Contracts is its own section in the Business Hub. (Your agency's own service agreements with its clients are Agreements, on every plan: see Service agreements your clients sign.) A business writes an agreement, picks who signs it, and sends it. The customer signs online from a private link: no account, no app. When everyone has signed, one final PDF is made with a certificate page, locked, and emailed to everyone.
Templates
Settings → Contracts → Templates (or Templates on the Contracts page). Write an agreement once, with blanks that fill themselves for each customer. Everyone can read templates; owners and managers write and change them.
- Starter templates: Service agreement, Photo / media release, Liability waiver and Rental agreement. Use this copies one so you can make it yours. They're starting points, not legal advice. There are no will, deed or court-paper templates: those need ink or a notary.
- The document: headings, paragraphs, lists, tables and page breaks. Add a field puts a place to fill in for one signer (Initials, Full name, Text, Checkbox, Choice), shown in that signer's color. Each signer's signature and date signed are added at the end for you. The Fields list turns Required on or off for each place.
- Merge fields: Merge field puts in the contact's details ({{contact.name}}, {{contact.email}}, {{contact.address}}, their custom fields), their company, your business ({{business.name}}, phone, email, address and your business values), the contract ({{contract.number}}, {{contract.date}}, {{contract.expires}}), an estimate's total and deposit, or an opportunity's name and value. A merge field nobody has a value for is left blank (or shows its fallback, like {{blank.notes | None}}): a signer never sees braces.
- Blanks you fill when sending: for things that change each time, like a start date or a monthly fee. They show dashed with "you fill" in the editor and as a short form when you send.
- The box under the title: Edit the box sets up to two columns under the title, for example who it's with and the plan. Merge fields and blanks work there too.
- Who signs: each role is Signer, Approver (clicks Approve, doesn't sign) or Gets a copy (gets the signed PDF, signs nothing). Each role is the contact you send to, you (signing in the app), or another contact you pick when sending. Signing order: In order (give two roles the same number to sign together, for example 1 and 1, then 2) or All at once.
- Options: what the sign button says, whether the texted code is on by default, how long links work and the reminders.
- Versions: saving makes a new version. Contracts already made keep the words they were made with. Preview as a signer shows it the way a signer will see it, for any contact. Archive takes a template out of the list (contracts made from it don't change).
Write with Zeus
In the template editor, Write with Zeus writes or changes the words in your brand voice: ask for something new ("a photo release for a wedding photographer") or tap Make this plainer, Add a cancellation clause or Fix spelling and grammar. Zeus puts the whole document in the editor (Undo brings back what was there) with a short note of what changed and Review this with a lawyer before relying on it. Nothing is saved until you save, and nothing is sent. It uses 2 Zeus credits per request; if Zeus can't write it, the credits go back. Write with Zeus on the template list starts a new template the same way.
In the Zeus chat, "send the rental agreement to Ana" makes a draft from your template (free, nothing sent) and shows a Send it card: only your click sends it. Zeus never signs, agrees or declines for anyone.
Writing and sending a contract
Contracts → New contract, or Send a contract on a contact's Contracts tab. Pick a template and the contact. Then:
- Who signs: each role filled with a person. Pick the other contacts the template asks for (someone who isn't a contact yet is added as one). Also check their phone turns the texted code on or off for that person.
- Blanks you fill in: the template's blanks. Required ones must be filled before it can be sent.
- Expires and Reminders, and a note for the email if you like. Preview as {name} shows the finished words.
Save draft keeps it to send later; Send gives it its number (for example AGR-1001), fills in every merge field and blank, freezes the words, and emails each person whose turn it is their own private link. After that the words never change, even if the contact's details do.
You can also Write one from scratch: give it a title and write the agreement in plain text (# a heading, - a list item, [page break] a new page, places like [initials], [checkbox: I've read the cancellation policy], [choice: Spring | Fall], [text: Your answer], and merge fields). Tick I sign it too to sign it yourself in the app after the customer.
The emails come from the business, in the business's name. Each contract email (the link, reminders, a new link, the signed copy) counts like your other invoice emails, and each texted code like any other text.
Several signers, approvers and copies
- In order: each person gets their link only when it's their turn. Signer 2 sees signer 1's signature already in place.
