# Online forms: collect signatures without a PDF

> Documents built from blocks instead of PDFs: customers fill in, choose options and sign on one page. Conditional fields, CRM values, a sealed PDF at the end.

Source: https://smartdocs.de/en/online-forms/

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Online forms are the second way to create a signature request, alongside PDF upload: the document is built from blocks directly in SmartDocs. The signer reads the content, fills in the visible fields, chooses options and signs on the same page, with no account and no app. As with every signature request, the result is a sealed PDF with an audit trail and a completion certificate.

## When to use a form, when a PDF

- Online form: when there is no document yet, or one is not worth creating. Quotes that are often never accepted (a moving company, for example), intake forms with follow-up questions, agreements with selectable options, documents straight from your CRM.
- Existing PDF: when the contract is already final and must look exactly as it is.
- Both types live in the same template library, together with HTML templates. You choose per document.

## Blocks

Up to 100 blocks per document, added by click or drag and drop:

- Content: heading, text, section, divider. Text can contain placeholders for values from your own system (no formulas, no HTML).
- Answer fields: short text, long text, email, phone, number, date. Email and phone are checked for a valid format.
- Choices and signature: yes/no, confirmation (checkbox), single choice list (one option), multiple choice, signature.
- Each signer needs exactly one required signature field. For each block, you can set who fills it in and who sees it.
- Answers can be prefilled; the signer sees the value and can change it. Signature fields are always visible and never prefilled.

## Conditional logic

- Individual fields and entire sections can be tied to conditions, for example "only show company name if customer type is business".
- Comparisons: is, is not, contains (for multiple choice), is empty, is filled in. If a block has several rules, all of them must apply.
- Conditions refer to earlier fields of the same signer. Hidden blocks are skipped along with their answers; the evidence document contains exactly the content the signer saw.

## How it works

1. Design the document: drag in blocks, write text directly in the document, set required fields and conditions. Undo and redo, also by keyboard. The layout adapts to phones and desktops.
2. Set recipients and send: signers, signing order, signature level (SES, or AES with SMS code), deadline. SmartDocs sends the invitation, or your own system fetches the private link of the currently active signer.
3. Fill in and sign: in the browser, in one pass. Entries only persist while the page is open; there is no saving for later.
4. Sealed PDF: after the last signature, SmartDocs generates the signed PDF and the completion certificate. Before that, a preview PDF marked as unsigned is available.

## Evidence integrity

When the form is sent, its content, recipients and settings are frozen and hashed. Changes require withdrawing it and creating a new document; signatures already captured stay with the original request. Audit trail, signature levels, deadlines, reminders, withdrawal and webhooks work the same as for PDF requests.

## Deliberate limits

- No calculations: prices and contract details come as fixed values from your own system. A selected option is documented but changes neither price nor text.
- No file or photo uploads.
- No saving of unfinished answers.
- No editing of sent documents.

## Permissions and quota

Owners and admins of an organization can create forms; on the Enterprise plan, so can members with a custom role that allows forms, as well as API keys with the matching permission. Members without this permission do not see form templates. Form templates share the template quota with PDF and HTML templates, and a sent form counts as one signature request. On the Free plan, forms can therefore be used within the 5 signature requests per month. Through the REST API, forms can be generated straight from your CRM, with no PDF upload.