E-Signature Placeholders

The article provides guidance on adding placeholders within signature templates to facilitate the automatic population of employee information from BambooHR. This process aims to save time for both employers and employees by reducing manual data entry. It includes a table of contents outlining steps such as adding employee information, utilizing merge fields, and viewing an example. Users can add placeholders by selecting corresponding fields, resizing, and aligning text boxes within the template. It is important to note that only historical tables can be used as placeholders, as standard tables do not provide the necessary data context. An example demonstrates how an employee's information auto-populates in a W-4 document after the request is sent.

Oct 17, 2025
Knowledge

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Article Text

How do I add placeholders within a signature template?

Purpose: To help you understand how you can add placeholders within a signature template to have basic demographic information auto-populate from BambooHR. Placeholders will save time for you and your employees by not having to enter information manually.

Table of Contents

Add an employee's information
Placeholders
View an example

Add an employee's information

When setting up a signature template, click Add Employee Info to add placeholders in the template.

Placeholders

Select the corresponding field for the text box to pop up on the template. Resize and align the box in its desired place. Click Show All Fields to access other fields you can pull information from within BambooHR.

Once you save the template and send it for an employee's signature, the data in these fields from BambooHR will automatically populate in fields on the template and make it easier for your employee to fill out the required details.

Please note that standard tables, or tables that do not store data historically, cannot be utilized as placeholders within a signature document. We use the most recent data line from a historical table for an e-signature document because it consists of an employee's current information. For a standard table (i.e., assets listings, allergies, etc.), the signature document will not recognize which data lines to pull from because all lines of data could be current. You can utilize any historical tables and standard fields in a signature document.

View an example

Notice how after sending the request to have Charlotte Abbott fill out her W-4 document, the fields have auto-populated Charlotte's information based on the placeholders selected in the previous screenshot. Nailed it!

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