForms
Users can now disable duplicate responses from the same email address in SignForms. When disabled, anybody trying access a SignForm document by entering an email address already used in a response made in the last 7 days, will, by default, be asked to contact the form owner. However, users also have an option to allow signers to resume signing the SignForm document if their previous response was incomplete.



Enhancements to field properties in Document Viewer
We have introduced new properties that can be set for signer fields in the Document Viewer screen - Resizable, Fixed width, Fixed height, and Character limit. It is now easier for users to duplicate a custom text field to create multiple occurrences of it containing the same data and properties. To do this, users can simply select the text field and then copy-paste it onto the document and reposition it wherever it needs to appear again. Alternatively, users can add more fields and set a common data label to make them share properties. This functions such that once the signer inputs the data in the first occurrence of the field, it is automatically filled into the subsequent occurrences.



Email bounce notifications
Users now get an email bounce notification when an email sent from Zoho Sign is not delivered to its recipient. This notification is received by the user in their mailbox and will carry a reason identifying the cause of failure due to which the email could not be delivered. This can be essential for organizations to identify and fix when a breakage occurs in communication related to paperwork due to email delivery issues.



Support for spreadsheet upload
Zoho Sign now supports the upload of spreadsheet documents for signing and sending for signatures. The supported file formats belonging to this type are XLS, XLSX, and ODS.

What's coming?
  • Qualified Electronic Signatures (QeS)
  • Signing with cloud-based identity providers for different regions
  • Trusted timestamping in documents
  • Offline signing
  • E-sign workflows in Google Docs
  • Software development kit (SDK) for mobile development
We are now in the final stages of introducing options to sign documents with several integrated regional and cloud-based identity providers. For the EU region, we will have Qualified Electronic Signatures (QeS) available via bit4id, a certified provider of digital signature services. For businesses in India, we will have cloud-based eSign or e-KYC (based on the guidelines laid out by the Controller of Certifying Authorities or CCA) available via eMudhra, a leading provider of digital identity services. We are also working with a few more vendors to make these capabilities available across other regions and hope to introduce them in the coming months.

Additionally, we are also working with several regional timestamping authorities (TSA) to introduce trusted digital timestamping in documents for added document security and validity. This also greatly reinforces Zoho Sign's legal applicability for use by governmental bodies and other public administration organizations.

Soon, there will also be an offline signing capability that enables agents to collect signatures in person from signers in remote areas without internet connectivity and also allows signers to download documents on their mobile apps and sign them offline at their convenience. Besides this, we are also nearing the release of a full-fledged software development kit (SDK) for mobile application and integration development using Zoho Sign's services. Users of the Google Workspace ecosystem will also soon have the capability to initiate sign workflows directly from their documents in Google Docs using Zoho Sign.

Do follow this space closely for our announcements (very soon!) introducing these capabilities.

If you need further details on any of these features or enhancements, feel free to comment below. For any other support or assistance needed, please write to support@zohosign.com.

Happy Zoho Signing!

Regards.
Sai Anand

    Access your files securely from anywhere







                          Zoho Developer Community






                                                • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                • Digest


                                                • Functions


                                                • Meetups


                                                • Kbase


                                                • Resources


                                                • Glossary


                                                • Desk Marketplace


                                                • MVP Corner


                                                • Word of the Day


                                                • Ask the Experts





                                                          Manage your brands on social media



                                                                Zoho TeamInbox Resources



                                                                    Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                                      Zoho Books Resources


                                                                        Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                                          Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                            Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                              Qntrl Resources


                                                                                Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                                    Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                                    • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                                      CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                                    • Kaizen

                                                                                      Kaizen

                                                                                    • Functions

                                                                                      Functions

                                                                                    • Meetups

                                                                                      Meetups

                                                                                    • Kbase

                                                                                      Kbase

                                                                                    • Resources

                                                                                      Resources

                                                                                    • Digest

                                                                                      Digest

                                                                                    • CRM Marketplace

                                                                                      CRM Marketplace

                                                                                    • MVP Corner

                                                                                      MVP Corner







                                                                                        Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                        Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                        Get Started Now


                                                                                          Zoho Show Resources


                                                                                            Zoho Writer Writer

                                                                                            Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                            Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                              Zoho CRM コンテンツ





                                                                                                Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                                    ご検討中の方




                                                                                                          • Recent Topics

                                                                                                          • Generate leads from instagram

                                                                                                            hello i have question. If connect instagram using zoho social, it is possible to get lead from instagram? example if someone send me direct message or comment on my post and then they generate to lead
                                                                                                          • What is Zoho Marketing Plus?

