Why won’t my document load/process?

There are a number of reasons your document may be struggling to upload, or may look a little different to how you’ve created it, here we’ll outline some of the most common ones.

Failing to upload?

If you’re uploading a document and it’s giving you the spinning wheel of doom, the first thing to check is the file size and type. We allow a range of different formats - PDF, Word doc, and all shapes and sizes of Spreadsheet (.xls). The thing to check is the size of the file. Our rule of thumb is that the individual file size shouldn’t exceed 5-6mb as it tends to increase in size upon upload and our overall size limit for an envelope is 20mb total.

If the size isn’t an issue, it’s likely the formatting of the document itself could be the problem. If it isn’t already a PDF, try saving your document as a PDF first and trying to upload this. If the file is already a PDF, try ‘flattening’ the document.

The formatting looks different?

If your document looks different to how it does on your computer, there may be editable fields that aren’t translating well onto Signable - as above, the answer to this is to first, try saving the document as a PDF if it’s not currently in that format, and if it is - flatten it

So how do I flatten a document?

Flattening for Microsoft:

Step 1

Open up your PDF document. Once open, click ‘File’, then ‘Print‘. You’re then going to click on the drop down on ‘Printer‘ and select ‘Microsoft Print to PDF‘, followed by clicking the ‘Print‘ button.

Step 2

You’ll then be prompted to save your document. Save it as something memorable as this is going to be your new document to upload. Once given a name, go ahead and click ‘Save’. Your document’s information has now been flattened and will upload onto Signable, without any issues, hooray!

Flattening for Apple

Step 1

Right-click your PDF and select Open With > Preview.

Step 2

Once open, select ‘File’ up next to the Apple icon and select ‘Print’

Step 3

From this pop-up, towards the bottom will be a dropdown with ‘PDF’ inside, click the arrow next to this and select ‘Save as PDF’. You’ll be prompted to overwrite the document with this new, flattened copy. Job done!