Signatures and countersigning

Signature fields collect an electronic signature inside the onboarding form. The client signs in the same flow as their other answers. Your firm can add a countersignature on the same field afterwards.

Add a signature field

1. Open the template in the Template builder.
2. Click Add field and choose Signature from Uploads and signatures.
3. Enter the Label the client sees, for example "Engagement letter".
4. In Agreement text, enter the document the client signs. You can paste a whole engagement letter, and line breaks are kept. A signature field cannot be saved without agreement text.
5. Turn on Requires countersignature if a team member must also sign.
6. Leave Required on if the client must sign before they can submit.

Some gallery templates have sample agreement text in their signature fields. Replace it with your own before you send. Until you do, the field's settings show "Add your agreement text to" and the field name. Portico also refuses to send, resend, or reopen an onboarding that still has the sample text. Edit the template, then create a new onboarding from it. When you create a template with AI, Portico asks for the agreement text of any signature field that has none before it creates the template.

Onboardings created before agreement text became required show the standard consent statement if the field had none: "I agree that my electronic signature is the legal equivalent of my handwritten signature on this document."

The client chooses between drawing and typing when they sign. The field has no setting that limits them to one method.

Signature fields cannot be used in conditions. In the builder preview, the field shows the agreement text and a working signature pad, with the note "Preview only. Nothing is signed or saved."

What the client sees

The field shows your agreement text first, in its own box. A long agreement scrolls inside the box, with the hint "Scroll to read the full agreement." The text stays on screen after signing.

Above Confirm signature, the field shows two things:

• Signing as, with the client's name and email from their client record.
• An electronic-signing consent disclosure. It says the client is signing electronically and can ask your firm for a paper copy.

The client chooses Draw or Type. Drawing works with a mouse or a finger. Typing shows the name in three signature styles to choose from. The client then clicks Confirm signature.

After signing, the field shows Signed and Signed by with the client's name. The client can click Re-sign to replace the signature while the onboarding is open.

A required signature field must be signed before the client can submit the onboarding. For the rest of the form, see Client experience.

The confirmation email

After each signature, the client receives an email titled "Your signature has been recorded". It names the field, your firm, and the signing time in UTC. It comes from your firm's sender name, like your other client emails.

The email has no copy attached. On plans with the Client portal, it can include View signature record when the client has no active portal link.

What Portico records

For each signature, Portico stores:

• The signature image.
• The signer's name and email, taken from the client record, not from what they type.
• The signing time in UTC.
• The signer's IP address and browser user agent.
• The signing method, drawn or typed.
• Your agreement text and the consent disclosure, exactly as shown at signing.

At signing time, Portico seals the record with a SHA-256 hash of all of these items. The hash is also written to the onboarding's hash-chained audit log. The History tab shows the signature event.

When a client re-signs, Portico moves the earlier signature into an append-only history before it saves the new one. The new signature gets its own seal and audit entry. Re-signing does not count as a new e-signature toward the Free plan limit.

For the legal standards these records support, see Compliance.

Countersigning

A countersignature is your firm's signature on the same field, after the client signs. Turn it on with Requires countersignature on the field in the template builder.

Countersignature requests

When the client signs a field that needs a countersignature, Portico emails the onboarding's assigned team member if they are an Owner or Admin. Otherwise, including when nobody is assigned, the email goes to the Owner. The email comes from Portico, not from your firm's sender name. Its Open the onboarding button opens the onboarding in Portico.

Portico sends a reminder while the countersignature is pending. The first one goes out at least 48 hours after the client signs. After that, reminders go at most once every 72 hours. Reminders also come from Portico. Each one follows the same rule at that moment: the assigned Owner or Admin, otherwise the Owner. They stop once the field is countersigned, or when the onboarding is cancelled or expires.

Countersign a field

Only Owners and Admins can countersign.

1. Open the onboarding and select the Responses tab.
2. Find the signature field. It shows Awaiting countersignature next to Countersign.
3. Click Countersign.
4. Read the agreement text, then choose Draw or Type and sign.
5. Click Confirm signature.

The field then shows Countersigned by with your name. Your name and email come from your Portico account.

Each field takes one countersignature. Portico does not offer more than one countersigner, multi-signer routing, or a signing order. The Countersign button appears only after the client signs, and not on archived onboardings.

Members see Awaiting countersignature but no Countersign button, and they do not receive countersignature requests.

Your countersignature records the same evidence as the client's and gets its own seal. It does not count toward the Free plan's e-signature limit.

Certificates and PDFs

Certificates and Verify signature need Pro, Business, the Pro trial, or a lifetime or AppSumo Practice or Firm plan. On other plans, the Compliance tab shows Upgrade plan.

The Compliance tab of an onboarding lists every signature under Signature certificates. Each row shows the signer, their email, the signing time, and their IP address. A countersignature has its own row.

• Certificate downloads the E-signature certificate as a PDF.
• Verify signature recomputes the seal and compares it to the stored hash. Only Owners and Admins can run it.

A matching record shows "Signature record verified". A changed record shows "Verification failed — the record has changed since signing".

The certificate shows your firm name and, on plans with custom branding, your logo. It includes:

• Signer information: name, email, signing time in UTC, signature method, and the field.
• The signature image.
• The Countersignature, with the same details, when the field has one.
• Verification details: the IP address, browser user agent, and onboarding ID.
• The consent disclosure and your full agreement text.
• The SHA-256 signature hash.

Portico records each certificate download in the audit trail.

On every plan, Export PDF in the Responses tab menu saves the whole onboarding as a PDF. Each signature field shows the client's signature, name, signing time, IP address, and agreement text. A countersignature appears beneath it.

Copies for the client

On Starter and above, the client portal has a Signatures tab. Each entry shows who signed and when, any countersignature, and an excerpt of the agreement text. Download signature certificate saves the same certificate as a PDF. See Client portal.

Plan limits

A Pro trial that has ended counts as Free. When a Free workspace reaches its limit, the client is told that your firm has not turned on more e-signatures. They are asked to contact your firm. See Billing and plans.

Signatures also trigger the signature.signed webhook and the Zapier Document Signed trigger, for both the client and the countersigner.