What settings should I use when I add a collaborator?

When you add a collaborator to a team, you’ll be required to choose their reviewer and observer settings. If the collaborator is not a workspace colleague, you’ll also be required to select their Read, Write, and Admin permissions. Here’s an explanation of what those permissions and settings mean and how you can determine which ones to use for your collaborators. 

This article will cover:

• Read, Write, and Admin permissions
• Reviewer and observer settings

Read, Write, and Admin permissions

External team collaborators can have any combination of Read, Write, or Admin permissions. 

Read permission means that a collaborator can view all document sets for the team. You may want to give a collaborator only Read permission if you want them to be able to see document sets but not start new ones.

Write permission means that a collaborator can create new document sets for a team. You may want to give a collaborator Read and Write permissions if you’d like them to be able to see document sets and start new ones too. Alternatively, your client may want to give some administrative staff Write permissions only so that they can help start and finalize document sets without having access to the team's other document sets. 

Admin permission means that a collaborator can add and remove other collaborators on the team. Collaborators with Admin permissions can also modify billing settings for their team. You may want to give a collaborator Admin permissions if you want them to be able to set up billing information or manage other collaborators on the team. 

Attorneys and founders usually have all permissions in order to facilitate the successful completion of legal paperwork.

Reviewer and observer settings

A collaborator for a team can be set to always be a reviewer or observer on document sets for the team. You can specify this when you add a new collaborator to a team. 

You can configure reviewer settings for the collaborator if you want them to be automatically added as a reviewer to document sets for the team. Any collaborators you’ve set to always be a reviewer will need to review and confirm information entered for document sets before documents can be signed. Clients often add their attorneys or paralegals as reviewers for important document sets. See What is a reviewer? for more information about reviewers.

You can configure observer settings for the collaborator if you want them to be automatically added as an observer to document sets for your team. Observers automatically receive copies of draft and finalized documents when a party they observe is emailed a signature request or when documents are finalized. Observers for a document set are often paralegals and secretaries at a law firm or in-house administrative or legal personnel at a company. See What is an observer? for more information about observers.

If you’d like your new collaborator to both review information as a reviewer and receive copies of PDFs as an observer, you should select both roles when specifying their settings. See What’s the difference between reviewers and observers? for a table that compares and contrasts the two roles.