Use Create eSignature to generate an Aptly Sign document when a card meets an automation’s trigger and conditions. Use Delivery to choose Create as draft for review or Send immediately.
This guide covers the eSignature action. For the full automation editor, see Creating an Automation.
Before You Begin
- Prepare an Aptly Sign template for this workflow and confirm you can select it in the action.
- Check the card data used by the template’s merge fields.
- Decide who signs, who countersigns, who manages the document, and which inbox sends it.
- Choose a reviewer if you will use Delivery: Create as draft for review. A Reviewer is required for this delivery option.
- Check that every fillable field in the template is assigned to the intended recipient. New-builder templates have no Sender role; fields carried over from that role need a recipient assignment.
- Prepare a dedicated test card with sample data and recipient addresses you control. Do not assume Test Mode reroutes or blocks signature requests.
- Keep Status: Draft while building the automation.
For template setup, see Create an Aptly Sign template.
Step 1: Create the Draft
- Open the board that owns the workflow.
- Open Automations using the sparkle/wand icon and select New Automation.
- Enter a descriptive Title, such as Create eSignature: Agreement ready for review. Choose a Folder if needed.
- Keep Status: Draft.
- Choose the Trigger and complete its conditions.
- Select Action: Create eSignature.
Example: When a card enters your agreement-ready stage, generate an agreement for review. Use On Stage Change, select that stage, and set Delivery: Create as draft for review. Use the stage and template that exist on your board.
Step 2: Configure the Document
Review each setting in Create eSignature:
- Template: Choose the Aptly Sign template for this workflow. This field is required.
- Delivery: Choose Create as draft for review, the default, when the document should be reviewed before sending. Choose Send immediately only when you intend automatic sending. If automatic sending encounters a problem, the assignee is notified to review it.
- Document Title: Enter a recognizable name for the generated document. This field is required and can include merge fields from the card.
- Esignature Folder: Choose the document’s destination folder. This is separate from the automation’s organizing folder.
- Document Expiration: Review the selected expiration, any plus or minus days adjustment, and Honor Business Days.
- Document Assignee: Choose who manages the document.
- Reviewer: Required when Delivery is Create as draft for review. Select the intended reviewer; this setting is separate from Document Assignee.
- Review Message: Review the message before saving.
The document assignee, reviewer, and signers have different responsibilities. Check each setting rather than assuming that assigning the document also chooses its reviewer or everyone who must sign.
Step 3: Review Recipients and Sending
- Configure the intended recipients and review how they are selected from the card.
- Optional: turn on Set Signing Order and arrange the recipient groups in the order they should sign.
- Optional: add the required countersigners.
- Choose the required sending Inbox and review the Email Message.
Match the recipient setup to the template’s fillable fields. Check a card with the recipient combination your workflow will actually use, not only the simplest sample.
Check long values before sending without review. The new builder’s cut-off text check does not run when an automation sends without review. Preview a document with realistic long names, addresses, and other values before choosing Send immediately, or use Create as draft for review and review the generated draft before sending.
Step 4: Set Timing and Save
- Choose When for the action. For the stage-change example, choose Immediately.
- Review Only fire if office is open.
- Keep Status: Draft and select Save.
- Reopen the saved rule and confirm the template, Delivery choice, recipients, inbox, document assignee, reviewer, expiration, and timing.
“Immediately” uses the automation queue; it does not guarantee an instant result. If you add other actions with +, review them all. When is shared across the automation’s actions, not an independent delay for each action.
Step 5: Test and Inspect the Document
Start with Delivery: Create as draft for review, select the required Reviewer, and use a controlled sample. Do not use a real agreement or real customer recipients merely because the automation is in Test Mode.
- Review Test Mode Settings and the selected Test Cards. Also review the signature action’s actual recipients and inbox.
- Open the rule with three-dot menu → Edit, set Status: Test Mode, and select Save.
- Follow Using Test Mode for Automations to run the test on the dedicated card.
- Find the generated document in Aptly Sign and inspect its title, content, merge values, field assignments, recipients, signing order, expiration, folder, document assignee, and review settings.
- Check that an unrelated card does not qualify. Before repeating a test, look for documents already created by earlier tests.
Test Mode can create documents or other output. Do not treat it as a guarantee that signature requests or all external effects are blocked. If you test Delivery: Send immediately, use only controlled recipient addresses and confirm exactly where the request arrives.
After checking the result, Verified records your review. It is not automatic document validation and does not make the automation live.
Step 6: Go Live and Track the Result
- Reopen the automation and check the normal recipients, inbox, template, Delivery setting, trigger, conditions, and timing.
- Set Status: Live and select Save.
- Review the first generated document and the automation’s three-dot menu → Logs.
With Delivery: Create as draft for review, review the generated draft before sending. With Delivery: Send immediately, the document is sent automatically when the action succeeds. Track the document’s status in the main Aptly Sign dashboard or the board’s Aptly Sign view.
If you need to pause the rule, return it to Draft and save. This does not undo documents or signature requests already created.
Troubleshooting
- No document appears: Check Status, trigger conditions, When, office hours, and the automation Logs. Confirm the intended template is selected.
- Draft-for-review setup is incomplete: Select a Reviewer whenever Delivery is Create as draft for review, then save and recheck the setup.
- A document exists but no request was sent: Check Delivery and whether the document was created as a draft for review. Check the assignee’s notification and the document status before retrying.
- Wrong or missing recipients: Review the card’s contacts, recipient-selection settings, signing order, and template field assignments.
- Blank or cut-off text: Review the card’s values and the template’s merge fields and layout. Use Delivery: Create as draft for review while correcting and checking the document.
- Duplicate documents: Review prior test output and other automations before running the rule again. A status change does not remove documents already created.
If the result remains unclear, contact Aptly support with the automation title, relevant card or document, event time, and error text. Remove personal information from screenshots.