                                                                                                            As if there wasn't enough confusion with SalesIQ, CRM, Campaigns and Marketing Automation, now we have Marketing Plus too. Can somebody from Zoho please give us a comparative list of features that are in Marketing Plus compared to what's in Marketing
                                                                                                          • I didn't receive my domain verification mail

                                                                                                            I didn't receive my domain verification mail 
                                                                                                          • Creating a new deal with specific layout and pipeline

                                                                                                            I am trying to create a button which creates a new deal for a particular account. It needs to be assigned a specific layout and pipeline. It seems like it should be really simple but I've been struggling to get this to work all day, can anyone help?!
                                                                                                          • Announcing New Features in Trident for macOS (v.1.21.0)

                                                                                                            Hello everyone! Trident for macOS is here with interesting features to elevate your workplace communication and productivity. Let's take a quick look at them. Get better visibility for concurrent events. Quickly compare and manage simultaneous events
                                                                                                          • Modifying Product Details

                                                                                                            I am in the process of setting up new products in Zoho Commerce and have encountered a few problems: 1) Tabs It seems that Product Details pages do not have the ability to create Tabs. eg:  https://www.thedebugstore.com/tp240141-aardvark-usb-i2c-spi-host-adapter-total-phase.html
                                                                                                          • Zoho Commerce B2B

                                                                                                            Hello, I have signed up for a Zoho Commerce B2B product demo but it's not clear to me how the B2B experience would look for my customers, in a couple of ways. 1) Some of my customers are on terms and some pay upfront with credit card. How do I hide/show
                                                                                                          • Creating a custom CSV file using deluge script/

                                                                                                            I have an application I have developed and the client wants us to place an export file in csv onto an ftp server daily. Now I don't see au options in creator to change the separator to anything else. The client wants the separator to be the pipe symbol "|"  I think i would be able to create schedule with some code to create the appropriate data in a string using deluge script but I haven't seen any functionality that would allow me to deposit that data as a file anywhere or attach it to an email
                                                                                                          • How can I get a nested value attributes inside a key par?

                                                                                                            Hello! Im getting the following output when reviewing a record I am after. I am trying to put some conditions based on a data value that is inside another data. For example, lets grab the below output. Info {"Account_Name":{"name":"Liberty Construction
                                                                                                          • Invoices not arriving and mail server settings

                                                                                                            I am having an issue where some clients are not receiving invoices. I have configured Zoho Books to send on my behalf and configured the appropriate SPF, DKIM and DMARC settings on my mail server and tested these as working. I get the CC'd copies so I
                                                                                                          • Multi Line Text Character Limit

                                                                                                            I want to export my Help Center articles but I realized that the text in the Answer column is being cut off. I'm guessing there is a character limit for multi line text fields. How can I get around this?
                                                                                                          • Emails bouncing to Hotmail / Outlook.com

                                                                                                            Today I have seen multiple emails bouncing all to Hotmail and outlook.com mailboxes, all other emails are being delivered. Is it just me or is this a widespread issue with Zoho Books ? Bounce Reason : uncategorized-bounce
                                                                                                          • Be careful if you want to purchase zoho one

                                                                                                            Hi, just to add one more complain to the other similar complains. When I purchased zoho one, Divith, my account manager told me (by email) that I would be able to keep different emails that I have inside the company (contact, privacy, etc.). During the
                                                                                                          • Schedule Timeout 5 minutes vs. stated 15 minutes

                                                                                                            I am running into a function run timeout error after 5 minutes for my schedules. The Functions - Limits documents states it should be 15 minutes: Functions - Limits | Online Help - Zoho CRM. What should it actually be? Due to the 5 minute timeout, I'm
                                                                                                          • Importing invoices in bulk using the xls file template - still posting as draft - Is there a way to skip "mark as sent" and post it directly?

