Upcoming change: Participant roles and how they work
We’re making it easier to understand and manage what participants can do in your documents.
We plan to introduce an updated way to assign participant roles and permissions. Instead of choosing from a fixed list of roles, you’ll be able to use permission checkboxes to set what a participant can do and whether they’re visible to counterparties.
The way you select permissions will change, but the permissions themselves will remain the same in this first release.
NOTE
You don’t need to take any action. Your existing documents and templates will continue to work, and existing participant roles will be migrated to the equivalent permissions automatically.
Why are we making this change?
Today, each participant role comes with a fixed set of permissions. This means you need to choose a role based on what you want a person to do. For example, selecting Viewer for someone who should be able to view a document but not edit it.
With the updated participant settings, you’ll be able to see these permissions more clearly when adding or editing a participant. This change also lays the foundation for more flexible permissions in the future.
What will change?
The Signatory and Approver roles will continue to work as they do today. The other roles will be replaced by Participant, with checkboxes that determine the participant’s permissions.
| Current role | After the change |
| Signatory | Signatory — no change |
| Internal or external approver | Approver — no change to how approvals work |
| Influencer | Participant, with editing and visibility enabled |
| Viewer | Participant, with editing disabled and visibility enabled |
| Organizer | Participant, with editing enabled and visibility disabled |
Participant permissions
When you select Participant as document role, you’ll be able to manage two settings:
- Can edit — controls whether the participant can edit the document.
- Visible to counterparties — controls whether counterparties can see the participant.
For Signatory and Approver, these permissions will remain fixed in the first release and match how the roles work today.
INFORMATION
At least one of the two checkboxes must be selected. A participant must either be able to edit the document or be visible to counterparties.
Find the equivalent of a current role
You can use the table below to achieve the same result as the roles you use today.
| If you currently use… | Select | Can edit | Visible to counterparties |
| Viewer | Participant | Unchecked | Checked |
| Organizer | Participant | Checked | Unchecked |
| Influencer | Participant | Checked | Checked |
For example, if you want to add someone who can view the document but not edit it, select Participant and leave Can edit unchecked.
An organizer is an internal participant who is not visible to counterparties. As today, this setup is for colleagues.
A clearer participant view
Alongside the updated roles and permissions, you’ll also see improvements to how participant information is displayed:
- Updated participant hover cards with a clearer layout.
- Visual indicators that help you see a participant’s permissions at a glance.
- An options menu on each participant, where you can edit or remove them.
- Permission checkboxes when adding or editing a participant.
What will stay the same?
Your existing workflows will continue to work as they do today.
In the first release:
- Existing documents and templates will continue to work.
- Participants will keep the equivalent permissions they have today.
- Signing and approval workflows will work as before.
- Notification triggers and the audit trail will remain unchanged.
- Already signed documents will not be affected. Older PDFs will continue to show the roles used when they were signed.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to update my existing documents or templates?
No. Your existing documents and templates will continue to work, and participant roles will be migrated automatically.
Can a viewer still add comments?
Yes. The equivalent Participant setup will retain the permissions of today’s Viewer role, including the ability to add comments.
Can I prevent a signatory from editing the document?
Not in this first release. The permissions for signatories will remain the same as they are today.
What happens to documents that have already been signed?
Signed documents will not be affected. Older PDFs will continue to show the participant roles as they appeared when the document was signed.
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