Overview
Signing once lets your crew and your customer each draw their signature a single time, then place that signature on every page of the Descriptive Inventory by tapping each signature field. It replaces drawing a fresh signature on every page, and the finished PDF still carries a signature on each page.
A Descriptive Inventory (DI) is the itemized list of everything in a shipment, recorded in the SmartMoving Crew App.
Signing runs in two guided passes:
The carrier places their signature on every page first.
The crew hands the device to the customer, who places theirs.
The inventory is finalized once every field for both signers is placed.
Before You Start
Available to accounts with the Inventory Signatures setting turned on. The setting is on automatically for newly created accounts; for other accounts, an admin turns it on. Changing it requires the admin role.
Your Descriptive Inventory document has to be replaced once before stamped signatures appear on it. See "Replace Your Descriptive Inventory Document" below. This is a one-time step, and signatures appear on your paperwork once it is done.
This article covers the Descriptive Inventory captured at pickup. The same signature capture applies to every inventory check. For those, see How to Start and Abandon a Descriptive Inventory Check.
The crew member needs Crew App access and permission to manage descriptive inventories.
The carrier and the customer sign on the same device on site. If the customer is not there, the carrier can sign alone and the customer signs online from an emailed link.
At least one email recipient must be selected before signing can be completed.
Replace Your Descriptive Inventory Document
Signatures are stamped onto your Descriptive Inventory document. SmartMoving uses the Descriptive Inventory document your company created in the Document Library when one exists, and otherwise falls back to the default template. The signature fields arrive in the default template, so a document your company already created keeps the layout it was created with until you replace it.
Do this once, before your crews start signing:
Go to Settings > Forms & Documents > Document Library.
Delete your existing Descriptive Inventory document.
If you had customizations on the old document, add a new Descriptive Inventory document and re-apply them.
If you did not customize it, you are done. The default applies automatically the next time a Descriptive Inventory document generates.
⚠️ Warning: Deleting a document cannot be undone. Note or screenshot any customizations first, since they have to be re-applied by hand.
Note: This applies to any company that created a Descriptive Inventory document in the Document Library, whether or not it was ever edited. A company that never created one already receives the default and does not need to do anything.
💡 SmartTip: To see the current layout before you replace your own document, preview the Descriptive Inventory Sheet starting template in the Document Library.
How to Turn On Signing Once
Newly created accounts have this setting on already. For other accounts, an admin turns it on once for the company.
In SmartMoving, go to Settings > Crew App > Descriptive Inventory.
Find the Inventory Signatures section.
Turn on Capture signatures once, stamp on every page.
Click Save Changes. A confirmation appears reading "Your changes have been saved."
With the setting off, the Crew App uses page-by-page signing for every Descriptive Inventory and every check.
💡 SmartTip: Your crew can still sign every page by hand on an individual job even with this setting on. See "Signing Each Page by Hand Instead" below.
How to Capture the Two Signatures
When the crew finishes the inventory and starts signing, the Sign & Approve Inventory sheet opens. Both signatures are captured here before anything is placed in the document.
Read the acknowledgement at the top of the sheet. It confirms that each placement is that signer's own electronic signature, with the same legal effect as a handwritten signature on that page.
Under Carrier Signature, tap Tap to sign. The Signature Input pad opens: draw the carrier signature, then tap Input Signature. The card shows Signed with a thumbnail.
Under Customer Signature, tap Tap to sign and have the customer draw their signature, then tap Input Signature. That card shows Signed as well.
Check the recipients line, which reads Digital copy will go to followed by a count. Tap Manage to add, edit, select, or clear addresses, and Add Recipient to enter a new one. At least one must be selected.
Tap Continue. The Descriptive Inventory document opens so the captured signatures can be placed.
To redo a signature before continuing, tap the X on a signed card and sign again. On the signature pad, Clear erases the drawing so the signer can start over.
Note: Continue becomes available once both signatures are captured and at least one recipient is selected. If no recipient is selected, a message reads "Please select at least one email recipient."
