Placeholder vs. Named Recipients

On a template, there are two types of recipients:

Placeholder Recipient: Allows you to add a placeholder so that you can add fields and other settings even when you don't know how the actual recipient will be. When the template is later used to send a document, the sender will fill in the placeholders name and email address. Most often, templates include placeholder recipients instead of named recipients.

Example: Employment Form

An HR department regularly sends out an employment form for each new employee. The form and the fields that need to be completed are the same every time, but the recipient is different each time they send the form.

In this case, the HR department will create a template with a Placeholder Recipient named "Employee" and assign fields to that placeholder recipient. When the template is used to send a document, the sender will only need to fill in the employees name and email. All assigned fields will automatically be associated accordingly.

Named Recipient: Add a named recipient by filling in the name and email of the recipient. A named recipient is used when the same person will be included every time the template is used.

Example: Offer Letter

An HR teams regularly send out offer letters to new employees. Each offer letter needs to be signed by the Manager of the HR department before routing the the prospective employee.

In this case, the HR department will create a template where the HR Manager will be a named recipient, while the employee will be a placeholder recipient. When the template is used to send a document, the sender will only need to fill in the name and email of the prospective employee. The HR manager will automatically be included.

Tip: When creating a recipient on a template, you can have a recipient that has both a placeholder name and name and email address. This is optional but does provide the benefit of seeing the placeholder name for that recipient along with the placeholder name of other placeholder recipients when adding fields.