How to skip an approver on small requests?

"Is there a way to make signatures a choice?"- Google Docs Editors Community

This is a common question from Google Forms users when not every request needs every signature. For example, you send check requests through a manager and the CEO. A small one shouldn't sit waiting for the CEO, but a large one still needs that signature. Google Forms has no signature question, let alone an optional one. When every signature is required, a $40 request waits in the same line as a $4,000 one. With Formesign, you can make the CEO's signature optional and a small check request finishes without waiting for the CEO. Even better, it's one form for both, so a large check still goes to the CEO.

Let's start. Create your form and follow the steps below.

1. Open the signer list

  1. Click on Create your form, click Enter your form name, type Check request and click Generate. It takes about a minute.
  2. Check the outline and click Proceed.
  3. You land on the EDIT tab, where the Add eSignature dialog says Your signing link is ready. Close it.
  4. Click the pencil on the Signature workflow card.
  5. The AI picks the signers from your form's name, so in Setup workflow, type over them so that they read Requester, Manager and CEO, delete any others from their three dots and click Next.
  6. Close the Your signing link is ready dialog.
  7. Click the pencil again.
The Signature workflow card listing Requester, Manager and CEO, with the pencil marked

2. Make the CEO optional

Click the three dots beside CEO and choose Make it optional. An Optional badge shows beside CEO. Click Next to save it and close the Your signing link is ready dialog.
The signer list with CEO's three dots marked and its menu open, with Make it optional marked

3. Share the link

Click Configure key fields (the notebook icon) in the last After page row and check Get name from and Get email from. They can start on the wrong person and the request email and the certificate use them, so set them to the first signer and click Save. Each signer starts on Google Sign-in. If your staff have no Google account, click each signature field and click Not required beside Verify identity. Click SHARE, click Copy and send the link to your staff.

4. Leave the CEO's email empty on small checks

After signing, the requester sees Enter approver emails. They decide by the amount: leave CEO email empty for a $40 check or fill it in for $4,000.
The Enter approver emails dialog with Manager email filled in as ana@example.com, the optional CEO email box empty and marked and the Proceed button marked

5. The check request finishes without the CEO

The CEO gets no email. In Activity, they show as Signature not required and the card says Signed and completed once the manager signs.
The Activity panel with sam@example.com and ana@example.com marked Submitted and CEO showing Signature not required with Not required marked

Summary

If every check request has to wait for the CEO, a $40 check sits in the same line as a $4,000 one. With Formesign, you make the CEO's signature optional. The person filling in the request leaves the CEO's email empty on small checks and the request finishes without waiting. Create your form and complete the steps above.

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