What is the difference between a basic document, a stand alone document, and a document template?

This article explains WPESignature's two document types and gives an overview of our document templates.

Basic Document

A basic document is usually a more signer-specific document, sent directly from the eSignature dashboard. 

This document type can have as many signers as you'd like, as you simply add the document content, type in the names and emails of all of your signers, and send the signing invitation out. 

Each signer receives an email invitation with their own unique signing URL. Then they review the document content, fill in any required fields, and add their signature.

To learn more about basic documents, you can review this helpful article. 

Stand Alone Document

A stand alone document is usually used for a more general contract like a Waiver, Registration Agreement, Non-Disclosure Agreement, etc.

It is hosted on a page of your WordPress site that signers can visit directly and sign (totally automated!). This document also has to option to send a formal signing invitation using the Share/Invite button.

A stand alone document collects one dynamic signature per copy, meaning each document visitor sees a fresh copy to sign. The stand alone document can also have a fixed counter-signer added, using our Approval Signer or Auto Add My Signature feature.

It can also contain our signer input fields and, if desired, be used in a workflow with form and eCommerce plugins that eSignature integrates with.

To learn more about stand alone documents, you can check out this article.

Templates

A template is a tool that saves content you have added for use in future documents. 

A template is created just like a document, by adding your content and customizing the document options. Then it's saved and when you're ready to use it, you load the content into your basic or stand alone document.

Templates are particularly helpful in a workflow that has a frequently used basic document because rather than creating the content from scratch each time, you can load a template to add the content automatically!

To learn more about our templates, you can check out this article.

Still not sure what document type to use? Reach out to our support heroes and let us know what steps you're looking to achieve. We'll have some great advice! 👍