Forum Discussion
Flow and Digital Signatures
Hi saridd
There's a few thoughts I have here depending on your flexibility to execute.
1. If the document is a PDF and not, say, a Word doc, then you'll have a hard time automating it as you can't edit the PDF using flow AFAIK.
If you were able to have a Word doc in the first instance, you could use a connector like Plumsail to insert an image file (digital signature) and then convert the Word doc to PDF as the final copy.
In my flows for example, I have the Word doc sent out to the approver for their review, if they respond with Approved, the flow automatically inserts their signature (image file) and outputs a PDF as the final copy to be stored on SP, emailed, etc.
2. The other alternative is if you have an Adobe Sign licence, you could use that to do digital signatures.
Otherwise to see the flow history, click onto the flow name hyperlink (don't edit) from your My Flows list and you'll see the Run history. Click onto the desired log and you can check the approval outcome there.
If you want to be notified of the approval, you could add an email notification to alert you when something is approved.
Anyway you have a number of options depending on how strict the signature requirement is or whether an email from the Approver authorising the document is allowable, etc.
Let me know how you go? We can adapt the options depending on your circumstance.
Cheers
Damien
Hi saridd
Below is how you may want to go (my interpretation of your brief requirements) and I've also mocked up a sample Flow to help illustrate the process (hopefully it will make sense to you).
Given you are a beginner you'll also need to play around to get a feel for where the items are that I am about to call out (let me know if you get stuck).
0. In your Word template (Stored on SharePoint), ensure that the signature part of the document says e.g. {{yourImageVariable}:picture}. This is where the image of the digital signature will be inserted if approved.
You can also add in something like {{Approver_Name}} if you also want the approvers name to go with the signature.
1. Create a new blank flow in Microsoft Flow.
2. You may need to delete the manual trigger (click ... and Delete) and then add a suitable trigger which is an event that will begin the workflow (e.g. When an item is created or modified) when the list has a new item added.
3. Add connector Start and wait for an approval and populate appropriate details for the Approver to vet.
You can link to the SharePoint list item (it can use the attributes from When an item is created or modified or you can provide a SharePoint list item link, or both [I tend to do both]).
4. Add a Condition where the Outcome (Start and wait for an approval (V2)) is equal to Approve.
5. (a) If Yes, use Get file content of your template file that requires sign-off.
5. (b) You can use a connector like Plumsail (or Encodian, etc) which lets you insert data into documents (for this example I'll use Plumsail which is a subscription tool).
Type Plumsail into the Choose an action box.
5. (c) Add the Plumsail connector Create DOCX document from template and add the following JSON script.
{
"Approver_Name": (Note: insert from When an item is created or modified > Created By DisplayName),
"yourImageVariable":
}
Note that I have left yourImageVariable output blank for the minute as we must now convert the image file of the signature (get the approver to provide a digital copy of their signature to be used for this process).
6. Go to a website like https://www.browserling.com/tools/image-to-base64 which lets you convert an image to Base64 code which will allow the signature to be inserted into the template. The code will come out a fair long set of characters.
7. Copy the output Base64 code and paste it into the space after the "yourImageVariable": and make sure that the code has " at the beginning and end of it.
Example (I didn't use the full Base64 code or this post will get very long, but you get the idea):
{
"Approver_Name": (Note: insert from When an item is created or modified > Created By DisplayName),
"yourImageVariable": "4jAAAuIwF4pT92AAAgAElEQVR4nOzdd5wdVd0/8M+ZuXV7zaZuCum9h4B0EBAEFAQBAUFFFFCER8QHpdgQsIPCD0F9gMfCA6j0TsAQIJCEhCSk97q72V5umzm/P6bcmblzdzdhs3eX/bxfsNm9d8qZM2fKd06ZgK7r+wHkgYiIiIiIiIh6kxRCCCllLCCEKAeg5jpFRERERERERAORECIvAKANQBEAmeP0EBEREREREQ00QkrZEZBSKkII+8NcpoiIiIiIiIhoALEqyYWS02QQERERERERERicExEREREREeUYg3MiIiIiIiKiHGNwTkRERERERJRjDM6JiIiIiIiIcozBOREREREREVGOMTgnIiIiIiIiyjEG50REREREREQ5xuCciI"
}
8. Put the output into a new Word docx using Create file (SharePoint connector) into a Document Library of your choosing (e.g. a temp holding area) and set the File Name (e.g. filenamehere.docx) and add the file content (Under Create DOCX document from template > Result).
At this point your Word doc will already have the signature inserted. You could stop here if you wanted to.
9. Add SharePoint > Get file content 2 and for File Identifier field use the Path from Create file or if you are just using a static path, search for the file.
10. Add Plumsail > Convert DOCX to PDF and in Document content field use File Content from Get file content 2.
This will take the Word doc output and convert it into PDF format.
11. Use SharePoint > Create file to create the final PDF output. Use File Name with PDF extension like filenamehere.pdf to save the output as a PDF file.
12. You can also add something like Send an email (V2) and let the submitter know that it's been approved or in the not approved side, you can use the same connector to say that the item was rejected.
----------------
I hope this all makes sense. Have a play and move things around as you need to. Would love to know how you go please.
Cheers and best wishes
Damien
Damien_Rosario Hi & thank you for sharing the flow. I am new to power automate and was trying your flow step by step. While i added the plumsail connector 'Create DOCX..' the fields i could see are Connection name and the API Key...can you please suggest how do i proceed.
Thanks much!
Hi Shradds
Hope you are well.
You will need to have an account registered with Plumsail and use their Documents service for the flow to work.
They do a trial so you can play and test things before deciding to purchase a subscription. That's how I did it but building the flow, proving the concept to the CIO, and then purchased a subscription.
Subscription costs are really cheap. We went with the base option, something like 300 bucks annually for 200 transactions a month (transaction is each time you use the connector in Power Automate).
Hope that helps get you started.
Cheers and best wishes
Damien
- Damien_Rosario
Hi Damien, happened to saw this post.
can I ask u, as I currently have a workflow that will notification the approver via email notification with attachment of the file in pdf, I would like them to have the option to include digital signature in the attached pdf and when the approver submit as approved, it will update into SharePoint list as pdf with the digital signature .Hi bbsin
Hope you are well.
I had explored a similar case using Plumsail (at the time) to insert an img of a signature into the document/email, etc when the approval was given.
I've tried it with base64 where the img will be stored in base64 code (text) and can be called without needing a file to reference. Referencing files can also work too.
Check out these topics on the Plumsail website:
Create DOCX document from template
You could also try using (premium) Microsoft Word connector which can also insert content into docs (I personally find Plumsail to be way more flexible and does more things).
Here's how I'd do it based on the assumption that you are sending a PDF of a word or other source doc that can be edited:
1. Take original document template, insert relevant content, convert to PDF and send to the approver.
2. Approver accepts the document.
3. Use the relevant connector (Plumsail, Word, etc) to insert the signature into the original editable doc that you had converted into PDF to send to the approver.
4. Resend and/or store the final PDF with signature to SharePoint.
Hope it makes sense and gives you some ideas to proceed forward. See how you go and feel free to let me know if you need assistance?
Cheers and best wishes
Damien