                                                                                                            Hello everyone, as the title say, is there a way that when I upload from the template file, it will post automatically? I tried changing the "Invoice Status" from draft to approved but it is still appearing as draft and is making me go to invoices so
                                                                                                          • How to set Sales Order Payment Terms when creating a Sales Order via the Zoho Books API

                                                                                                            I am creating Sales Orders via the Zoho Books API. I would like to set the Payment Terms to a particular value from the list of allowed values. Is that possible? I was able to get the list of payment terms via this API call: https://books.zoho.com/api/v3/settings/paymentterms?organization_id=XXXX"
                                                                                                          • Function and workflow to create customer payment and send receipt

                                                                                                             I am attempting to set up a workflow/custom function for the automatic creation of a customer payment and sending the email receipt, but am receiving the error "Improper Statement Error might be due to missing ';' at end of the line or incomplete expression" I've been over everything several times and cannot see where the error is (code is copied into the attached document).  I haven't used custom functions before with Deluge, so it's very likely something very simple, or I've completely mucked
                                                                                                          • How to rename the Submit Button by using deluge script

                                                                                                            Hi everyone, As we know, the Submit button can be renamed in the form builder setting. But I have scenario where I need the Submit Button to be renamed differently according to condition. Anyone knows how to do it? Thank You
                                                                                                          • Banking: Transfer from another account without base currency

                                                                                                            Scenario: A banking line item shall be categorised as an "internal transfer" from another bank account. This is a USD to EUR transfer. Our base currency is CHF. What we tried: Category: "Transfer from another account" From: Our USD account To: Our EUR
                                                                                                          • Item cost price - How to accomodate changing cost prices

                                                                                                            I am in urgent need of assistance with how to accommodate changing cost prices for items, not manually. We import items so their landed cost is always changing. This cost is NOT reflected however in the item cost price. This is going to cause us some
                                                                                                          • Marketer's Space: Targeted messaging : Leveraging Zoho Campaigns for Effective Communication

                                                                                                            Hello Marketers, Welcome back to Marketers’ Space! Targeted messaging ensures your communication reaches the right audience - boosting engagement, conversions, and overall campaign success. In this post, we’ll be looking at targeted messaging to create
                                                                                                          • :between: conditions in search?criteria

                                                                                                            Hello, please help solve problem I try to select deals by Creater_Time between dates i send this GET request /crm/v4/deals/search?criteria=(Created_Time:between:(2024-02-01T18:52:56,24-02-17T18:52:56)) encoded to /crm/v4/deals/search?criteria=%28Created_Time%3Abetween%3A%282024-02-01T18%3A52%3A56%2C24-02-17T18%3A52%3A56%29%29
                                                                                                          • Zoho Creator : Updating Records via Import. Can't use Autonumber or ZohoRecordID ?

                                                                                                            Hi, I am trying to use the function to update a report with an import. I'm running in to the error : "unable to update because the form has no column with unique values" In the release notes it says Only field with unique values can be used to compare
                                                                                                          • 💡 Feature Request: Custom App Bundle Plan (Pick Only the Apps You Need)

                                                                                                            Request: Allow Users to Build a Custom App Bundle (Choose Only the Apps They Need) Hi Zoho Team, I appreciate the value that Zoho One and the Plus Bundles (CRM Plus, Finance Plus, etc.) offer. However, I’m finding it difficult to get the best fit for
                                                                                                          • Search Feature Now Broken

                                                                                                            I have many hundreds of notes on Zoho Notebook but now when I search for a keyword, I only get 30 results maximum. This is unacceptable and yet another feature that has become broken on this quickly deteriorating software. Please fix immediately.
                                                                                                          • Restrict Zoho One Account Notifications to Admins

                                                                                                            Hi Zoho One Team, I hope you're doing well. We recently noticed that end users are receiving administrative pop-ups in Zoho One, such as the DKIM configuration notice (screenshot attached). This type of notification is only relevant to administrators
                                                                                                          • Experience effortless record management in CRM For Everyone with the all-new Grid View!

