Sending a Contract for E-Signature

When an agreement is ready to be signed, you turn it into an envelope — the signing package that carries the document, the recipients, the fields they'll complete, and a tamper-evident audit trail. This guide walks the full ceremony from creating the envelope to a completed, sealed signature. (For the detail on recipients and field placement, see Adding Recipients, Roles, and Signature Fields.)

The envelope lifecycle

An envelope moves through these states:

1. Draft — you're building it: adding recipients and fields. Only draft envelopes can be edited.
2. Sent — the envelope has been sent and recipients can now sign.
3. Partially signed — some, but not all, required signers have signed.
4. Completed — everyone required has signed; a sealed completion certificate is generated.

An envelope can also become voided (you cancelled it), declined (a signer refused), or expired (it passed its expiry). These are terminal — a completed or voided envelope can't be reopened.

Step-by-step: send an envelope

1. Open the agreement you want signed. It should be finalized — you'll typically send from approved status.
2. Create an envelope. Choose Send for signature. StretchContracts creates a draft envelope linked to the agreement's contract key and pre-fills the subject with the agreement title.
3. Set the subject and message. The subject is what recipients see; the message is your cover note ("Please review and sign the attached MSA").
4. Choose an expiry (optional). Set an expires at date if the offer or signing window should lapse after a certain time.
5. Decide on signing order (optional). Turn on ordered signing if recipients must sign in sequence (for example, your side first, then the counterparty).
6. Add recipients. Add at least one signer or approver — an envelope can't be sent without one. Add CCs or viewers as needed. (See the recipients guide for roles and access codes.)
7. Place fields. Add the signature, initials, date, text, and checkbox fields each recipient must complete.
8. Send. Choose Send. The envelope moves to sent, each recipient is issued a unique secure signing link, and the send is recorded in the audit trail.
9. Track progress. Watch the envelope move from sent to partially signed to completed as recipients act. You can open the envelope any time to see who has viewed, signed, or declined.

What the signer experiences

Each recipient receives a secure link to their personal signing session. They confirm their consent to sign electronically, complete their assigned fields, and submit. When the last required signer finishes, the envelope becomes completed and StretchContracts seals a completion certificate binding the document fingerprint to the audit trail. See The Signer Experience and Audit Trails and Completion Certificates for the details.

Cancel an envelope

If you need to pull an envelope back before it completes, void it. Voiding records a reason in the audit trail and moves the envelope to a terminal voided state so no one can sign it. You can't void an envelope that's already completed, declined, or expired.

A realistic example

Rosa needs a signed SOW from a client contact, Ben, and her own director, Alan, to countersign. She opens the approved SOW, creates an envelope, sets the subject to "Project Atlas — Statement of Work" and a short message, and sets an expiry two weeks out. Because Alan should sign only after Ben, she turns on ordered signing and sets Ben as routing order 1 and Alan as 2. She places a signature and date field for each, then sends. Ben gets his link first, consents, signs; the envelope goes partially signed; Alan is then unblocked, signs, and it flips to completed with a sealed certificate. Rosa sets the SOW to active.

Tips

• Finalize the document before sending. Recipients and fields can only be changed while the envelope is a draft; once sent, it's locked.
• Always include at least one signer or approver. An envelope with only CCs or viewers can't be sent.
• Set an expiry for time-sensitive deals. It creates urgency and closes stale envelopes automatically.
• Use ordered signing when sequence matters — internal countersignature after the counterparty, for instance.

Troubleshooting

"Only draft envelopes can be sent." The envelope has already been sent or is terminal. Create a new envelope from the agreement.

"At least one signer or approver is required." Add a recipient with the signer or approver role before sending — CC and viewer roles don't count.

A recipient says they never got the link. Signing links are delivered to the recipient; ask them to check spam, confirm the email address on the recipient record is correct, and resend or re-create the envelope if needed.

I sent to the wrong person. Void the envelope (which records the reason) and create a fresh one with the correct recipient.