You can add instructions directly to fields on your documents to help signers, witnesses, and notaries know exactly how to fill them out. Instructions added to templates are saved automatically and will appear on every future transaction that uses that template — so you only have to write them once.
Learn more about preparing and tagging documents and document templates.
Who can add instructions?
Anyone who can create transactions and add documents or document templates can add field instructions, including:
- Business owners, admins, or team members
- Real estate owners, admins, or team members
- In-house notaries (IHNs)
- Notary Sourced Transactions (NSTs)
Business and real estate users can also add field instructions via API.
Who sees instructions
Field instructions are only visible to the person assigned to that field:
- Signers see instructions on signer fields.
- Witnesses see instructions on witness fields.
- Notaries see instructions on the signer, witness, and notary fields.
A lowercase i appears next to or inside any field that has instructions — that's how recipients and notaries know instructions are available.
For signers
On a computer: Hover your cursor over the field to read the instructions.
On a mobile device:
- Select the field.
- Review the instructions.
- Select I understand.
- Fill in the field as instructed.
For notaries
Notaries see field instructions for all parties — signers, witnesses, and themselves — giving them full context before and during the meeting. A lowercase i appears next to each field that has instructions.
Add, edit, or delete field instructions
You can add instructions when preparing or editing fields on a transaction, a document template, or through the API.
1. Add instructions to a field
- Select the field you'd like to add instructions to.
- Type your instructions in the text box on the right, under Field instructions.
- Select Save.
2. Edit instructions
- Select the field with instructions you'd like to update.
- Select Edit.
- Type your new text in the panel on the right.
- Select Save.
3. Delete instructions
- Select the field with instructions you'd like to remove.
- Select Edit.
- Delete all the text from the panel on the right.
- Select Save.
Summary Checklist
- Instructions are added while tagging a document or template — not during a live meeting.
- Instructions added to a template carry over to all future transactions automatically.
- Each instruction has a 500-character limit.
- Only the assigned recipient sees their field's instructions — signers see signer fields, witnesses see witness fields, and notaries see all three.
- Business and real estate users can add instructions via API.
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