                                                                                                            Hello Everyone, Hope you are well! As part of our ongoing series of feature announcements for Zoho CRM For Everyone, we’re excited to bring you another type of module view : Grid View. In addition to Kanban view, List view, Canvas view, Chart view and
                                                                                                          • Automated Checkout

                                                                                                            Hi Team, I’m trying to create an automated checkout function in Zoho People. My requirement is that if an employee forgets to check out, the system should automatically check them out after 10 hours. However, I'm encountering an error while updating the
                                                                                                          • Zoho CRM Community Digest - June 2025 | Part 1

                                                                                                            **We offer both video and written formats, take your pick and jump in.** CRM FOMO is real. You could be doing everything right and still miss the beat. That’s where we come in. Zoho CRM Community Digest! Every two weeks, we bring you the insider scoop
                                                                                                          • Introducing Video Tutorials for the Zoho FSM Mobile App

                                                                                                            We’re excited to announce the launch of our brand-new video tutorials for the Zoho FSM Mobile App—designed painstakingly to help your field agents get up to speed in no time! Whether you're brand new to the Zoho FSM mobile app or just need a quick refresher,
                                                                                                          • Zoho People > Managed People > User Access Control

                                                                                                            Hello All I need your recommendation on how should i go about setting the User Access Control in my Zoho People
                                                                                                          • What happened to the tabs in the ribbon on the top in my CRM?

                                                                                                            Hi, This morning all of the tabs (modules) in the ribbon on top are no longer showing up. I had the modules in the ribbon in a specific order for easy, one-click access. Now it's only showing the active tab and the rest are hiding under the three dots
                                                                                                          • Connect to Australian bank

                                                                                                            How do I connect to an Australian bank. No Australian bank shows up in my list. I think its because the service provider is Token and not Yodlee. How do I change this?
                                                                                                          • Searching for content within courses

                                                                                                            Hello, I have been testing out Zoho One for my company have been exploring Learn. I've noticed that you cannot search for content within a course. You can only locate the title of the course. Example: Course: How to Make Your Bed Chapter: Pillows Lesson:
                                                                                                          • Citations Problem

                                                                                                            I'm having an odd problem with the "Add Citations" feature of Zoho Writer. When I add a citation using the "Fetch website details online" feature it works the first time I use it but if I try it a second time by clicking that link nothing at all happens
                                                                                                          • Zoho People Leave Balance Show as Negative

                                                                                                            Hi All I have the Portugal material Leave that policy allows up to 120 days or 150days for employee to apply within 365 days and employees is able to take minimum of 1 days or up to 120 days In my Leave Grant I have set as the setting.
                                                                                                          • Zoho People > Performance > Appraisal > Mismatch between the template-configured module and the currently enabled module.

                                                                                                            Hello There When we enable the performance module there a prompt Mismatch between the template-configured module and the currently enabled module. How do we resolve this
                                                                                                          • Introducing WhatsApp integration in Bigin

                                                                                                            Greetings! In today's business landscape, messaging apps play a significant role in customer operations. Customers can engage with businesses, seek support, ask questions, receive personalized recommendations, read reviews, and even make purchases—all
                                                                                                          • Zoho People Leave Application Module Error: Leave balance has exceeded as on 09-07-2025.

                                                                                                            Dear All I need to check how do i resolve the issue of Error: Leave balance has exceeded as on 09-07-2025. All my leave have this issue
                                                                                                          • Power of Automation:: Daily Time log summary broadcast to Zoho Cliq using Schedule Custom Functions

                                                                                                            Hello Everyone, A Custom function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:
                                                                                                          • Next Page