How to send a contract by text message
Plenty of customers answer a text in minutes and an email in days. You can't usefully text someone a PDF to sign, but you can text them a signing link that opens the contract on their phone. Here's how to do it with SignMaster, which emails the request and lets you copy the link to text from your own phone, plus how to keep that link safe.
Updated November 5, 2026 · 3 min read
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Why not text the PDF itself
A PDF in a text message lands in the customer's messages app, where they can read it but not sign it without saving it, finding a signing tool and sending it back. Some phones shrink or convert attachments. A signing link avoids all of that: they tap it, the contract opens in their browser, and they sign with a finger.
Text a signing link with SignMaster
SignMaster sends signing requests by email; it doesn't send text messages itself. What it gives you is each signer's private link to share however you like. Each send is an envelope: one or more documents going to one or more signers.
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Prepare and send the envelope
Click New envelope, upload the contract, add the customer's name and email, place their fields, and click Send for signature. The customer also gets the request by email, as a backup.
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Open the envelope and find the signer
On the envelope page, find the customer's line. When it's their turn to sign, it shows a Copy link button.
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Copy their link
Click Copy link. SignMaster creates a fresh private link for that person and copies it; links you sent earlier keep working.
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Paste it into a text
In Messages or your texting app, write who you are and what it's for, paste the link and send: "Hi Marco, it's Jen from the roofing crew. Here's the contract for Thursday's job: (link)."
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They sign on their phone
The link opens the signing page in their phone's browser. They agree to sign electronically, fill their fields and sign with a finger. Nothing to install.
The activity on the envelope records that the link was copied, and by whom. When the customer signs, both of you get the signed PDF with its certificate of completion by email.
Keep a texted link safe
A signing link works for whoever holds it, and texts get forwarded and shared on family phones. For anything sensitive, add an access code on Message & settings before you send:
- Code you share: you set a code and tell the signer separately, by phone call or in person. SignMaster shows it once and stores only a scrambled copy.
- Emailed code: SignMaster emails a one-time code to the signer's address when they open the link, so a forwarded text alone isn't enough.
- An expiry, so an old link sitting in someone's messages stops working after the number of days you choose.
Never text the code with the link
If the access code is in the same message as the link, it protects nothing. Say it on the phone, or use an emailed code.
Texting a link to lots of people
For a form many people sign, like a waiver or a registration, turn a template into a public link instead. Everyone who opens it fills and signs their own copy. Text that one link to a group, print its QR code on a sign, or put it on your website.
Questions? Answers.
Does SignMaster send contracts by SMS?
No. SignMaster emails signing requests. Use Copy link on the envelope to get a signer's private link and text it yourself from your own phone.
Is a contract signed from a text message link legally binding?
The way the link arrives doesn't change the signature. Under the federal ESIGN Act, an e-signature can't be denied legal effect just because it's electronic, and the certificate records who signed and when.
Can I copy the link before it's the signer's turn?
The Copy link button appears when it's that signer's turn. In an ordered envelope, it shows once the people before them have signed.
What if my customer has no email address?
Every recipient needs a valid email address before you can send, because that's where their signed copy goes. A family member's address they can reach works, or help them set up a free email account first.