Every GoSign account comes with sensible defaults, but those defaults may not fit the way your business handles documents. You might need stronger security, a specific signing order, stricter download controls, or simply a different signing experience for your customers.
GoSign puts these options in Settings → Account, where you can control everything from your company details and time zone to authentication, signature behavior, document delivery, and storage. Some settings are useful for almost everyone, while others are designed for businesses with specific security or compliance requirements.
This guide breaks down each account setting, explains what it actually does, and helps you decide which ones are worth changing for your workflow.
Where to Find It
Go to Settings → Account, under the Account section in the sidebar. Everything in this guide lives on that one page, split into Company Details up top and Preferences below it.
1. Company Details
This is the basic information GoSign uses for your account.
- Company name: shows up across your emails and documents, so it's worth double-checking this matches how your business actually presents itself.
- Time zone: this matters more than it looks. Every timestamp on your audit logs is based on this setting, so if it's wrong, your signing records will be too.
- Language: sets the default language for your account interface.
Fill these in and click UPDATE to save.
2. Security and Compliance
These four settings control who can access what, and how much proof GoSign keeps around each signature. If you're in a regulated industry, healthcare, finance, pharma, this is the section to pay attention to.
Force 2FA with Authenticator App
Off by default. Turning this on means everyone signing documents in your account has to verify with an authenticator app like Google Authenticator or Authy, on top of their password.
Turn this on if you're handling anything sensitive enough that a compromised password alone shouldn't be enough to sign on someone's behalf.
Add signature ID to the documents
Off by default. This adds a unique Signature ID and timestamp to every signature, giving you a traceable record separate from the audit log itself.
This is part of GoSign's 21 CFR Part 11 compliance settings, so it's mainly relevant if you're in an industry (like life sciences) where that standard applies to you.
Require signing reason
Off by default. When this is on, signers have to state a reason before they can complete their signature, useful for approvals or certifications where "why" needs to be on record, not just "who" and "when."
Like signature IDs, this is also part of GoSign's 21 CFR Part 11 compliance settings.
Require authentication for file download links
Off by default. Switch this on and anyone downloading a document needs to log in or use an API key first. Without it, anyone with the link can open the file.
Turn this on if your download links are ever likely to end up somewhere outside your control, forwarded in an email chain, for example.
3. Signing Behavior
These settings shape what a signer can actually do during the signing process itself.
Allow typed text signatures
On by default. Lets signers type their name as a signature instead of drawing or uploading one. Most people prefer this, it's faster, and it works fine on a phone where drawing a signature with a finger is clumsy.
Allow to resubmit completed forms
On by default. Lets a signer go back and resubmit a form after they've already completed it. Handy if corrections happen often, less so if you need every signature to be final the moment it's submitted.
Allow to decline documents
On by default. Gives recipients the option to decline instead of sign. If they do, whoever sent the document gets notified with the reason. Worth keeping on for anything that genuinely might get rejected, contracts, quotes, terms, so you know where things stand instead of just watching a document sit unsigned.
Remember and pre-fill signatures
On by default. Saves a signer's signature after their first use and pre-fills it automatically the next time they sign something. Good for repeat signers, saves them a step, though it's worth knowing this is what makes returning signers' experience faster.
Always enforce the signing order
Off by default. When multiple people need to sign the same document, this setting makes sure they sign in order, the second signer can't start until the first one finishes. Turn this on for anything where sequence actually matters, like an employee signing before a manager countersigns.
4. Document Delivery and Storage
These last few settings control what happens to a document once it's done, and how it reaches the people who need it.
Expirable file download links
On by default, expiring after 40 minutes. This limits how long a download link stays active, so it can't be reused indefinitely if it leaks or gets forwarded somewhere it shouldn't.
Combine completed documents and Audit Log
Off by default. Turn this on and the signed document and its audit log get merged into a single PDF, instead of arriving as two separate files. Makes recordkeeping simpler if you're archiving signed documents for compliance.
Use direct file attachment links in the documents
This one controls how file attachment links behave inside your documents. If you're not sure whether you need it, it's safe to leave as is, most accounts won't need to touch this one.
Getting the Most Out of Your Account Settings
You don't need to turn everything on. Start with your Company Details, they're the foundation everything else builds on, especially your time zone, since it affects every audit log you'll ever generate.
From there, match the Preferences to how your business actually operates. If you're in a regulated industry, the Security and Compliance settings are worth the extra friction. If you just need documents signed quickly by people who'll sign more than once, the Signing Behavior defaults are already doing most of the work for you.
