Upload a PDF, add recipients and fields, then choose Send for signature. Contracts are on every plan, with 10 (Cadet) to 1,000 (Commander) sends a month, no monthly limit on Enterprise, and 25 units of AI usage (counted as Tokens in the ledger) per extra send. You prepare the document in the app, recipients review and sign on a secure signing page on 369.dev, and every completed contract is sealed so that any later change to the file is detectable.
This guide covers a contract built from an uploaded PDF. To start from a reusable template, or to send one agreement to many clients at once, see Contract templates and bulk send.
Before you begin
- Contracts are included on the Cadet plan and above.
- Your role needs the Contracts permissions to create and send contracts. Owners and admins always have them. See Invite a member and configure access.
- Have the agreement ready as a PDF. Password-protected files, PDFs that contain scripts, files over 25 MB and documents over 300 pages are refused.
Start a contract
- Open Contracts in the sidebar, under Finance.
- Select New contract.
- Choose Upload PDF from the menu, then pick the file from your device or from workspace storage.
Uploading rewrites the PDF into a clean copy. Form fields are flattened into the page, and any digital signatures already in the file are removed, because they would stop being valid once the document is signed again. The builder warns you before this happens.
Add recipients
Add everyone who needs to act on the contract or receive a copy. You can pick the client, one of the client's contact persons, a workspace member, or type a name and email. A contract can have up to 20 recipients.
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Signer | Fills in their fields and signs. |
| Approver | Approves or rejects the document. Rejecting declines the contract. |
| Viewer | Confirms they have reviewed the document. |
| Receives a copy | Receives the sealed copy when everyone has finished. Never blocks completion. |
Signing order
Each recipient has an order number. Recipients with the same number act at the same time. The next number is invited only when everyone before it has finished.
Signing in person
Mark a recipient as signing in person when they will sign on your device, for example at a meeting. They get no invitation email. When their turn comes, a member with the in-person signing permission opens the contract and starts the session on that device. See What recipients see when they sign.
Place fields
Drag fields onto the pages and assign each one to a signer.
| Field | Filled by |
|---|---|
| Signature field | The signer. Every signer needs at least one. |
| Initials field | The signer. |
| Text field | The signer, up to the length you set. |
| Checkbox | The signer. |
| Full name | Workspace369 fills in the signer name when they finish. |
| Date signed | Workspace369 fills in the date, in your workspace timezone, when they finish. |
Text and checkbox fields can be required or optional. Signature fields are always required.
Choose settings
- Verification: with Email code, recipients confirm their identity with a 6-digit code sent to their email. If an owner or admin turns on Allow link-only verification in Settings → Sales → Contracts, you can choose Link only for a contract, where holding the invitation link is enough.
- Expiry: from 1 to 365 days after sending, 30 by default. An expired contract can no longer be signed.
- Reminders: by default the first reminder goes out 2 days after the invitation, then every 3 days, up to 3 reminders. Reminders are sent by email only.
Review and send
The review step lists recipients, fields and settings, and shows what the send costs. Each plan includes a number of sent contracts per calendar month (UTC):
| Plan | Sent contracts included each month |
|---|---|
| Cadet | 10 |
| Voyager | 50 |
| Specialist | 200 |
| Commander | 1,000 |
| Enterprise | No monthly limit |
Within the allowance, the review reads "Uses 1 of your 50 contracts this month". Beyond it, each send costs 25 units of AI usage and the review says so before you send. If the workspace does not have enough AI usage, the send is refused and nothing goes out. Drafts never count, voiding a contract does not return it to the allowance, and every contract in an in-person or bulk send counts once. See AI usage and billing.
Select Send for signature, then confirm. The document is frozen at that moment: its fingerprint is recorded, and signing stops if the file ever changes.
Track progress
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Not sent yet. Everything can still change. |
| Sent | Invitations are out and no required recipient has finished. |
| In progress | At least one required recipient has finished. |
| Sealing | Everyone has finished and the sealed copy is being produced. |
| Completed | Sealed. Every recipient receives the sealed PDF. |
| Declined | A signer or approver declined, which ends the contract for everyone. |
| Voided | Someone in your workspace voided it. |
| Expired | The expiry date passed before everyone finished. |
The contract detail shows each recipient's progress. The Activity section lists every event with its time and checks the chain of events for you: it reads "Audit trail intact", or names the first event that was altered. Seeing History needs the permission to view the audit trail.
Change or stop a contract
- Remind (or Send reminder for one recipient) sends a reminder now, at most once a day per recipient.
- Resend invitation issues a new link. The previous link stops working.
- Edit name or email corrects the name or email of someone who has not acted yet and sends them a new link.
- Void contract stops an open contract. It cannot be undone. Void & edit a copy also creates a new draft from it.
- Duplicate copies any contract into a new draft.
- Archive hides an ended contract from the main list without changing it.
The document of a sent contract cannot be edited. To change it, void the contract, duplicate it, fix the draft and send it again.
Completed, declined, voided and expired contracts are kept for 7 years by default. An owner can set the retention period from 1 to 10 years in Settings → Sales → Contracts, and can permanently delete an ended contract only once that period has passed.
Check the result
- The contract status is Sent.
- Each recipient with the lowest order number shows as invited.
- The Activity section shows the send and each invitation, and reads "Audit trail intact".
If something does not look right
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| The send is refused for lack of AI usage | Add usage, or wait until the allowance resets next month. |
| A recipient shows that delivery failed | Correct their email with Edit name or email, which sends a new invitation. |
| Sending is not available | Contracts may not be switched on for this workspace yet, or your role does not include sending contracts. |
| The client cannot be chosen | Archived clients cannot receive new contracts. |