Send your first document

Upload a PDF, place fields, pick recipients, and send a contract for signature — end to end in about five minutes.

Last updated May 12, 2026

This guide walks through the full happy-path flow: from “I just signed up” to “I sent a contract that’s now waiting for someone to sign.” Plan on about five minutes start to finish.

Before you start

You’ll need:

  • A Pacta account (sign up here if you don’t have one)
  • A PDF contract you want signed (any standard PDF works — Word, Google Docs, and Pages all export to PDF)
  • An email address for each person who needs to sign

Step 1 — Open the document upload screen

From your Pacta dashboard, click Documents in the top navigation, then + Upload Document in the top-right. You can also drag a PDF directly onto the documents page and it’ll start the upload immediately.

If you’re on the Free plan, you’ll see a usage indicator showing how many of your 5 monthly documents you’ve used. Don’t worry — even if you hit the cap, you’ll get a clear upgrade prompt before you lose anything.

Step 2 — Add your recipients

Once the PDF uploads, you’ll land on the recipient screen. For each person who needs to sign:

  • Name — what they’ll see as the salutation in the signing email
  • Email — where the signing link goes
  • Role — one of:
    • Signer — needs to apply a signature
    • Approver — has to approve the document but doesn’t sign
    • CC — gets a copy of the final signed document
    • Viewer — can see the document but takes no action

Most contracts only need Signer recipients. If you have multiple signers and the order matters (e.g., founder signs first, then counter-party), toggle on Sequential signing and drag recipients into the order you want.

Step 3 — Place fields on the PDF

This is the part most people get wrong on the first try. Pacta needs to know where on the page each recipient should sign, date, or fill in text. You drag fields from the left-hand panel onto the PDF.

The fields you’ll use most:

  • Signature — the actual signature box. Every Signer needs at least one.
  • Date signed — auto-fills with the signing date
  • Name — auto-fills with the recipient’s name
  • Text — a free-text input. Use for any blank you want them to fill
  • Checkbox — for “I agree to…” style fields

Drag a field onto the page, then click it to pick which recipient owns it. Color-coded outlines make it easy to see at a glance: blue fields for signer A, gold for signer B, etc.

Tip: if your PDF has dotted-line “sign here” boxes, drag a Signature field over each one. Pacta does its best to detect them automatically, but it’s worth a visual check.

Step 4 — Set document properties

Click Next when fields look right. On this screen you can:

  • Title the document (defaults to the PDF filename)
  • Add a custom message to the signing email
  • Set an expiration date (if no one signs by then, the request auto-cancels)
  • Toggle reminders so Pacta nudges non-signers every few days

For your first send, the defaults are fine. Title it something recognizable and skip the rest.

Step 5 — Send it

Click Send. Pacta does three things at once:

  1. Generates a unique signing link for each recipient
  2. Sends each recipient an email with their personal link
  3. Drops the document into your Pending list with a live status view

You’ll land on the document detail page, which shows real-time status: who’s opened the email, who’s started signing, who’s finished. If you have email notifications turned on, you’ll get a ping each time a recipient acts.

What happens next

When all signers have signed:

  1. Pacta cryptographically seals the document (CAdES envelope, Time Stamp Authority signature, Long-Term Validation)
  2. Generates the audit certificate (who, when, IP, signature method)
  3. Embeds the certificate inside the signed PDF
  4. Emails the finished PDF to every party (signers, approvers, CC)
  5. Marks the document Completed in your dashboard

The PDF you receive is the legal record. You don’t need to log into Pacta to prove anything — the cryptographic envelope is self-contained.

Common gotchas

  • Recipient didn’t get the email. Check your sender domain in Email Domains. If you haven’t verified one, Pacta sends from noreply@sign.pacta.ink which some corporate spam filters strip.
  • Signer says the link is expired. Sequential signing only releases the next signer’s link after the previous one finishes. If a signer is stuck, you can manually advance the order from the document detail page.
  • Wrong field on wrong page. You can edit fields after sending — but only if no one has signed yet. Once someone signs, fields lock to preserve the audit trail.

Where to go next

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