User Guide Cancel

Overview of Send in Bulk

 

Adobe Acrobat Sign Guide

What's New

  1. Pre-Release Notes
  2. Release Notes
  3. Important Notifications

Get Started

  1. Quick start guide for administrators
  2. Quick start guide for users
  3. For Developers
  4. Video tutorial library
  5. FAQ

Administer

  1. Admin Console Overview
  2. User Management
    1. Adding users
      1. Add a User
      2. Add Users in Bulk
      3. Add Users from your Directory
      4. Add Users from MS Azure Active Directory
    2. Create function-focused users
      1. Technical accounts - API driven
      2. Service accounts - Manually driven
    3. Check for users with provisioning errors
    4. Change Name/Email Address
    5. Edit a user's group membership
    6. Edit a user's group membership through the group interface
    7. Promote a user to an admin role
    8. User Identity Types and SSO
    9. Switch User Identity
    10. Authenticate Users with MS Azure
    11. Authenticate Users with Google Federation
    12. Product Profiles
    13. Login Experience 
  3. Account/Group Settings
    1. Settings Overview
    2. Global Settings
      1. Account tier and ID
      2. New Recipient Experience
      3. Self Signing Workflows
      4. Send in Bulk
      5. Web Forms
      6. Custom Send Workflows
      7. Power Automate Workflows
      8. Library Documents
      9. Collect form data with agreements
      10. Limited Document Visibility
      11. Attach a PDF copy of the signed agreement 
      12. Include a link in the email
      13. Include an image in the email
      14. Files attached to email will be named as
      15. Attach audit reports to documents
      16. Merge multiple documents into one
      17. Download individual documents
      18. Upload a signed document
      19. Delegation for users in my account
      20. Allow external recipients to delegate
      21. Authority to sign
      22. Authority to send
      23. Power to add Electronic Seals
      24. Set a default time zone
      25. Set a default date format
      26. Users in Multiple Groups (UMG)
        1. Upgrade to use UMG
      27. Group Administrator Permissions
      28. Replace recipient
      29. Audit Report
        1. Overview
        2. Allow unauthenticated access on the transaction verification page
        3. Include reminders
        4. Include view events
        5. Include agreement page/attachment count
      30. In Product Messaging and Guidance
      31. Accessible PDFs
      32. New authoring experience
      33. Healthcare customer
    3. Account Setup
      1. Add logo
      2. Customize company Hostname/URL    
      3. Add company name
      4. Post agreement URL redirect
    4. Signature Preferences
      1. Well formatted signatures
      2. Allow recipients to sign by
      3. Signers can change their name
      4. Allow recipients to use their saved signature
      5. Custom Terms of Use and Consumer Disclosure
      6. Navigate recipients through form fields
      7. Decline to sign
      8. Allow Stamps workflows
      9. Require signers to provide their Title or Company
      10. Allow signers to print and place a written signature
      11. Show messages when e-signing
      12. Require signers to use a mobile device to create their signature
      13. Request IP address from signers
      14. Exclude company name and title from participation stamps
    5. Digital Signatures
      1. Overview
      2. Download and sign with Acrobat
      3. Sign with Cloud Signatures
      4. Include metadata for Identity Providers
      5. Restricted Cloud Signatures Providers
    6. Electronic Seals
    7. Digital Identity
      1. Digital Identity Gateway
      2. Identity Check policy
    8. Report Settings
      1. New report experience
      2. Classic report settings
    9. Security Settings
      1. Single Sign-on settings
      2. Remember-me settings
      3. Login password policy
      4. Login password strength
      5. Web session duration
      6. PDF encryption type
      7. API
      8. User and group info access
      9. Allowed IP Ranges
      10. Account Sharing
      11. Account sharing permissions
      12. Agreement sharing controls
      13. Signer identity verification
      14. Agreement signing password
      15. Document password strength
      16. Block signers by Geolocation
      17. Phone Authentication
      18. Knowledge-Based Authentication (KBA)
      19. Allow page extraction
      20. Document link expiration
      21. Upload a client certificate for webhooks/callbacks
      22. Timestamp
    10. Send settings
      1. Show Send page after login
      2. Require recipient name when sending
      3. Lock name values for known users
      4. Allowed recipient roles
      5. Allow e-Witnesses
      6. Recipient groups
      7. Required fields
      8. Attaching documents
      9. Field flattening
      10. Modify Agreements
      11. Agreement name
      12. Languages
      13. Private messages
      14. Allowed signature types
      15. Reminders
      16. Signed document password protection
      17. Send Agreement Notification through
      18. Signer identification options
        1. Overview
        2. Signing password
        3. One-Time Password via Email
        4. Acrobat Sign authentication
        5. Phone authentication
        6. Cloud-based digital signature
        7. Knowledge-based authentication
        8. Government ID
        9. Signer Identity reports
      19. Content Protection
      20. Enable Notarize transactions
      21. Document Expiration
      22. Preview, position signatures, and add fields
      23. Signing order
      24. Liquid mode
      25. Custom workflow controls
      26. Upload options for the e-sign page
      27. Post-sign confirmation URL redirect
    11. Message Templates
    12. Bio-Pharma Settings
      1. Overview
      2. Enforce identity authentication
      3. Signing reasons
    13. Workflow Integration
    14. Notarization Settings
    15. Payments Integration
    16. Signer Messaging
    17. SAML Settings
      1. SAML Configuration
      2. Install Microsoft Active Directory Federation Service
      3. Install Okta
      4. Install OneLogin
      5. Install Oracle Identity Federation
    18. Data Governance
    19. Time Stamp Settings
    20. External Archive
    21. Account Languages
    22. Email Settings
      1. Email header/footer images
      2. Permit individual user email footers
      3. Customize the Signature Requested email
      4. Customize the To and CC fields
      5. Enable Linkless Notifications
      6. Customize email templates
    23. Migrating from echosign.com to adobesign.com
    24. Configure Options for Recipients
  4. Guidance for regulatory requirements
    1. Accessibility
      1. Accessibility Compliance
      2. Create accessible forms with Acrobat desktop
      3. Create accessible AcroForms
    2. HIPAA
    3. GDPR
      1. GDPR Overview
      2. Redact a user
      3. Redact a user's agreements    
    4. 21 CFR part 11 and EudraLex Annex 11
      1. 21 CRF part 11 validation pack
      2. 21 CFR and EudraLex Annex 11 handbook
      3. Analysis of shared responsibilities
    5. Healthcare customers
    6. IVES support
    7. "Vaulting" agreements
    8. EU/UK considerations
      1. EU/UK Cross-border transactions and eIDAS
      2. HMLR requirements for deeds signed electronically
      3. The impact of Brexit on e-signature laws in the UK
  5. Download Agreements in Bulk
  6. Claim your domain 
  7. Report Abuse links

