How to let people sign a Google Doc without a Google account?

"they cannot open documents without signing up for gmail"- Google Docs Editors Community

This is a common problem with signing Google Docs, and 28 people on Google's forum have reported it. If you have a photo release in Google Docs that people outside your organization have to sign before Saturday's event, some of them use hotmail.com, and Google's eSignature can ask them to get a Google account first. Many won't make one just to sign, so the Doc sits unsigned and you go back to printing it.

In this article, we will show you how to let someone on Hotmail open your link and sign your Doc, with no Google account and no sign-in.

1. Upload your Doc as a PDF

In Google Docs, click File, Download, then PDF Document. Click Upload a PDF, add your photo release and click Proceed.
The Upload a PDF to collect signatures screen with Photo release.pdf added and the Proceed button marked

2. Keep your layout

Choose Yes, keep my PDF exactly as it is and click Continue. Formesign puts boxes on the blanks and the signature line, so check them.
Do you need the signed document to match your original PDF, with Yes, keep my PDF exactly as it is chosen and marked, and the Continue button marked

3. Turn off sign-in

Open the FORM tab and click the signature field. Next to Verify identity, click Not required.
The Participant signature field with Verify identity set to Not required, which is marked, and the tip Signer signs without signing in

4. Send the link to anyone

Open SHARE, then Email. Type the participant's email, Hotmail or anything else, and click Send email.
The Email tab under Share with ana@hotmail.com typed in the To box, which is marked, and the Send email button marked

5. They sign without signing in

The participant opens your link, fills in their part and draws their signature, and no Google sign-in appears. They click SUBMIT, and the signed PDF shows up in your SIGNED PDF tab.
The Photo release at phone width filled in by Ana Costa with ana@hotmail.com, with her signature drawn in the box and the Submit button marked

Summary

If people outside your organization have to sign your Doc, being asked to get a Google account stops many of them, and you go back to printing. With Formesign, you upload the Doc as a PDF and turn off sign-in, so anyone can open your link and sign.

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