- All at once: everyone gets their link when you send, and anyone can sign first.
- Approvers read it and click Approve; they don't add a signature. The certificate shows them as approved.
- Gets a copy: they get the signed PDF by email when everyone has signed, and nothing before.
- One decline stops it for everyone. A link to a declined, voided or expired contract still opens, and says so (This document was canceled, declined, or This link has expired); nothing can be signed from it.
The texted code
Off by default. Turn it on per person when sending (Also check their phone), as a template's default, or for every contract in Contract settings. Before they agree and sign, we text a 6-digit code from your business's number to the phone you entered. It works for 10 minutes, they get 5 tries, and they can ask for up to 3 codes an hour. The code is recorded on the audit trail and the certificate ("phone checked by code"), and it's never shown in your text history.
STOP and "do not text" still win. If the code can't be texted, you're told (bell and email) and the contract says why: turn the code off for them or change their mobile number from the person's … menu on the contract. They can also say That's not my phone, which tells you.
Reminders
By default a reminder goes 3 and 7 days after a person's link went out, then every 7 days, up to 3 more times. It has the same link as the first email. Reminders stop when they sign, and for everyone when the contract is completed, declined, voided or expired. Change the plan per contract when sending, per template, or for every contract in Contract settings. Remind {name} on the contract sends one now.
Automations
Triggers: Contract sent, Contract viewed, Contract signed by a signer, Contract completed, Contract declined, Contract voided and Contract expired, each with an optional "only these templates" filter. Each fires once per contract (signed: once for each person). Automations can then tag the contact, make a task or send an email, but signing is always done by a person.
What the customer does
- Agree to sign electronically. The first time they open the link they see what they're agreeing to, what they need (a device that opens a PDF and an email address, with View a sample PDF to check), how to get a paper copy (they can press Request a paper copy, which tells you), and how to change their mind. They tick I agree to use electronic records and signatures.
- Read and sign. The pages are listed on the left with what's left for them on each. Next takes them to the next place to fill. They add their signature once, typed in one of three handwriting styles or drawn with a finger or mouse, and it fills every place they sign or initial. Making the signature signs nothing: only Sign this agreement does, with the line "By clicking Sign, you agree that your electronic signature is the legal equivalent of your handwritten signature on this document" right above it.
- Done. They see that they signed. When everyone has, they get the signed PDF by email, and their link keeps working for downloads.
They can also Decline to sign (with a reason if they like), Ask a question (it lands in their conversation in the Business Hub and doesn't stop anything), or say I'm not {name} if the link reached the wrong person (it tells you, nothing is signed, and the link stops). On a phone it's one column with the button in a bar at the bottom.
On your phone
In the business phone app, More → Contracts shows the counts, then Waiting, Completed, Drafts and Ended. Open one to see who signed and whose turn it is, Remind them, send them a New link, or send a draft. You get a notification each time a customer signs, when everyone has signed and when someone declines (turn these on or off in My notifications). Writing contracts, and signing when it's your own turn, happen on the web.
Sign on this phone: when the customer is right there, tap Sign on this phone next to their name and hand them your phone. They go through the same steps as their emailed link: read it, agree to sign electronically, sign. Their emailed link keeps working, and the page on your phone stops working after 30 minutes. The record says Signed in person on {your name}'s device, on the contract screen and on the certificate page. It needs a person logged in who can send contracts.
The contract screen
Open a contract to see:
- Signers: each person (and who gets a copy) with their progress: Delivered, Opened, Signed or Approved, Declined, Wants a paper copy, reminders sent. Remind sends a reminder with the same link; More → Resend a link makes a new link (the old one stops working). Each person's … menu turns their texted code on or off and changes their mobile number until they sign.
- Your turn to sign: when you're a signer, Sign now opens the same signing page inside the app.
- Document: exactly what was sent. It can't change after someone signs.
- Details: the template and its version, the blanks you filled in, the signing order, the texted code, the reminders, how long it's kept and its fingerprint.