Send, Sign, and Manage Agreements

  1. Recipient Options
    1. Cancel an email reminder
    2. Options on the e-signing page
      1. Overview of the e-sign page
      2. Open to read the agreement without fields
      3. Decline to sign an agreement
      4. Delegate signing authority
      5. Restart the agreement
      6. Download a PDF of the agreement
      7. View the agreement history
      8. View the agreement messages
      9. Convert from an electronic to a written signature
      10. Convert from a written to an electronic signature 
      11. Navigate the form fields
      12. Clear the data from the form fields
      13. E-sign page magnification and navigation
      14. Change the language used in the agreement tools and information
      15. Review the Legal Notices
      16. Adjust Acrobat Sign Cookie Preferences
  2. Send Agreements  
    1. Send page overview
    2. Send an agreement only to yourself
    3. Send an agreement to others
    4. Written Signatures
    5. Recipient signing order
    6. Send in Bulk
      1. Overview of the Send in Bulk feature
      2. Send in Bulk - Configure a parent template
      3. Send in Bulk - Configure the CSV file
      4. Cancel a Send in Bulk transaction
      5. Add reminders to Send in Bulk
      6. Reporting for Send in Bulk
  3. Authoring fields into documents
    1. In-app authoring environment
      1. Automatic field detection
      2. Drag and drop fields using the authoring environment
      3. Assign form fields to recipients
      4. The Prefill role
      5. Apply fields with a reusable field template
      6. Transfer fields to a new library template
      7. Updated authoring environment when sending agreements
    2. Create forms with text tags
    3. Create forms using Acrobat (AcroForms)
      1. AcroForm creation
      2. Creating accessible PDFs
    4. Fields
      1. Field types
        1. Common field types
        2. In-line Images
        3. Stamp Images
      2. Field content appearance
      3. Field validations
      4. Masked fields values
      5. Setting show/hide conditions
      6. Calculated fields 
    5. Authoring FAQ
  4. Sign Agreements
    1. Sign agreements sent to you
    2. Fill & Sign
    3. Self-signing
  5. Manage Agreements
    1. Manage page overview
    2. Delegate agreements
    3. Replace Recipients
    4. Limit Document Visibility 
    5. Cancel an Agreement 
    6. Create new reminders
    7. Review reminders
    8. Cancel a reminder
    9. Access Power Automate flows
    10. More Actions...
      1. How search works
      2. View an agreement
      3. Create a template from an agreement
      4. Hide/Unhide agreements from view
      5. Upload a signed agreement
      6. Modify a sent agreement's files and fields
      7. Edit a recipient's authentication method
      8. Add or modify an expiration date
      9. Add a Note to the agreement
      10. Share an individual agreement
      11. Unshare an agreement
      12. Download an individual agreement
      13. Download the individual files of an agreement
      14. Download the Audit Report of an agreement
      15. Download the field content of an agreement
  6. Audit Report
  7. Reporting and Data exports
    1. Overview
    2. Grant users access to reporting
    3. Report charts
      1. Create a new report
      2. Agreement Reports
      3. Transaction Reports
      4. Settings Activity Report
      5. Edit a report
    4. Data Exports 
      1. Create a new data export
      2. Edit a data export
      3. Refresh the data export content
      4. Download the data export
    5. Rename a report/export
    6. Duplicate a report/export
    7. Schedule a report/export
    8. Delete a report/export
    9. Check Transaction Usage