How to Place Signatures on Each Page
The Crew App walks each signer through their own pass. Only the active signer's fields respond to taps, and the other signer's fields show as locked previews captioned with who is up next.
The carrier pass begins, with a Carrier signing badge. Tap each carrier signature field: on the standard sheet, that is the box above Signature (required) — Contractor, Carrier, or Authorized Agent (Driver) in the At Origin column. Every tap places the captured signature and stamps it with the time, then moves to the next unsigned carrier field.
Follow the progress bar, which reads like "1 of 1 signed", and the Next Signature action to move through fields without missing one.
When every carrier field is placed, an overlay reads "Hand the device to the customer." Give the device to the customer and tap Continue.
The customer pass begins, with a Customer signing badge, and the progress counter starts over for the customer's own fields. The carrier's placed signatures are kept. The customer taps each of their fields, labeled Owner or Authorized Agent, to place their signature.
Once every field for both signers is placed, tap Finalize Inventory.
A signer can clear and re-place a signature during their own pass. Nothing is final until Finalize Inventory is tapped.
Note: Signature boxes in the At Destination column are read-only previews captioned "Signed at delivery". They are signed at the destination, not during this pass, and they do not hold up finalizing.
When the Customer Is Not On Site
If the customer is not present, the carrier can complete signing alone and the customer signs online afterward.
On the Sign & Approve Inventory sheet, turn on Customer not available to sign. The Customer Signature card changes to "To be captured online via email", and a line confirms the customer will be sent an email to sign and approve their inventory online.
Capture the carrier signature, confirm at least one recipient, then tap Continue.
Place the carrier signatures on each page. The customer's fields appear as previews only, and the handover step is skipped.
Tap Finalize Inventory. The customer is emailed a link to sign and approve the inventory online.
Until the customer signs through that link, the Descriptive Inventory shows a Signature Requested badge on the opportunity's documents list in the web app, so office users can see it is still waiting on the customer.
Note: Turning on Customer not available to sign clears any customer signature already captured on the sheet, so a deferred inventory carries only signatures the customer actually made.
Note: Customer not available to sign is offered on the initial Descriptive Inventory and on the Final Destination check.
Signing Each Page by Hand Instead
Some moves need a signature drawn on each page, such as government and military moves. Your crew can do that on an individual job even when signing once is turned on.
On the Sign & Approve Inventory sheet, tap Sign each page manually instead. The inventory document opens and each signer draws a fresh signature in every field.
Select at least one email recipient first. Manual signing opens once one is selected.
Tap Finalize Inventory once every required field is signed.
Switching to manual signing clears signatures that were already captured. If either signer has captured or stamped a signature, a confirmation titled Sign each page manually? appears first. Confirming it discards the captured and stamped signatures for both the carrier and the customer, not only the person who tapped. Decide whether a job needs hand-drawn signatures before anyone signs.
For the full workflow, including how to switch back to stamping and what happens to signatures in each direction, see Signing Each Page of a Descriptive Inventory by Hand.
Editing a Completed Inventory to Sign It Again
A crew member with the Can edit completed inventory and reset signatures permission can reopen a signed Descriptive Inventory, make corrections, and collect fresh signatures.
Open the job in the Crew App and go to the Inventory tab.
In the Descriptive Inventory section, tap More Actions, then Edit Inventory.
A warning reads "This inventory is already signed. If you edit it, signatures will be removed and you'll need to collect new ones." Tap Edit to continue, or Cancel to keep the signed inventory as is.
Make the corrections. The inventory is back in a signable state, and the crew signs it again through the same capture-once flow.
Two things gate the Edit Inventory option:
It is available before any inventory checks have been started. Once a check exists, the signed inventory stays as it is.
It is available on an inventory captured in the Crew App, not on an imported one such as a Descriptive Inventory imported for a storage move-out.
An admin grants the Can edit completed inventory and reset signatures permission in the web app, under the Descriptive Inventory permissions for the crew member's role.
Note: The Locked / Unlocked control on the opportunity's Estimate tab is a different feature. It covers the pre-move inventory on the estimate, not the Descriptive Inventory's signatures.
