1. Release Notes - eSignatures 6.3.0
Release date: 2020-10-09
1.1 New features
Form fields
In eSignatures 6.3, API users can now add form fields to the documents they're sending. To that end, two new element types have been introduced: TextBoxField element and CheckBoxField element.
TextBoxFields may have a prefilled, default value that can be edited afterwards, or may be empty to be completed afterwards. CheckBoxFields can be checked or unchecked by default. Both element types may be set as required or optional.
To support the Form fields feature, a new ActorType has also been introduced: FormFiller. FormFiller actors only need to fill in the TextBoxFields and/or CheckBoxFields on a document. They have access to the Signer Portal but they do not approve or sign documents.
Once the FormFiller actors have completed their tasks, the documents will be sent to the required approvers or signers, depending on the signing flow. Note that the form filling must not necessarily take place before the approval. In the current setup, it's entirely possible to approve documents of which the forms have not been filled out yet.
Optional documents
In eSignatures 6.3, initiators can determine which documents within a package are optional.
When a document is marked as optional, signers won’t be required to sign them. They can if they want to, but optional documents may also be left out of the signing flow.
API users can indicate that a document is optional by setting the new IsOptional parameter to true when doing a POST document call.
Handwritten SigningMethod
In eSignatures 6.3, the Handwritten SigningMethod has been added to the Manual Signing Behavior.
With the Handwritten SigningMethod users can sign documents by typing their full name on their keyboard. The signature is then added to the document in a handwritten font.
When signing their documents, users can choose from a number of preconfigured fonts. Note that it's not supported to use any other fonts at the moment.
Configurable visual presentation of signatures
A new parameter called ImageTextPosition has been added to the Config Index that configures the visual presentation of signatures.
eSignatures admins can now determine whether:
- The signature text will be placed on top of the signature image (overlay)
- The signature text will be placed underneath the signature image (abovebelow)
- The visual signature will be split up into 50% image and 50% text (sidebyside)
Hotjar
Hotjar has been added to eSignatures 6.3 to analyze user behavior.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics has been added to eSignatures 6.3 to track and report website traffic.
1.2 Improvements
Improved face to face signing flow
The face to face signing flow has been improved in a number of ways to support the form fields and optional documents features:
- Initiators can now select the signer during the first step of the signing flow.
- Since the signer selection is now moved to the first step, you no longer need to select the signer when rejecting or reassigning a document.
- A Next Signer button has been added that allows initiators to go back to the signer selection screen when the signing is in progress for the current signer. This way, they can already select the next signer and start their signing process as well.
1.3 Handled issues
Jira code | Issue code | Description |
---|---|---|
CEP-7930 | / | In API v3 thr Get Signing Locations call did not always return all signing locations. |
CEP-8219 | / | Reassign issue has been fixed. |
CEP-8361 | / | The API v4 validation issue of duplicate AdditionalProperties has been fixed. |
CEP-8452 | / | Inconsistent date formats of CompletedDates and CreationDates in API v4 have been fixed. |
CEP-8519 | / | Missing Package data issue in Signer Portal has been fixed. |
CEP-8138 | / | Inconsistent fonts in Audit Trail have been fixed. |
1.4 Known issues
eSignatures 6.3.0
Jira code | Issue code | Description |
---|---|---|
CEP-8551 | / | Itsme signing of packages that contain optional documents currently doesn't reach the Finished status but stays in Pending. |
CEP-8888 | / | Itsme signing: When one signer of multiple signers has already signed, the subsequent signers (in a sequential or complex signing flow) receive 2 mail invitations to sign, instead of one. Signers and receivers also receive 2 mails to download the finished documents. |
CEP-8406 | / | Handwritten signature set to Overlay is currently not visible. |
CEP-8432 | / | It's currently not possible to select PDFA_1A or PDFA_2A as TargetFormat in API v4 when using the FieldId parameter to detect form fields. |
CEP-8530 | / | Worker log issue. |
CEP-8547 | / | Permissions issue to view package documents in logs. |
CEP-8549 | / | It's currently not possible to download the Audit Trail of packages with optional/refused documents. |
CEP-8541 | / | Preview issue in Config Index Theme section. |
CEP-8543 | / | PDF preview of optional documents is off center on mobile devices. |
eSignatures 6.2.0
Jira code | Issue code | Description |
---|---|---|
CEP-8322 | / | iDIN signing issues with long legal notice. |
CEP-8371 | / | SMS OTP throttling error |
CEP-8077 | / | Incorrect error message when mandated signing with BeID is set to 'nameandbirthdate' and the birthdate is missing for the members. |
CEP-8288 | / | Users are not automatically added to the default user group. |
eSignatures 6.1.1
Jira code | Issue code | Description |
---|---|---|
CEP-8207 | / | User permissions issue when user logs in for the first time. |
CEP-8299 | 33469 | Swagger inconsistency |
eSignatures 6.0.1
Jira code | Issue code | Description |
---|---|---|
CEP-8056 | / | When IsAutomaticMembershipEnabled is disabled and a user who has been invited to log in, clicks the invitation link while already being logged in with another account in the same browser (for instance as initiator who sent the invitation link), they will not be able to log in, and the login of the other account will no longer work either. |
CEP-6409 | 30654 | Error message when uploading a corrupt PDF should be improved. |
eSignatures 5.5.3
Jira code | Issue code | Description |
---|---|---|
CEP-7554 | / | Internet Explorer: Wrong color for signing method when choosing it for a Contact Group. |
eSignatures 5.5.0
Jira code | Issue code | Description |
---|---|---|
CEP-7078 | / | It’s currently not possible to sign with FranceConnect using eIDAS3. |
eSignatures 5.4.2
Jira code | Issue code | Description |
---|---|---|
CEP-6288 | / | Branding issue: saving a change in one of the subtabs navigates to 1 tab above. |
Signatures 5.3.0
Jira code | Issue code | Description |
---|---|---|
CEP-5944 | / | Itsme scrolling is not as smooth as expected on Safari on iPhone. |
eSignatures 5.2.4
Jira code | Issue code | Description |
---|---|---|
CEP-5564 | / | When a package contains both an asynchronous and synchronous signing method, and the asynchronous signing fails, the signing session cannot be recovered. |
eSignatures 5.2.0
Jira code | Issue code | Description |
---|---|---|
CEP-4817 | / | Display bugs when using complex signing on Safari and Chrome |
eSignatures 5.1.1
Jira code | Issue code | Description |
---|---|---|
CEP-4719 | / | The timeout of the session is currently absolute. Users are logged out even if they have been active. |
Older known issues
Jira code | Issue code | Description |
---|---|---|
/ | / | German installation of Chrome can generate errors during signing. |
1.6 Known limitations
General
- A package must not exceed 150 MB.
