How to Integrate Annature with Content Snare

Content Snare’s Annature integration lets you send documents for digital signing directly from your requests. Your clients receive a signing link via email from Annature, and the signed documents are tracked within Content Snare.

With this integration, you can:

1. Send your request’s PDF export to clients for signing through Annature
2. Send uploaded files for signing through Annature
3. Optionally lock a request after signing, preventing clients from changing their answers

Prerequisites

To use the Annature integration, you will need to:

1. Have Administrator level access on your Content Snare account
2. Have an Annature account

Step 1: Get your Annature credentials

Content Snare connects to Annature using three values from your Annature account: an Access ID, an Access Secret, and a Sender Account ID.

Create an API key (Access ID and Access Secret)

Log in to Annature and go to Developers in the left-hand menu. In the Keys section, click Create.

Give the key a name (for example, “Content Snare”) and click Create.

Annature will show you the key’s Id and Key. These map to Content Snare as follows:

• Id → Content Snare’s Access ID
• Key → Content Snare’s Access Secret

Copy both somewhere safe. Annature will only show the Key once, so store it securely (for example, in a password manager). If you lose it, you will need to create a new key.

Find your Sender Account ID

Click your profile icon in the top-right corner of Annature and choose My account. Your Account Id is shown at the top of the page. This is your Sender Account ID.

About the Sender Account ID: The Sender Account ID determines which Annature account documents are sent from for signing (your Annature envelopes). If you want documents sent from a different Annature account, grab the Account Id from that account instead and enter it here.

Step 2: Connect Annature in Content Snare

In Content Snare, navigate to Settings > Applications. Find Annature in the list and click Integrate with Annature.

The Configure Annature Integration dialog will ask for the three values from Step 1. Paste in your Access ID, Access Secret, and Sender Account ID, then click Activate.

Step 3: Customise the signing email

After activating, you can customise the email that Annature sends to your clients when a document is ready for signing.

• Email Subject – The subject line of the signing request email. Use the Request Name variable to include the name of the request automatically.
• Email Body – The body text of the signing email. You can also use the Request Name variable here.

Click Update to save. You can change these at any time from Settings > Applications.

Adding a signature field to a request

Once Annature is connected, you can add signature fields to your requests in the Builder.

Enable the external signing integration

When you add or edit a Signature field, you will see the following options in the Field Options panel on the right:

1. Add a Signature field to your request
2. Toggle on Enable external integration
3. Under Signature Integration, select Annature

Choose where signing will be done

Under Where The Signing Will be Done, you have two options:

Option A: Signing in the request PDF export The completed request is exported as a PDF and sent to Annature. This is useful when you want the client to sign off on all their answers as a whole.

Option B: Signing uploaded files The client uploads files, which are then sent to Annature for signing. Only PDF files are supported when using this option, up to a maximum of 10MB.

In both cases, you define exactly where signatures and stamps appear by adding tags to your document (see below). Under What Will Be Signed, choose Sign at specified placements in the document.

Setting up signature placements

Your document needs to include special tags where you want signatures and stamps to appear. Annature replaces these tags with the corresponding signing fields before showing the document to your client.

Available tags

Tag	What it does	Required?
STANDARDSIGNTAG	Adds a signature placeholder where the client signs	Required
SIGNEDDATETAG	Automatically stamps the date the document was signed (no client action required)	Optional

Important: Every document must contain at least one STANDARDSIGNTAG. Documents without it will be rejected.

How to add tags to your document

1. Open your document in Word, Google Docs, or your PDF editor of choice
2. Type the tag name (e.g. STANDARDSIGNTAG) exactly where you want the signature or stamp to appear
3. Change the tag’s text colour to white so it’s hidden against the page background. The tag text is not removed when the signing field is placed, so if you leave it black it will be visible in the final signed document alongside the signing field.
4. Save the document and upload it to Content Snare

Example

Here’s a document with tags added (shown in black for visibility, but they should be white in your actual document):

The STANDARDSIGNTAG becomes a signature field the client completes. The SIGNEDDATETAG becomes an automatic stamp that populates once the document is signed.

Lock request on sign (optional)

Toggle on Lock request on sign to lock the request after the client signs. When enabled:

• After the client signs, all other fields in the request are locked and cannot be changed
• A banner appears: “Request is Locked – This request is locked because it has been signed.”
• The client can click Unlock and revise or the Revise button on any field to make changes, but this will remove the signature and require them to sign again

This setting is available on both Annature signature fields and Content Snare’s built-in signature fields.

What your client sees

Before signing

Your client fills out the request as normal. If the signature field is required, all other required fields must be completed before the client can sign.

The signing process

1. The client clicks the signature field in the Content Snare request
2. Content Snare sends a signing request to Annature, and the client sees “Signing email sent” with the message: “Please check your inbox. We’ve sent a secure link to complete the document signature via Annature.”

3. The client receives an email from Annature and clicks Review documents

4. They confirm consent to sign electronically, then click Review document

5. Annature opens the document. The client clicks Click to begin and is guided to each signing placement

6. At each STANDARDSIGNTAG the client sees a Sign here field. Any SIGNEDDATETAG is stamped automatically

7. The client adopts a signature (select a style, draw, upload an image, or complete on mobile) and applies it

8. Once signed, Content Snare automatically detects the completed signature and shows “Signing complete!” with the message “All documents have been signed successfully.” The answer is submitted for approval

9. If Lock request on sign is enabled, the request locks and a confirmation banner appears

If the request is locked

Once a request is locked after signing:

• The client sees a banner: “Request is Locked – This request is locked because it has been signed.”
• Answers cannot be changed
• To revise any field, the client clicks Revise, which will:
  • Display a confirmation warning that they will have to sign again
  • Unlock the request
  • Remove the existing signature
  • Allow changes to be made
  • Require the client to go through the signing process again

Reviewing signed documents

As a team member reviewing the request:

• You will see “Signing complete!” with the message “All documents have been signed successfully.”
• A Documents section lists the signed documents with a green Signed badge
• You can Approve or Reject the signature, just like any other field in Content Snare
• The locked request banner will note: “This request is locked due to a pending signature. Rejecting a field will unlock it and require the client to re-sign.”

Note: You cannot sign on behalf of your client. When viewing the signature field as a team member, you will see a notice: “You cannot sign this field on behalf of the client.”

FAQ

Can I preview the signing experience as a team member? No. You cannot sign on behalf of your client. The signing email is sent to the client’s email address, so you will need to use a real client email to test the full signing flow.

Which Annature account do documents get sent from? Whichever account the Sender Account ID belongs to. To send from a different Annature account, copy that account’s Account Id into Settings > Applications and reconnect.

What happens if my client needs to change an answer after signing? If the signature field locks the request, they can click Revise on any field or Unlock and revise at the top of the request. This unlocks the request and removes the signature, so they will need to sign again after making changes.

What file types can be signed? When signing uploaded files, only PDF files are supported (up to 10MB). When signing the request PDF export, the export is generated automatically as a PDF.

My document was rejected. Why? Every document sent to Annature must contain at least one STANDARDSIGNTAG. Check that the tag is present and spelled exactly, then re-upload.

How do I disconnect Annature? Navigate to Settings > Applications and click the Remove button next to Annature.