---
key: create-a-reusable-pdf-template
title: Create a reusable PDF template
audience: staff
section: settings/templates
routes: ["/agreements/pdf-templates", "/agreements/pdf-templates/:templateUid", "/agreements/pdf-templates/:templateUid/editor"]
permissions: ["agreements.templates.view"]
features: ["agreements.uploaded_pdf"]
since: 0.0.1
updated: 0.0.1
status: published
summary: Turn a PDF you already use, such as a waiver, into a reusable signing template by uploading it once, naming the signer roles, placing signature and date fields, and publishing it.
keywords: [pdf form, upload pdf for signing, waiver template, authorization form, sign my own pdf, place signature field, reusable form, pdf packet]
related: [create-an-agreement-template, create-an-agreement, send-a-signing-link-yourself, find-your-templates]
---

In the sidebar, open **Settings**, then choose **Reusable PDFs** under **Agreements**. The page address is `/agreements/pdf-templates`. The page title reads **Reusable PDF templates**.

Use this when you have a PDF that customers sign again and again and you do not want to rebuild it as an agreement template. You upload the PDF once, mark where each signer signs, and publish. After that the template is picked when an agreement is created.

## Before you start

- Your role needs permission to view agreement templates to open the page. Creating, editing and publishing one each need their own permission.
- Have the PDF file ready; nothing else is accepted.
- Know who signs. A reusable template does not name real people; it names roles such as a customer signer, and the real person is filled in when the agreement is sent.

## Steps

1. Press **New PDF template**. The **Create reusable PDF template** drawer opens.
2. Type a **Display name**, a **Template key**, a **Template type** and a **Category**. Add a **Description**, **Tags**, **Version notes** and a **Draft summary** if useful. Press **Create template**.
3. The **Reusable PDF template editor** opens with a draft version. To come back to it later, open the template's row menu and choose **Open editor**.
4. Under **Draft packet PDF**, press **Upload PDF** and pick your file. Wait for the page previews to appear.
5. Under **Signer-role placeholders**, type a **Role key** and a **Role label** such as Customer signer, then press **Add role placeholder**. Add one role per person who signs.
6. In the **Placement editor**, select a role, pick a field under **Add fields** such as **E-signature**, **Initials** or **Date of signing**, and drag it onto the page (or click it, then click the page). Fields save as you place them. Repeat for every role and every place they sign.
7. Check **Template readiness**. **Publish status** must read **Ready to publish**; a **Blocker** names what is missing.
8. Press **Publish draft**, then **Publish draft** again in the **Publish reusable PDF template draft?** dialog.

## What you see

- The list shows each template with its **Type**, **Status** and **Stats**, and the row menu offers **Open detail** and **Open editor**.
- **Open detail** shows **Version history**, **Source preview**, the counts of **Pages**, **Fields** and **Role placeholders**, and **Template lifecycle actions** such as **Clone**.
- On a published template, the editor shows **Immutable published state**. Press **Create draft version** to start the next version; the published one keeps working until you publish again.
- **Replace PDF** swaps the draft's file. The fields you placed are cleared and the page previews are made again, so place the fields again on the new pages.
- **Archive draft** throws away an unpublished draft; **Archive template** retires the whole template.

## If something looks different

- **Add fields** is greyed out: add at least one role placeholder first.
- The pages have not appeared after uploading: press **Retry previews** in the **Placement editor**.
- **Publish status** reads **Blocked**: read the listed issues. Common ones are a field with no role and a role with no field.
- A customer needs to sign it now: create the agreement from the published template. See [[create-an-agreement]].

[[route:/agreements/pdf-templates|Open Reusable PDFs]]