Hiding sensitive information from signers

We are having the same issue, except to add to what you have, we’re also looking to make sure each signer when they receive the signature card, can’t see the other people’s info.  So I think we are a step behind you at this point.  Our form is already filled out and we’re pulling it from our Core system, so we just need signatures on it.

that’s exactly what I need to do.  trying to hide each other’s information

@jeludy 

Have you tried using Document Visibility, the information pertaining to each signer would need to be on its own document on the same envelope.   Only documents that they are entitled to see will be provided. 

...not sure I have ever seen that.  What screen is that on?

@jeludy 

The setting is under Sending Settings: 

thank you for sending that.  not sure if that will help me as the information that I need to protect/hide is on the same page for everyone.  They are not separate pages for each signer.

@jeludy 

And you tried to use the “Hide text with asterisks”?   This option will conceal the data in the signing session and on the in-process and completed PDFs.   Only the sender can view or download the form data for the envelope to reveal the hidden data.

For us, the form is already filled out prior to putting it into DocuSign, so we can’t use the “hide text with asterisks” option.  We also have multiple people per document, so we can’t use Document Visibility for this either. 

We were just about to ask this same question because we had a client that was upset in this exact scenario because everyone could see all of the info regarding all of the signers.  They said another company they signed a document for through DocuSign was able to hide the info from those that didn’t need to see it.

@lcornwell 

In your case, you are not passing the data to a DocuSign field, it is already on the form?  Could you pass the data you want to hide to a field in DocuSign?  I am pretty sure that is how the other company is hiding the information.  But maybe there is another way.

@JohnSantos  we aren’t passing the data from anywhere.  They’re uploading the document that they downloaded from Core and adding the fields manually there.  

I did a test run transaction using the “Hide text with asterisks” and the signer was not able to see the hidden information, but they were able open the document after signing, and still see what was hidden, so it did not help me, unless it did this because the person I sent it to was a coworker (?).

@jeludy 

I just ran a little test in Demo using the “Hide text with asterisks”, and I could not see the SSN on the completed document, only asterisks.   

Maybe there’s something about what is selected within the right side of the screen, where Formatting is?  I saw the asterisks on my test but all they did is cover over the hidden area, but you could still see the letters/numbers below it.

@jeludy 

What do you mean you can “see the letters/numbers below it.”  Can you add an image of that?

I think the issue in this case is that the document is being presented into DocuSign with pertinent information already provided, such as SSN or sensitive customer information. The document forms are not being picked up by DocuSign and while you can add line items to the document as required, that information that was already there before it made its way into DocuSign can now no longer be moved, edited, or adjusted. The issue we are facing is that our Core provides this information on the document prior to DocuSign, DocuSign fills the rest, and then it gets sent off. The question our team is facing is “Can DocuSign do anything about line items that are not picked up through form merging before being sent to users?” If yes, what are the limitations. If no, does anyone have any other workarounds?

I hope that clears up some confusion. Thanks!

@JackStepalavich 

Thank you for explaining. It sounds like the core issue here is that the core system is pre-filling certain parts of the document with sensitive information before it reaches DocuSign. Once in DocuSign, these pre-filled fields are not editable or adjustable, and you want to know if DocuSign can handle these line items better or if there are any workarounds.   

I’m not aware of any other ways to protect sensitive information from other recipients besides the two options offered:    Document Visibility or using the “Hide text with asterisks”.   Wondering if anyone else has any other workarounds.

@JohnSantos 

My thoughts for a next step were to download the file from Core, then convert it to a Form with Adobe, then upload it.  I was hoping that might allow us to hide those fields.  We haven’t gotten the form from the line of business yet to do the testing on it yet to see if it works.

By the way, Jack works with me at Berkshire :)

@lcornwell 

Yes, that would be a good next step.  I figured Jack was with you.   He just knew too much! 😁

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I’m checking on this issue.  Has anyone found a solution?  We tried converting the .pdf to a form in Adobe, but a lot of the form fields were lost in “translation” making this not an option for us to use.

Remind me again what the issue is?  I’ve reviewed the initial question, but I think it’s not the same of what you are asking. 

We are uploading a prefilled document from Core and are trying to find a way to hide some info from some signers.  We tried converting to a PDF Form so we can hide the fields from each signer they need to be hidden from, but that didn’t work for us and will cause a lot more work.  There’s a lot of fields on the document, so doing this manually won’t work either.

@lcornwell 

Yes, I remember now.   Could you create a Template in DocuSign with the fields the way you want it, excluding the fields that you want to hide from the signers.   Then after you convert the document to PDF (even without hiding the fields) use the template matching option to upload your PDF with the prefilled data.

Otherwise, your next best option is to use the API to fill a template in Docusign with your prefilled fields from Core.

@JohnSantos Thanks for the response.  We’ve thought about creating a template for this, but there’s no way to remove the original data from the document we’re uploading, so everyone will still see it.  We need a way to cover it up and only allow it to be seen by the person it belongs to.

I’d love to have an API, but I don’t believe DocuSign integrates with our Core system (IBS).  I don’t have the knowledge (or the time to learn how) to create a custom API myself unfortunately.