Advanced Agreement Capabilities and Workflows

  1. Webforms 
    1. Create a web form
    2. Edit a web form
    3. Disable/Enable a web form
    4. Hide/Unhide a web form
    5. Find the URL or script code 
    6. Prefill web form fields with URL parameters
    7. Save a web form to complete later
    8. Resize a web form
  2. Reusable Templates (Library templates) 
    1. US Government forms in the Acrobat Sign library
    2. Create a library template
    3. Change a library template's name
    4. Change a library template's type
    5. Change a library template's permission level
    6. Copy, edit, and save a shared template
    7. Download the aggregate field data for a library template
  3. Transfer ownership of web forms and library templates
  4. Power Automate Workflows 
    1. Overview of the Power Automate integration and included entitlements
    2. Enable the Power Automate integration
    3. In-Context Actions on the Manage page
    4. Track Power Automate usage
    5. Create a new flow (Examples)
    6. Triggers used for flows
    7. Importing flows from outside Acrobat Sign
    8. Manage flows
    9. Edit flows
    10. Share flows
    11. Disable or Enable flows
    12. Delete flows
    13. Useful Templates
      1. Administrator only
        1. Save all completed documents to SharePoint
        2. Save all completed documents to OneDrive for Business
        3. Save all completed documents to Google Drive
        4. Save all completed documents to DropBox
        5. Save all completed documents to Box
      2. Agreement archival
        1. Save your completed documents to SharePoint
        2. Save your completed documents to One Drive for Business
        3. Save your completed documents to Google Drive
        4. Save your completed documents to DropBox
        5. Save your completed documents to Box
      3. Webform agreement archival
        1. Save completed web form documents to SharePoint Library
        2. Save completed web form documents to OneDrive for Business
        3. Save completed   documents to Google Drive
        4. Save completed web form documents to Box
      4. Agreement data extraction
        1. Extract form field data from your signed document and update Excel sheet
      5. Agreement notifications
        1. Send custom email notifications with your agreement contents and signed agreement
        2. Get your Adobe Acrobat Sign notifications in a Teams Channel
        3. Get your Adobe Acrobat Sign notifications in Slack
        4. Get your Adobe Acrobat Sign notifications in Webex
      6. Agreement generation
        1. Generate document from Power App form and Word template, send for signature
        2. Generate agreement from Word template in OneDrive, and get signature
        3. Generate agreement for selected Excel row, send for review and signature
  5. Custom Send workflows
    1. Custom Send Workflow Overview
    2. Creating a new Send Workflow
    3. Edit a Send Workflow
    4. Activate or Deactivate a Send Workflow
    5. Send an agreement with a Send Workflow
  6. Share users and agreements
    1. Share a user
    2. Share agreements