- A single document inside a package must not exceed 30 MB.
- A single document must not contain more than 30 signing fields.
- A package may contain a maximum of 15 documents.
- An .xml file must not contain more than 2 million characters per file. A package must not contain more than 15 .xml files.
- Large files might affect signing performance depending on the user's Internet connection.
- Documents whose physical dimensions exceed 3.99 m by 3.99 m are not supported.
- Adding multiple initiators within a single package is not supported.
- Packages currently can’t contain both XML documents and PDF documents on which signatures will be placed. The type of package is determined by the first uploaded document.
- Inserting a tab in front of a Text Marker in Word is not supported. Instead of using tabs, use tables, columns or text boxes. If you still want to use tabs, convert your Word document to PDF before uploading it.
- When using Safari: after you upgrade from an older version, you will be prompted to quit your browser. When reopening your browser and your previous tabs don’t open automatically, do not reuse your original link to the signing page. Instead, go to History > Reopen All Windows From Last Session.
- Native design applications for DTP, CAD, etc. can generate documents with a high level of complexity (very high number of elements, vectors, images, …). This may result in the fact that the application cannot prepare the document in a reasonable timeframe. Consequently, it will be impossible to add these files to the Signing environment (not through the API nor in the DocumentPortal) due to timeout. It is not possible to know in advance if a complex document will generate a timeout or not as it depends on too many factors. The applications generating these kinds of PDFs usually have a setting to create a PDF that is suitable for online usage. We strongly recommend using this setting to reduce the complexity of the document before upload.
PDF files
PDF portfolios are not supported. This is because a PDF portfolio may contain a wide range of file types that are not supported by eSignatures. A PDF portfolio may for instance contain e-mail messages, spreadsheets, CAD drawings, PowerPoint presentations, etc. As a result, a signer will only be able to view and sign the PDF cover sheet, and not the actual files the Portfolio contains, which renders the entire Portfolio invalid.
Uploading PDF/A documents is only allowed if the format is PDF/A_2A or PDF/A_1A.
Uploading PDF/A documents to which you add form fields in eSignatures API v4 breaks the "/A" part of the PDF. As a result, the documents end up a regular PDF.
As a workaround, you must set the TargetFormat parameter in the POST document call to PDF/A_1A or PDF/A_2A (depending on the source format). The breaking will still happen but after all form fields have been filled or saved, the document will be converted to the set target format, resulting in a PDF/A document again.
Note that the workaround mentioned does not work when using the FieldId parameter in a POST element call. When using FieldId to detect existing form fields (created in Adobe Acrobat Pro for instance) on the documents you're sending through the API, it's currently mandatory to select pdf as TargetFormat.
Itsme signing
(Note that these limitations do not apply when using itsme through OpenID Connect)
- When using itsme as signing method, the target type of your documents must be PDF/A_1A or PDF/A_2A. It’s the administrator’s responsibility to make sure these output formats are available in the user’s eSignatures solution, and it’s the user’s responsibility to select the correct output format. Connective does not perform any checks whether the right output format has been selected combined with itsme.
- When using itsme signing in packages, each document within the package must be signed individually, which means QuickSigning is not supported.
- When using itsme signing, the document and package names must only contain characters that are part of ISO 8859-15. This character set supports most usual characters, but some software-generated characters like curly apostrophes and long dashes are not supported.
- Itsme signing is currently not supported on macOS Mojave v10.14 combined with Safari v12.0.
iDIN signing
- Avoid using long legal notices combined with iDIN signing, especially when sending packages through the API. If long legal notices are used, the MerchantUrl exceeds its maximum number of 512 characters.
Mandated signing rules
- The mandated signing rules that have been configured in the Config Index cannot be overwritten using API v4 calls.
Download notifications
It may occur that Download notifications are still handled like spam / read by URL protection software, even after whitelisting them.
As a workaround, mail recipients must add the URL to the Microsoft Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Do not rewrite the following URLs list.
2. Upgrade Information
If you have a version of eSignatures installed prior to version 6.3, consult the Connective - eSignatures 6.3 - Installation Documentation to learn how to upgrade it to version 6.3.