Google aims for this nifty feature to help solopreneurs and small businesses gather and keep tabs on digital signatures directly within their documents, according to the company’sannouncement. In the world of document storage and management, having electronic signatures is pretty much a must these days. So, it comes as no surprise that Google is spreading the eSignature love to more Workspace customers, though it’s unknown why it took this long for this capability to arrive on Google’sbeloved productivity services.
Google’s eSignature feature for Docs and Drive started rolling out on December 7, but it might take up to 15 days for everyone to get their hands on the feature.
Thanks to this tool, you can easilyadd signature fields in Google Docs to get those digital signatures rolling. It’s perfect for sealing the deal on important documents like contracts and customer agreements. Workspace customers can even request signatures from non-Google users, so they can finally say goodbye to other eSign tools like DocuSign.
Beta testers could already toss in form fields for full signatures, initials, and a “date signed” box that auto-fills. As promised, the feature has leveled up with new features like an automatic audit trail report for all finished contracts. you’re able to also shoot signature requests to multiple users—even those without Gmail—and kick off eSignatures on PDFs stashed inGoogle Drive.
Google is also preparing new features for eSignatures in Docs and Drive. Soon, you’ll be able to reuse a PDF file as a contract template effortlessly. Plus, the company is adding custom text fields, so signers can drop in key details like job titles and email addresses.
There are tons of software out there featuring eSignature support, including Dropbox and Adobe Acrobat. So, Google’s move to add this feature is less about groundbreaking innovation and more about keeping up with the competition. The idea is to minimize app-hopping and tab-juggling for users.
Unfortunately, eSignatures are exclusive toGoogle Workspaceusers for now. So, if you’re not on a Workspace plan, you’ll need to stick with a different method for collecting those electronic signatures.