Integrate with other products

  1.  Acrobat Sign integrations overview 
  2. Acrobat Sign for Salesforce
  3. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft
    1. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft 365
    2. Acrobat Sign for Outlook
    3. Acrobat Sign for Word/PowerPoint
    4. Acrobat Sign for Teams
    5. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft PowerApps and Power Automate
    6. Acrobat Sign Connector for Microsoft Search
    7. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft Dynamics 
    8. Acrobat Sign for Microsoft SharePoint 
  4. Other Integrations
    1. Acrobat Sign for ServiceNow
    2. Acrobat Sign for HR ServiceNow
    3. Acrobat Sign for SAP SuccessFactors
    4. Acrobat Sign for Workday
    5. Acrobat Sign for NetSuite
    6. Acrobat Sign for VeevaVault
    7. Acrobat Sign for Coupa BSM Suite
  5. Partner managed integrations
  6. How to obtain an integration key

Acrobat Sign Developer

  1. REST APIs 
    1. Methods documentation
    2. SDK/Developer Guide
    3. API FAQ    
  2. Webhooks 
    1. Webhook overview
    2. Configure a new webhook
    3. View or edit a webhook
    4. Deactivate or reactivate a webhook
    5. Delete a webhook
    6. Two-way SSL certificates
    7. Webhooks in the API

Support and Troubleshooting

  1. Customer Support Resources 
  2. Enterprise Customer Success Resources 

Overview of Send in Bulk 

The Send in Bulk (SiB) feature allows users to create a one-use "parent" template of an agreement and supply a list of recipients. A "child" agreement is generated for each recipient record when the Send in Bulk transaction is sent. Up to 1000 child transactions can be effected, and all child agreements are discrete agreements and autonomous insofar as the other agreements generated.

However, because the child agreements are all created from the same parent template, users can review the Send in Bulk parent transaction on the Manage page and review the overall status of the child agreements.

There are two methods to add the list of recipient records to the template:

  • Manually - In this use case, the sender manually types (or pastes) in the user email addresses. 
    • This option limits the number of recipients to one external recipient,
    • The sender can be included as an optional recipient after the external recipient signs. 
  • Comma-Separated Value (CSV) file upload - The CSV is a spreadsheet where each row is a recipient record, and the various columns define properties of the agreement, each of which can be personalized for the recipients of the agreement. This gives the sender much broader control over how the agreement can be customized for the recipients. The advantages of the CSV file method are:
    • You can have multiple recipients. (Up to 100 per agreement.)
    • Per recipient personalization:
      • Recipient name
      • Role
      • Authentication method
      • Private recipient message
    • Agreement level customizations:
      • Agreement name
      • Localization
      • Global agreement message
      • Expiration deadline
      • Signature flow
    • Custom merge fields where the CSV inserts a value into a field on the agreement, allowing recipient-specific details to be added to the agreement, such as a street address, list of goods or services, prices, and discounts.

Availability:

Send in Bulk is available for Acrobat Pro and Acrobat Sign Solutions license plans.

Configuration scope:

The controls for Send in Bulk can be enabled at the account and group levels.

Reporting for Send in Bulk

There are several options for generating report data for the agreements included in a Send in Bulk. The option used will depend on the type of information you want to collect.

All reporting explicitly tied to the Send in Bulk parent object can be accessed on the Manage page by selecting the Bulk Sends filter and then opening the specific Send in Bulk parent template you want to review.

If you want to review only the base completion rate or drill down to find an individual agreement, the Agreements summary table is available in the Actions list.

A printable table of all child agreements can be generated using the View Activity Report action.

A CSV-based definition of the agreement, along with full field-level input per recipient, is available using the Download Form Field Data action.

The standard reporting environment can produce printable charts and graphs and provide field-level data in CSV format.

When initially uploading a CSV to import the recipients, any formatting errors of elements managed by Acrobat Sign will trigger an error link on the template configuration page.

Select the error link to display the list of errors by the row number of the CSV file:

Example error report from generated child agreements on the parent template

Note:

All CSV formatting errors must be corrected before the Send in Bulk transaction can be submitted, and child agreement generation can begin.

Some errors are not detected as issues during the CSV upload process, but they are discovered while the child agreements are being generated. For example, assigning a role or authentication method to a recipient that is in conflict with the group settings. These run-time errors are logged in an error report that you can download from the Manage page by selecting the Download Error Report action for the parent template:

Example error report from generated child agreements downloaded from the Manage page

The system adds a line to the error log containing the recipient's row information when errors are discovered.

