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Google has announced native support for eSignatures in Docs and Drive. The company has launched beta programs where interested users can test the ability to request and capture eSignatures. The feature makes signing documents a breeze from within the cloud-based productivity tools.
Google has been testing eSignature support in Docs since at least June 2022. After a year of alpha testing among a select group of users, the company is now bringing the feature to more people through an open beta. All Google Workspace individual subscribers now have access to the feature (or within the next week). They don’t need to sign up anywhere to try out eSignatures in Docs and Drive. Google has provided instructions on how to use the feature here.
Additionally, Google has also launched a closed beta for select Workspace customers, including Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Education Plus, and Nonprofits customers. Admins of these Workspace editions can sign up for the beta using this form. The company will review the applications and enable eSignatures for selected users over the “next several weeks.”
Google finally adds eSignature support to Docs and Drive
eSignatures allow users to sign digital documents directly from their computers. Several file storage and document reader apps offer this feature, including Dropbox and Adobe Acrobat. However, Google’s productivity tools have always lacked support for it. Given the popularity of Docs and Drive, the lack of eSignatures has been a massive inconvenience for many users. They needed to switch between multiple apps to get their documents signed digitally.
Google gave everyone hope when it announced in June 2022 that eSignatures in Docs are “coming soon” through a beta program. After over a year of waiting, the feature has finally arrived. Screenshots shared by the company show that you will be able to request a full signature or initials, while the “date signed” is auto-filled. You can see the status of pending signatures and also make multiple signature requests from the same template document.
Later this year, Google will add an audit trail report for all completed contracts. It will also allow users to request signatures from multiple people for the same document and expand eSignatures support to non-Gmail users. The ability to sign PDF files stored in Drive is in the works too.
Unfortunately, Google doesn’t specify when eSignatures will be available publicly for eligible Workspace customers. It also doesn’t tell us whether the feature will ever roll out to users with a free Google account. We will let you know if and when the company shares more details about its eSignature rollout plans.