What Happens When You Finalize
Each signature is recorded with its image, the time it was placed, and who placed it.
The Descriptive Inventory is completed and the signed PDF is generated with a signature on every page.
A digital copy is emailed to the recipients selected on the sheet.
When the customer was not available, the customer instead receives an email inviting them to sign and approve online, and the Descriptive Inventory shows a Signature Requested badge on the documents list until they do.
Key Details
Stamped signatures appear on your paperwork once your Descriptive Inventory document has been replaced. Until then your paperwork keeps the layout it was created with.
The setting applies company-wide. Individual jobs can still be signed page by page from the Crew App when a job calls for it.
Each signer clears and re-places their own signature during their own pass. After a pass is handed off or the inventory is finalized, changing a signature means editing the completed inventory, which collects fresh signatures from both signers.
The carrier and the customer sign on the same device on site, or the customer signs online through Customer not available to sign.
Finalize Inventory becomes available once every signature field for both signers is placed.
A completed inventory can be edited and re-signed before any checks are started, on an inventory captured in the Crew App rather than imported.
Customer not available to sign is offered on the initial Descriptive Inventory and on the Final Destination check.
Best Practices
Replace your Descriptive Inventory document before your crews start signing, so the first signed job already produces correct paperwork.
Capture both signatures on the sheet before tapping Continue, so the document pass is not interrupted.
Confirm the email recipients on the sheet first, since one is required before signing can be completed.
Review the inventory with the customer before signing, since one signature is applied to every page.
Decide whether a job needs hand-drawn signatures before anyone signs, since switching to manual signing afterward clears the captured signatures for both signers.
Use the Next Signature action to move through fields rather than scrolling, so no page is missed.
Hand the device to the customer only after the handover overlay appears, which confirms every carrier field is placed.
Use Customer not available to sign when the customer cannot sign in person, rather than skipping signatures.
Correct a signed inventory with Edit Inventory before starting any checks, since the option is available up to that point.
Troubleshooting
The signature cards do not appear and the crew is asked to sign each page. Confirm Capture signatures once, stamp on every page. is turned on under Settings > Crew App > Descriptive Inventory in the Inventory Signatures section.
The signatures are not showing on the finished paperwork. Your Descriptive Inventory document has to be replaced once before stamped signatures appear on it. See "Replace Your Descriptive Inventory Document" above.
The Inventory Signatures section is missing from settings. The section appears under Settings > Crew App > Descriptive Inventory for accounts using Descriptive Inventory. Viewing and changing it requires admin access to account settings.
Continue is unavailable on the Sign & Approve Inventory sheet. Continue needs both signatures captured, or the carrier signature plus Customer not available to sign turned on, and at least one selected email recipient.
A message reads "Please select at least one email recipient." No recipient is selected. Tap Manage, then select an existing address or tap Add Recipient to enter one.
A message reads "That email has already been added." That address is already on the recipient list. Close the form and select the existing entry instead.
Finalize Inventory is unavailable. It becomes available once every signature field for both signers is placed. Use the progress indicator and the Next Signature action to find the fields that remain.
A signature was placed in the wrong spot. During that signer's own pass, clear the placed signature and tap the field again. Nothing is final until Finalize Inventory is tapped.
Some signature boxes cannot be tapped. Only the active signer's fields accept taps. The other signer's fields show as locked previews captioned with who is up next, and boxes in the At Destination column are read-only previews captioned "Signed at delivery".
The Edit Inventory option is missing from More Actions. The option appears on a completed inventory for crew members with the Can edit completed inventory and reset signatures permission, before any inventory checks have been started, and on an inventory captured in the Crew App rather than imported.
The crew tapped Deliver or Finalize and a message about damages and photos appeared. The account requires a photo on every damaged item. Add at least one photo to each item with a damage exception, then try again.
A message reads "Unable to prepare the inventory document for signing" or "Something went wrong." Confirm the device has a connection and try again. If it keeps happening, contact SmartMoving Support.