In EverWeb 4.6 and later, the Contact Form Advanced widget has a Signature field. Clients read your terms, tick that they agree, type their name, choose the date and sign with a finger, stylus or mouse. You get their answers and a picture of the signature by email.
Who uses this
- A law firm sends new clients a link to sign its engagement letter, and upload any documents it asked for.
- A builder or decorator lets customers accept a quote online before booking the job.
- A photographer gets model releases signed on a phone at the shoot.
- A school collects permission slips for a trip, and a salon collects treatment consent forms before a first appointment.
What you need
- EverWeb 4.6 or later.
- The Contact Forms Enhanced add-on for the Signature and File Upload fields. See What is the Contact Forms Enhanced Add-on? The other fields here work without it.
- HTTPS (the padlock) on your website, so the form is sent securely: see My site says 'Not Secure': how to get HTTPS (SSL) on your website.
New to the form widget? Start with Build a custom form: quote requests, registrations and file uploads.
Before you start: is a web signature enough?
Rules for electronic signatures differ by country and by type of document. Check with your lawyer or professional body that a signature on a web form is enough for your use. For documents with strict rules, for example wills, property deeds and some court or tax forms, use the process your profession requires. EverWeb can collect a signature; it can't tell you whether that signature is enough.
Sample form plan
| Field label | Control Type | Settings / Price |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement letter | Header 1 | The heading |
| Please read our terms before you sign. | Description | One short line |
| Agreement version | Hidden Field | Default Value: Engagement letter v3, January 2027 |
| I have read and agree to the terms | Consent | Statement "I have read and agree to the", Link Text "Terms of engagement", Link URL https://yoursite.com/terms.html |
| Full name | TextBox | Required |
| Required | ||
| Date | Date | Required |
| Supporting document | File Upload | Accept: PDF. Optional |
| Signature | Signature | Required, Height 150 |
Set it up
- Put your full terms on their own page of your website, or in a PDF, so clients can read them. The Description field holds one short line, so it's not the place for a long agreement.
- Buy the add-on and sign in to your account in EverWeb (EverWeb > Settings on a Mac, Edit > Options on Windows).
- Drag Contact Form Advanced onto a page and open Inspector > Widget Settings. Choose your add-on in Contact Form Enhanced Add-on and type a Contact Form Name, such as Engagement letters.
- Add the fields from the plan with Add and choose each Control Type.
- For the Consent field, type the full address of your terms page in Link URL, starting with https://. It opens in a new tab. A Consent field starts as required: leave it that way.
- Use the Hidden Field to record which version of your terms the client agreed to. Visitors don't see it, but it's in every email. Change it when you change your terms.
- Set Mail Sending to SMTP Details so the signature arrives as an attachment: see How do I use my own SMTP (outgoing mail) settings with my contact form?
- Set Submit Caption to Sign and send, choose a thank-you page in Forward To Page, and publish with File > Publish Entire Site. Test it on a phone and a computer.
Several documents to collect? Add a File Upload field for each one. Each field takes one file. See Client intake forms with file uploads: collect documents from your clients.
What you receive
- An email with every answer, the agreement version and the date.
- The signature as a picture (PNG) attached to the email when Mail Sending is SMTP Details. Use SMTP Details for signature forms: with the other sending methods the signature doesn't reliably arrive as a picture.
- With the add-on, a record in your Client Area under Contact Form Submissions > View Form Submissions, where you can also download uploaded files.
- Send Confirmation Email (add-on, needs spam protection turned on) can send the client a copy of their answers with
%allformdata%.
Keep the email, or save it as a PDF, with the client's file. That's your copy of what they signed.
Good to know
- Want a deposit or fee when they sign? The same form can take a payment: see Take bookings and deposits with your contact form.
- The signature box has a Clear button so clients can try again.
- The form can't fill in a document with the client's details or produce a signed PDF for you. It records the answers and signature alongside your terms.
- Fields can't appear or hide depending on another answer. If one form covers two kinds of agreement, split it into pages with Step Break, or make two forms.
- Never ask for card numbers, bank details, passwords or government ID numbers in a form field.
- Check the privacy rules that apply to you, download what you need, and delete submissions you no longer need from the Client Area.
Related articles
- Build a custom form: quote requests, registrations and file uploads
- Client intake forms with file uploads: collect documents from your clients
- Photographers: model releases, contracts and client questionnaires online
- Build a website for your law firm with EverWeb
- What is the Contact Forms Enhanced Add-on?