Google announced the general availability of eSignature for Google Docs in July 2024.
eSignature comes at no extra cost with Workspace Individual and with Business Standard, Business Plus, and most Enterprise plans once your admin turns it on. It isn’t part of Business Starter (Google Docs Editors Help).
DocuSign, the de facto eSignature standard, has been in business for over twenty years. However, DocuSign only has paid subscriptions.
A Google Workspace admin can enable/disable eSignature access for Organizational Units or Groups.
To try Google’s new application release, we went through the end-to-end process of
- Creating a document
- Adding two sets of signature fields
- Sending the document to two signers
- Signing as those two recipients
The app supports up to 10 signers. We set up one signer for the document owner and one for the customer.
Note: Google’s eSignature functionality should not be confused with signature managers, which are third-party apps that ensure email signature consistency across an organization.
Adding eSignature Fields to a Google Doc
We added a 2 x 5 table to the document to facilitate side-by-side positioning of the vendor and customer fields.
Next, we went to the Tools menu and selected eSignature.
With the respective signer selected in the top field in the sidebar, you can drag and drop the fillable fields and the auto-filled ‘Date signed’ field into the table.
Alternatively, you can click a field to add it to the current cursor position.
The fillable ‘Text field’ can be renamed for any use. In our test, we used it for ‘Title.’
Clicking a signer’s name in the sidebar reveals the ‘Manage signers’ option at the bottom of the dropdown. This lets you add and rename signers.
Once the fields are in the document, click the Request eSignature button, then enter the email addresses of the two signers.
Google Docs will provide the usual warning that you are about to share an item with someone outside your organization.
Signer Notifications
The external recipient will receive a notification email and must click the Open button.
In the opened PDF, the recipient must click the ‘Sign’ and ‘Name’ fields and type in their Title. The ‘Date’ field autofills.
Next, the document owner receives an email notification. The owner can then fill in the Vendor fields in our example.
Completed Process
After the last signer signs, all signers will receive the following email notification:
(We did not test with non-Gmail users, but presumably, they will not receive the ‘It has been added to your Google Drive’ message.)
All signers will see an audit trail appended to the completed PDF.
Overall, the workflow is reasonably straightforward.
We recommend running a test like this before you send your first ‘live’ eSignature document to a prospect or client.
Related: what Google Workspace Individual includes and Google Workspace pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Which Google Workspace plans include eSignature?
Workspace Individual, plus Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise Starter, Standard and Plus, Enterprise Essentials and Essentials Plus, and Education Plus when the admin enables it. Business Starter isn’t on the list.
How many people can sign a Google Doc?
You can add up to 10 signers to a document and give each one a label.
Can I request a signature on a PDF?
Yes. eSignature works on Google Docs and on PDFs in Google Drive.
Is Google eSignature the same as an email signature?
No. eSignature collects signatures on documents. Email signatures are the name and contact block at the bottom of your Gmail messages.
Source: eSignature in Google Docs and PDFs, Google Docs Editors Help. Checked October 23, 2026.