Articles on: Signatures

Adding a signature block to a room

Katalyz Signature lets your buyers sign documents directly inside the room — no DocuSign roundtrip, no PDF attachments, no email chains. Sign where the deal happens.

A room with a signature widget embedded in a section, showing the envelope card with its status badge

⚠️ Requires the Katalyz Signature module, billed per user per month on top of the Core plan. Envelopes do not consume credits. See Katalyz Signature.

What an envelope contains

A signature widget holds one envelope. Each envelope has:

One or more documents to sign — PDF or Word (.docx) files
Recipients — signers, approvers and followers
Fields on the documents (signature, initials, date, text, annotation)
A signing order — sequential (one recipient after another) or parallel (everyone at once)
An optional deadline and automatic reminders

Two ways to start an envelope

Where	How	When to use it
Inside a room	Add the Signature widget from the build bar (More → Signature). An empty card titled Setup Your Signature Envelope appears with a Setup Envelope button, and the envelope editor opens.	The signers are in the room and should sign there.
Signatures page	Click + New envelope. Choose Start from scratch or one of your published templates, then link the envelope to a room, deal or account.	Org-level contracts, or when you want to reuse a template.

If you close the editor before adding a document or a recipient, the empty widget is removed from the room again.

Starting from a template is covered in Signature templates.

The envelope editor

The editor is titled New signature envelope (or Edit signature envelope) and walks through up to five tabs. Next moves you forward; on the last tab it becomes Send for Signature. Back and Cancel sit on the left of the footer.

Envelope editor with the tab strip Associate · Document · Prepare · Setup · Send

1. Associate

Only shown when you create the envelope from the Signatures page — inside a room, the link is already known. Pick one:

Link to a room — Attach to a dealroom so participants can track status there.
Link to a deal — Tie the envelope to a CRM deal — account link is inferred.
Link to an account — For envelopes that aren't tied to a specific deal.
No link — Standalone envelope with no CRM or room context.

2. Document

Before you upload anything, Katalyz asks What are you sending? — PDFs keep their layout. Word files ship as they are.

Card	File	What it means
Fixed-layout PDF	.pdf	The page never re-flows. Fields are boxes on it. Best for order forms and printed contracts. Steps: Import → Place fields.
Write it in Word	.docx	Paste the codes into your own file. Never rewritten. Best for letterheads and precise layouts. Steps: Write in Word → Import → Send.

PDF path — Upload the PDF, or pick an existing file From this room, From HubSpot or From library (Pick a shared org document). You can add several documents and drag them into order.
Word path — Katalyz jumps straight to Prepare, because the signers' codes have to exist before you can type them into the file. Once the codes are in your .docx, import it from the Import the Word file zone (With the signers' codes pasted into it). A PDF is refused on this path: "{file} isn't a Word file. This envelope is set up for a .docx."

The upload only accepts the file type you chose, and Word files are never edited inside Katalyz. See PDF fields vs Word codes to choose between the two.

Next stays disabled on this tab until at least one document is in.

3. Prepare

Recipients and fields live here.

Recipients — the sidebar has three lists:

List	What they do	Button
Signers	Place fields and sign	Add signer
Approvers	Will be asked to approve the envelope without signing	Add approver
Followers	Will receive a copy when everyone has signed	Add follower

Each Add button opens a picker with a Room tab (participants of the linked room), a CRM tab, and a search box — Search by name or email — or type a new email — for anyone else. Expand a signer's card to set their authentication method, their position in the signing order and, when they are not in the room yet, the Also invite to this room switch (Will be invited on send vs Sign-only (no room access)).

The Sequential signing toggle at the top of the sidebar switches between sequential and parallel routing.

Fields — on a PDF, drag a field from Signer fields onto the page; it belongs to the selected signer. Every signer needs at least one signature field, otherwise the Send tab reports "{name} has no signature field placed".

On a Word file there is no page to drop fields on. The tab lists each signer's anchor codes instead, and once the file is imported it checks them off — ✓ in document or not typed yet.

Prepare tab — recipients sidebar on the left, a PDF page with a signature field placed on the right

4. Setup

Basic Information: Envelope Title, Message to Recipients, Signing Deadline (Optional) and Automatic Reminders. Turn on Enable Automatic Reminders to set First reminder (days after send) (default 3) and Repeat every (days) (default 2).

5. Send

The Envelope Summary counts documents, recipients, signers and fields. What will be sent lists each document as As uploaded or Rebuilt, with a Preview button to download the exact file that will go out. When everything checks out the card reads Ready to Send; otherwise Almost ready — fix the items below, each issue with a Fix link to the right tab. Click Send for Signature.

Field types

Field	Hint in the editor	Who fills it
Signature	Full signature	A signer
Initials	Initials only — placed on every page by default	A signer
Date	Auto-dated — filled with the signing date	Automatic
Text	Free text — with a Label and a Placeholder (e.g. Company name / Acme Inc.)	A signer
Annotation	Creator-only · static — fixed text you type yourself, e.g. Read and approved	You (not interactive)

On a PDF, a field is placed on a single page or on all pages at the same position; Initials default to all pages.

Authentication methods

Each signer and approver has an authentication method, chosen on their card in Prepare:

Email link (default) — the link in the signing email authenticates them
SMS code — a one-time code sent to the phone number you enter
Access code — a code you set and share with them through another channel
ID verification — the signer verifies their identity before signing

For standard commercial contracts, Email link is usually enough.

Routing: sequential vs. parallel

Sequential — recipients act one at a time, in the order set on their cards. Those whose turn hasn't come show as Waiting.
Parallel — everyone is notified at once and can act in any order.

After sending

The widget shows the Awaiting signatures badge, the documents count, {n} of {m} signed, the deadline (or No deadline) and the order (Sequential / Parallel), with a Sign button for any recipient who opens the room. Once the envelope is Signed, a Download signed copy button appears. See Tracking signature status.

Cost

Katalyz Signature is a module added to your Core plan and priced per user per month. There is no per-envelope charge and envelopes don't use credits. See Katalyz Signature.

Updated on: 03/10/2026

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