ActiveDocs is a document management software offering from ActiveDocs.
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SignNow
Score 8.6 out of 10
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signNow is an eSignature solution with mobile apps for iOS and Android. signNow can be integrated into popular platforms and offers SaaS, public cloud, and private cloud deployment options with the same underlying API. This enables customers to leverage the power and usability of the signNow eSignature platform, while meeting their particular security and compliance requirements.
There are not a lot of competitors to compare this product with, but ActiveDocs holds its own as a very useful software for the need. I recommend doing a demo to see how the process works, but it's rather streamlined and easy to create a template and produce a document from it.
SignNow is particularly useful for simple documents, forms and contracts where there the fields are pretty standards- names, signature block, title. It would be helpful to have features that allow substitution of certain fill in the blanks such that allow you to use the same template but first have a dialog to integrate language for a person, corporation, partnership or LLP. I'm a lawyer and having the ability to assemble variation of this nature into one template would be helpful. Also (and it may do this) the ability to change the actual form/document within the a template would be useful.
When using shared templates, the option to rename the document is at the bottom of the signatures page. I would like that to be visible sooner as some of my team misses it and sends documents to clients with the templated name instead of the correct name because they forgot to scroll down far enough to see it.
CC'ed contacts used to show suggestions as you typed the email if you've sent that person a document before, but that functionality no longer shows on our account. I'd like to see that brought back.
It would be nice if we could add folders to our documents page so that we could sort sent and signed documents into individual client folders. The search feature works fine, but folders would help clean up the view for my team.
The features are too limited. The biggest issue though is the flexibility for editing existing forms without having to create a whole new form. The other issues are its payment partner options, lack of automation, and logic flow. We plan to quit this software and use other software in its place.
Very good usability overall. Any user can pick this up and run with it. HotDocs, the closest competitor, has similar end-user usability, but from a designer of templates perspective, ActiveDocs definitely has the edge in this regard. I would recommend this for any company that mass produces documents from templates as deliverables.
In terms of core functionality - adding options for signatures, text, dates, check boxes, etc., as well as customising the body of the request, the title of the request, follow-ups / reminders for signature, etc., SignNow is great. It's really easy to navigate and use in this regard. SignNow loses points when it comes to the end-user who needs to sign. There's an option for them to either use the app (which is most prominent in the page that shows when they open the request) or to sign using their browser (which is much smaller). I had my assistant create this step by step guide for our clients, so they can complete the request the way we need them to:https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FopYjlykHMFjIAQjgaNLtNIvSCQND_kb86-U9bA5M2A/edit?usp=sharing As far as I'm aware, you can't make it mandatory for them to draw their signature, and there's no option to remove the prompt for them to download the app when signing on their mobile device. I really wish these were options, but they don't take away from the fact it does what it is intended to do, and it does it well.
SignNow is always available when I need it. It seems that most updates occur outside of business hours so I have full functionality when I need it most between the hours of 8am-6pm EST. There has only been I time when I experience application errors when I need to use the system but it did not last long and the issue was resolved within a few hours.
The software overall is very excellent. It responds quickly and produces documents well. The integration with systems makes data input easy. Questions can be designed to allow further expansion of template creation/customization. The rules section is very useful for complicated If/Than/Else style templates. Although experience and training help, the software is very user-friendly out of the box.
ActiveDocs can be a considerably complex product because your use cases can be potentially endless. In our experience, when we have come across a problem or issue with the product ActiveDoc's support has always responded to our queries within 24 hours. Support is only provided via email in 95% of cases. Each year your support and maintenance includes support hours. These are used when you contact support and your issue is not found to be a bug or problem with the product (completely fair and understandable). When we've identified or discovered bugs (mainly with the latest version of Word) it is patched by the next release. They typically release about 4-5 updates per year.
I only used SignNow support when setting up. I uploaded a bunch of documents in the wrong place and needed assistance in moving them. Unfortunately they were not able to move the documents and I needed to upload into a different place. This is where I feel the system itself could benefit from some flexibility for their customers.
It was nice to be shown the basics of the system and be able to see or understand the specific functions our company would need to use, such as the template creation, document grouping and document group templates. Being taught on how to use these functions, made learning them much easier.
Make sure you know exactly what you need before implementation and be sure to ask how to use the most important functions of the system that you will be using.
In relation to other software that have a functionality similar to ActiveDocs, they don't even compare in relation to the interface, I didn't use all the software available on the market, but the ones I used and I can compare, ActiveDocs is without a doubt the best among them. We really likes the interface.
We looked at several different offerings such as HelloSign and DocuSign, but SignNow offered the same basic options for a lot less money. It was easy to implement and very user friendly. We didn't need a lot of bells and whistles which the other guys offered which honestly just complicated things.
