Tasks that used to take days to do can now take a few hours or even a few minutes, thanks to the internet. Even ordering a physical book or CD from Amazon feels like it takes forever now that we’re used to instant digital downloads. When there’s any delay, it can feel incredibly frustrating.
Take, for example, signing documents. This process can sometimes take what feels like forever. We get the documents ready to be signed and either the signees have to travel to sign it together, or we have to mail the documents to them and wait for them to sign and send the document back to us. Try getting documents signed internationally, and the delays (and expenses incurred) are even crazier.
HelloSign, the makers of HelloFax, an app I reviewed a little while back, aims to make this process a whole lot easier for everyone that needs to get documents signed. Technology is moving forward and they are taking advantage of it, by giving you an experience that leaves you thinking “What did I do without this?” At least that was my initial thoughts as I played around with it and started to see how this could be very useful.
Signing and Sending Documents
The whole premise of HelloSign is to make signing and sending documents seamless and easy for both parties. When it comes to sending files, they make it very simple for you to do this. They give you a variety of ways to add a document to send by letting you upload, drag-and-drop, or choosing a file from Dropbox or Box.net. What I thought was a little puzzling is that HelloSign lets you sign in with your Google Account, and so I was hoping that you could also access documents from your Google Drive, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. This was a little disappointing for me, as I tend to keep most of my documents there.
Various ways to upload a document to HelloSign
When it comes to signing a document, you are given a variety of tools to help make this as painless as possible. They can be signed, text can be added, and you can also add a checkmark to indicate where people need to sign. When you’re ready to actually digitally sign a document, you are given four different ways to do this. If you already have a file with your signature on it, you can upload that to the document. You can use your mouse to draw your signature or you can use your smartphone to take a picture of it and then you are given a specific email address to email it to so that it gets imported to your document. Lastly, if you don’t like the way you write your signature, you can type it in and choose a font that you like.
Different methods for adding a signature
Getting files ready for someone else to sign and sending it to them is very similar to what I just talked about above. You are given the same options to upload your document to HelloSign. Then, as you prepare it for getting signatures, you will find that you are given an adequate amount of tools to make sure that it is clearly stated where the person needs to sign. When you are done preparing the document, you can then send it straight from the app, which is so handy and cuts out to step of having to email it to the person.
Preparing a document for signing
Other Features
There is definitely more to this app than just the signing and sending of documents. For one, there is a “team” feature that is great to have in a business environment. You can add up to 50 members for free, where you can share documents with each other, and they can be collaborated on as well. This is a great feature to have if you work with a small group of people and you always need signatures from each other.
Adding team members
The other feature worth noting is the ability to create reusable documents. This is where you have a standard document that you always send out to clients. Instead of having to always go through the process of preparing it for signing and then sending it, you just do this once, then when you need to send it out, it is ready to go. You can also create a reusable link where it is the same as creating a reusable document, but you are now given a link which can be used in emails or websites so that people can just click on the link and be taken to the document that they need to sign.
Creating reusable documents
This Is the Future
The more I played around with HelloSign, the more I started to see that this is the future of signing documents. They make it so simple and easy for you to sign and send documents that it is almost a no brainer to start using a service like this. I love the features they have built in for businesses, which makes it even more useful. Best of all, everything that I just talked about is free to use, yes, free! There are no hidden prices, or extra fees for more features. They do mention that in the future they plan to charge for more features, but keep the ones that are already there free. There is also an iPhone app, and I would love to see an iPad one in the future as I think this would be perfect for it. Like I mentioned before, I would love to see the integration of Google Docs, but that is more of a personal thing than anything else. If you run a small business or just need to get a document signed, this is definitely an app you have to try out.