DocuSign Ink is a free app available for iPhones 3GS and up, iPod Touches 3rd Generation and up, and all iPads. Using it requires you to either create a free account with DocuSign, or sign in with a social network such as Facebook or Google. After a quick verification email, you’re ready to sign documents and fill out forms.
If you’re emailed a document to sign, touch the attachment and choose to Open In DocuSign Ink. This takes you directly to the app and prepares the document for you to sign it and/or fill it out. Additionally, you can take a picture of a printed document and import it into the app.
For testing purposes of the app, it gives you a fake document that’s included that allows you to try it out as well as set up your default signature and initials.
There are several different ways to fill out a form and or sign it. Not only can you add your signature, but you can also add your initials, the date, your name, check a box, or input text. This testing document shows you how to do all of them, and after you do this, your signature and initials are saved in the app. Any time you want to sign something afterwards, it’s just a matter of dragging it in there.
The text field allows you to put in any text you want, and is also adjustable. You can resize the text box to fit the area or the type you are entering. Additionally, when it adds your name to a document, it uses the name you used when you signed up. I signed up as “Laura Tucker”, but when I sign documents, I use my middle initial. When I add my name to the document, it allows me to edit, so I add in the “J”.
When you’re done filling out and signing the document, clicking Finish inserts the completed document as a .pdf into an email, and allows you to choose a recipient and add any more text you want.
The only downside I found with this is documents that are sent to you sideways. There is no way to rotate a signature or a document 90 degrees. You would have to import the document into an editor that would allow you to rotate the form, and at that point, it might be easier just to sign the form the old-fashioned way. DocuSign Ink also works with photos and screencaps, so you can also take a screenshot of the form and rotate it in photos. It is something to remember, though, as you can also request that people sending you forms remember to send them oriented correctly.
With so many less steps, and no trips to the printer/scanner, the document is signed, filled out, and sent. Not only can you use DocuSign Ink with documents from Mail, but it works with many other apps that have the “Open In” function, including Safari and DropBox.
