# Accepting Terms and Conditions at Sign-Up

Want to simplify the process of clients accepting your terms and consents, saving time and eliminating paperwork?

With ActiveNow, participants can accept your terms of service directly during the sign-up process.

This article explains how to add a document to the system, replace a document in a form, send it to participants for acceptance by email, and check which participants have accepted a given document.

## How do terms and consents work in ActiveNow?

* All consents — both required and optional — can be found in ***Settings*** → ***Terms and consents***.
* Each consent can have a **PDF** file attached, which the participant can download while filling in the **sign-up form** or from their **Client Panel** after accepting the consent.
* You can see which forms use a given consent and go to edit it by clicking the form name in the ***Sign-up forms*** column.

You can hide consents that are no longer needed using the ***Hide*** button, so they don't appear when attaching consents to forms. This keeps the consents list clean and easy to manage.

Hiding a consent **does not remove historical acceptances** — all accepted consents remain in the database and are visible on the participant's profile and in their Client Panel.

![Settings Terms and consents page showing a list of consents with a Hide button](/files/Czumpq1lAEcBtwz6pLYl)

## How to add a new consent or terms document

To add a terms document or optional consent:

{% stepper %}
{% step %}
**Go to *****Settings***** → *****Sign-ups*****.**
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Select a form and click *****Edit*****.**
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Expand the *****Terms and consents***** section and click *****Add consent*****.**
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Choose one of two options:**

* **Add an existing document** — select a consent from the dropdown list, click **Add consent**, and save the form.
* **Add a new document** — click ***I need a new consent for this form***, then:
  * enter the **consent name** (internal — visible only to you),
  * specify whether the consent is **required** or **optional**,
  * enter the **consent text** that the client will be accepting,
  * attach a **PDF** file with the document,
  * click ***Add consent*** and **save** the form.
    {% endstep %}
    {% endstepper %}

The participant can download the document by clicking on the consent text in the form. They will also receive the document as an email attachment in the sign-up confirmation.

![Sign-up form showing a consent with a downloadable PDF link](/files/MXNe0bdIpXizG7iVH8vv)

## What does acceptance look like from the client's side?

* During sign-up, the client must check the boxes for **required consents** — they cannot proceed without accepting them.
* **Optional consents** can be accepted or skipped.
* If a consent includes a **PDF** file, the client can download it by clicking on the **consent text** in the form.
* After signing up, the client receives a **confirmation email** with the document attached.

![Sign-up form showing required consent checkboxes and an optional consent section](/files/S9PKMgSquPT3vJAyIax0)

## How to replace a consent or terms document in a form

To replace a consent or terms document in a sign-up form:

{% stepper %}
{% step %}
**Go to *****Settings***** → *****Sign-ups*****.**
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Edit the form in which you want to replace the consent or document.**
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Expand the *****Terms and consents***** section.**
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Remove the old consent using the *****Remove***** button.**
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
[**Add the new consent.**](#how-to-add-a-new-consent-or-terms-document)
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Save the form.**
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

The removed consent is not deleted from the system — it remains available in ***Settings*** → ***Terms and consents***.

![Terms and consents settings page showing a removed consent still listed](/files/s0jbZAzCZl1wEfpVxG5y)

## How to send a document for acceptance by email

If you add participants manually, import them from an Excel file, **or want to send a document to participants who are already enrolled in a course**, you can do this outside of the sign-up form:

{% stepper %}
{% step %}
**Go to the *****Participants***** tab.**
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Select the participants who should receive the document.**
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Click *****Mass action***** → *****Send document*****.**
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Select the document for acceptance or add a new document.**
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Once you've chosen the document, click *****Send*****.**
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

The system will automatically skip participants who have no email address or have already accepted the document.

You can also add extra information, which will appear in the *"Additional information"* section of the email.

The consent acceptance email is **filled in automatically** and **meets legal requirements for accepting terms of service**.

![Screen recording showing the process of sending a document to participants via the Mass action dropdown](/files/AwYpLeVahrHO7Qv7CmOT)

## Accepting terms by email

The participant receives an email asking them to accept the terms. The email includes the document as a PDF attachment so they can download it and review the content.

![Email sent to a participant with a terms acceptance link and PDF attachment](/files/YhniHCqDKquGLzDBuS7H)

## Checking acceptance status

Once a client accepts the document, you will receive a notification in the **Notification Centre**.

To easily see which participants have accepted a given document, you can enable an additional column in the ***Participants*** tab:

{% stepper %}
{% step %}
**Go to the *****Participants***** tab.**
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Click *****Change columns*****.**
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
**Enable the *****Accepted consents and documents***** option.**
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

![Screen recording showing how to enable the Accepted consents and documents column in the Participants table](/files/DQXraa0CoWBoZqjWpxYZ)

## Accepted documents on participant profiles

On each participant's profile, in the ***Terms and consents*** section, you will see the name and text of each accepted consent, along with the attached document, the date of acceptance, and whether the document was accepted via email.

![Participant profile showing the Terms and consents section with accepted documents listed](/files/B8UGn7bGAUocJESp23yM)


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://help.activenow.io/en/online-sign-ups/managing-terms-and-consents.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.