Turn off Requires a signature when people need to read a document without signing. Publish it and add it to a group. People in that group can then open it in the signing portal.
Who can set this up: owners and administrators. People reading the document do not need team member accounts.
Give people access
- Open the document’s Settings and turn off Requires a signature. You can also choose this when using Add Document.
- Make sure the document has a published revision. Drafts are not available to people.
- Add the document to a group, either from the document’s Settings or the group’s Documents → Add Documents.
- Add the people who need access to that group.
- Share your organization’s signing portal link from Settings → Organization → Branding.
People enter their email address and a one-time email code. They can find the document under Documents and click Open. It may be under More documents when they also have documents to sign or signed copies.
What this does—and does not—record
For a document available to read:
- Group membership controls access to the current published file.
- ClearPolicy does not send an email announcing availability.
- No signature request or signature assignment is created.
- Opening the document is not recorded. Availability does not prove that someone read it.
- The document does not require completion or contribute a signature requirement to compliance tracking.
If you need a signature record, leave Requires a signature on and send a request.
Change who can read it
Add or remove people from its groups. Removing membership removes that group’s access; another group can still grant access to the same document.
There is no direct person-by-person reading grant. Use a group, even for a small audience. Assigning a signature-required document to a person without sending a request does not grant reading access.
Turn signatures off on an existing document
Turning Requires a signature off ends current signature assignments and cancels pending requests. The app asks you to confirm when pending requests will be canceled. Completed signature records remain in history.
Group links remain. Current group members can read the published file. A person with only a direct signature assignment needs group membership to read the current file this way.
Turn signatures back on
Turning Requires a signature on assigns current group members. If the document is published and a group has Automatic request emails on, the app asks you to confirm sending requests with Turn on and send.
Otherwise, send requests when ready. Reading access without a request ends when signatures are turned on; people use their pending requests and signed copies instead.
Someone cannot see a document
Check that the document is published, not archived, and has Requires a signature off. Confirm the person is active and belongs to a group that includes the document. Ask them to use the email on their person record and select the right organization in the portal.
They do not need a previous signature request to read a document shared this way. Last modified on September 26, 2026