- Audit trail: every step with its time (your business's time zone, with UTC beside it), IP address and device: created, sent, email delivered and opened, link opened, agreed to sign electronically (with the wording's version), filled in, signed, completed, final PDF made, signed copy emailed. It's checked every time you open it: "nothing has been changed or removed". Download gives it as a spreadsheet.
- More: download the PDF (before it's signed, the PDF is marked "Not signed yet"), or Void contract.
Changing, voiding, declines and expiry
- Changing it: a sent contract can be changed only until someone signs. Changing it makes a new version: the old links stop, new ones are emailed, and anyone who opened the old one is asked to review the new one.
- Void: stops a sent contract that isn't finished. Every link stops at once and shows "This document was canceled by {your business}". Anyone who already signed gets an email. A completed contract can't be voided; to end it, send a new signed document.
- Decline: one decline stops the contract for everyone. You're told, with their reason.
- Expiry: a contract that isn't finished by its date expires and its links stop.
Statuses: Draft, Sent, Viewed, Partly signed, Completed, Declined, Voided and Expired.
The signed PDF and the certificate
When the last person signs, the final PDF is made once, stored, and never made again: every download is the same file. It has the whole document with every signature and filled-in place, then a Certificate of signing: who sent it and when, when it was completed, the signing order, and for each signer their signature, email, when they agreed to sign electronically, when they signed, their IP address and device. It also prints two fingerprints:
- Document fingerprint: the exact document each signer saw, checked again at every signature.
- Audit trail fingerprint: the last entry of the step-by-step record (each entry includes the one before it, so removing or changing one would show).
The PDF's own fingerprint can't be printed inside itself, so it's in the completion email and on the contract screen.
Signed PDFs in the contact's Files
The signed PDF is also saved in Files on the contact page of everyone who signs or approves it (and the contact it was sent to). It's a link to the kept contract, not a separate copy: it opens or downloads the same stored file, for the people who can see that contract. It's marked Signed contract, and it can't be deleted or renamed from Files. If one of the signers is erased, it leaves their Files, but the contract and its PDF stay until the retention time ends.
Check a signed document
Anyone can check a PDF at /verify on your client domain: they drop in the file and it says "This matches a document signed on {date}" or "No match". Even a one-letter change won't match. The file stays on their device; only its fingerprint is checked. The page shows no business name.
How long signed contracts are kept
Settings → Contracts → Contract settings (owners and managers): signed contracts are kept 7 years after completion by default; you can pick 3 to 10. After that the signed PDF, signatures and audit trail are deleted, and only the number, title and dates stay. Here you can also set the number prefix, how long links work, the default reminders, whether the texted code is on by default, and a paper-copy fee (free by default). The consent wording is set by the platform (See it shows it).
If a customer asks to be erased, their completed contracts are kept as signed legal records, unlinked from the contact (so they leave that contact's Files) and marked that the person was erased. Contracts that were never completed are deleted. See Erase this person.
Estimates are signed here too
When a customer signs an estimate, it's signed with the same steps and gets its own contract, for example AGR-1000 Kitchen remodel terms (EST-1039). It's started from the estimate's link, so no signing email or reminders are sent. You'll find its signed PDF and certificate in Contracts like any other.
What this isn't
Electronic signatures made here are intended to meet the US ESIGN Act and UETA. They aren't for documents that legally need a handwritten or notarized signature, such as wills, codicils and testamentary trusts; adoption, divorce and other family-law papers; court orders and court papers; utility shut-off notices; foreclosure, eviction or repossession notices for a home; cancellation of health or life insurance; product recall notices; and some real-estate filings. This isn't notarization (nobody checks an ID). What you write is a starting point, not legal advice: check with a lawyer before relying on it.
Who can do what
- Everyone in the business can see contracts, write drafts, send them and send a new link. Can't send contracts can be switched on per person.
- Owners and managers can void contracts, write templates and change Contract settings (Can't void contracts can be switched on per person).
- With Only contacts assigned to them, a person sees only their own contacts' contracts and the ones they made.
- An API key or a connected app can read contracts and templates and make drafts, but sending, reminders, a new link, changing a signer, signing in person and voiding need a person logged in. Over a connected app (MCP) the tools can list and read contracts and templates, make a template or a draft, and download a completed signed copy; nothing there sends, signs or voids.