DocuSeal 2.3.0: Open-source alternative to DocuSign with AI features

DocuSeal has released version 2.3.0 of its open-source tool for electronic signatures. The update primarily brings improvements for the form editor and an important security change for Docker installations.

The main innovation is an AI-powered field detection that automatically identifies form fields in PDF documents. Users can access the function via the new context menu by right-clicking on fields. This allows forms to be prepared more quickly for electronic signatures. The context menu also includes functions for configuring, copying, and pasting fields.

Another feature is the new Select mode, which users can activate via the Tab key or the context menu. In Select mode, multiple fields can be selected simultaneously and moved, scaled, or configured together. Multiple selection works as usual via Ctrl+click.

More Security in Docker Environments

For Docker users, version 2.3.0 brings an important security improvement: the Docker app now runs with the role docuseal:docuseal instead of with root privileges. This increases security in standard Docker Compose installations where storage and environment variables are on the host system. Users with alternative installations that integrate environment variables differently or use S3 storage are not affected by this change.

Open-Source Alternative to DocuSign

DocuSeal describes itself as a self-hosted alternative to proprietary services like DocuSign. The software is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and can be operated on your servers or in the cloud.

The platform offers a WYSIWYG PDF form editor with twelve field types, including signature, date, file, and checkbox fields. Multiple signatories can work on a document simultaneously. The software sends automated emails via SMTP and optionally stores data locally, on AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Microsoft Azure. Electronic signatures are verifiable according to the PDF standard.

In addition to the free version, DocuSeal offers Pro features such as white-labeling, user roles, reminders, SMS verification, conditional fields, mass sending via CSV or XLSX, and single sign-on via SAML. The platform is SOC-2 and ISO-27001 certified.

DocuSeal can be installed via Docker with a few commands and uses SQLite as the database by default. The software optionally supports PostgreSQL and MySQL. Further information can be found on the project's GitHub page.

(fo)