Processing of the CSV file resumes and generates a child agreement for every row of the CSV that doesn't trigger an error.

Recipients identified on the error report must have the agreement re-sent to them in a new transaction.

Alert:

No overt alert is delivered to the sender for run-time errors.

Senders should always check the downloadable report for the parent template after the generation of child agreements is completed.

The parent template includes a summary table in the Actions list for all child agreements. The table identifies the number of agreements in each status. 

Clicking into the summary table opens a sortable view of the individual child agreements. The records on the summary table are active link to the agreements, allowing for easy manipulation of individual agreements as needed.

The Manage page highlighting the Agreement summary

The View Activity Report option in the Actions list provides a Document Execution Report. This report provides a more detailed (and printable) summary of the child agreements by status.

The Manage page with the View Activity Report action highlighted and a sample Activity Report exposed
The Document Execution Report provides a full summary of the entire list of child agreements with an overall summary at the top.

The Download Form Field Data activity downloads the field data for all child agreements created by the parent template.

Each row of the CSV represents one agreement record. The record is structured to provide:

  • All of the recipient information first:
    • Recipient name (captured when the signature is applied)
    • Recipient email
    • Recipient role
    • Recipient authentication method and value
    • Recipient private message
  • The agreement information after the recipient info:
    • CC'd party emails
    • Locale
    • Reminder information
    • Expiration information
    • Agreement name
    • Agreement global message
    • Order of signatures
  • Custom field data is listed after the agreement fields. This includes all fields included in the document template or authored onto the documents. 
    • Custom fields are listed alphabetically based on their field name.
  • The Agreement ID is the last field.

 

The Manage page displaying an example of the data fields CSV
All child agreements are represented. Fields are populated as the agreements are completed

Standard agreement reporting captures the child agreements but only understands them as regular agreements. No broader relationship is understood in terms of some agreements related through a parent agreement template.

Using the name filter can allow you to generate reporting based on that value if you use unique naming conventions in your Send in Bulk campaigns.

Customers that heavily leverage Send in Bulk may opt to dedicate a group to the purpose. This allows for finer tuning of the recipient experience and allows reporting to filter agreements based on the group.

View of the Reporting interface with the Agreement name filter exposed and an example  report displayed
All of the same filters can be applied to data exports as well.

Best practices

Use well-tested templates for your base documents. This is particularly critical if you have multiple recipients. A few rounds of field-level testing to ensure the fields are properly assigned and capturing the correct content with useful validations takes significantly less time than canceling hundreds of individual agreements.

When building your templates, use meaningful field names so your reporting returns meaningful column headers. 

Configuration considerations with regard to Data Governance

Send in Bulk has a property called the "roll-up" that dictates how many notifications the sender receives with regard to the number of child agreements created by the SiB template. The default value is three, meaning the sender is only notified when three or fewer child agreements are generated. The roll-up setting isn't exposed to customers and may only be altered by the Acrobat Sign support team.

Data Governance dictates how soon an agreement is deleted from the Acrobat Sign system after it reaches a terminal status (Complete, Canceled, or Expired).

Customers who need to interact with completed agreements sent through a Send in Bulk process may want to extend the roll-up number (possibly to an "unlimited" value) to ensure they receive the "Completed" notifications of child agreements before they are deleted automatically from the system by Data Governance.

Tip:

It may be worth investigating the Power Automate integration to automate any post-completion activities to reduce both the manual work of users and to safeguard against gaps where an agreement might be lost to data governance rules.

Things to know

  • The new Send in Bulk interface is still in development, and more options are anticipated in future releases (e.g., additional authentication methods, agreement-defined CC'd parties, agreement-defined reminders).
  • The option for Sender Signs First found in the classic version of Send in Bulk is currently not in the new version but is expected in a future release for the manual process. Customers that are using the CSV upload method must add the sender to the CSV as a recipient in each record where the sender must sign.
  • Changing the group selector does not change the logo on the sender's page. The subsequent emails and signing experience do use the correct logo for the group from which the agreement is sent.
  • Canceling all child agreements of a Send in Bulk transaction at the (parent) template level is only possible if no child agreements have been signed. If any child agreements are signed, the Cancel activity is removed from the template's interface, and existing agreements must be canceled at the agreement level. 
  • The CSV file option has a lot of optional fields, but only an email is required. Getting familiar with the CSV process will make the more advanced field options (like merge fields) less daunting and open up the more valuable possibilities that the CSV offers.

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