Annature Payments is officially live. If you haven't already, head to the Payments section in the left-hand navigation to complete your registration and get started.

Xero users: reconnection required

If you have the Xero integration connected, you'll need to reconnect it before you can take full advantage of Annature Payments. This is because Payments requires additional permissions from your Xero account — specifically to read your invoices and mark them as paid once payment is collected.

To reconnect, go to Settings > Integrations and click Reconnect next to Xero. The process takes less than a minute. For more detail on what we're asking access to and why, see our Xero permissions and Reconnecting to Xero help articles.

Even if you don't plan to use Annature Payments right now, you'll still need to reconnect. We maintain a single version of the Xero integration across all accounts, so this is required regardless. You'll see an orange notification banner in your dashboard prompting you to do this.

Join us for a live walkthrough

We're running two webinars to walk you through everything Annature Payments can do. We'll be joined by Cameron from Pinch, our payments gateway partner, who'll be on hand to answer any questions about how payments are processed.

• Tomorrow — Register here at 1:00pm AEST

• Next Tuesday — Register here at 11:00am AEST

We'd love to see you there. And if you can't make it, register anyway — we'll send you a recording afterwards.

— Corey

We’re excited to announce that Annature Payments goes live on March 23.

Annature Payments is designed to help you get paid faster by giving you two powerful new ways to collect fees through Annature.

Collect payments at the time of signing

You’ll be able to attach a payment to an envelope so recipients can sign and pay in one seamless flow.

This is ideal for invoices, upfront fees, deposits, and any workflow where you want signing and payment to happen together.

Collect pre-authorisation for future charging

You’ll also be able to collect a client’s payment authorisation during signing, allowing you to securely store a payment method for future use.

This makes it possible to automatically charge Xero invoices at a later date, without having to chase payment manually.

Secure early access now

To use Annature Payments, you’ll need to complete payments registration before launch. As part of this process, you’ll be asked to set up a merchant account and complete standard verification and KYC checks.

We strongly recommend completing registration early so you’re ready to start using Payments from day one on March 23.

We expect strong demand once Payments launches, so completing your registration ahead of time is the best way to avoid delays and start using the feature as soon as it goes live.

Look for the new Payments registration link in the left-hand navigation bar (available to organisation owners).

This is quite a technical update. If you’d prefer a non-technical overview, jump to the Summary right at the end; otherwise, read on for the details.

Today we’re rolling out a major upgrade to Annature’s PDF processing pipeline. We process millions of PDFs every week, so faster uploads, far more reliable conversions and much better output fidelity make a real, day-to-day difference when preparing and signing documents.

Quick context - how PDFs work in Annature

Every time a PDF is uploaded we rasterise each page to a PNG so the document can be displayed, annotated and signed in the browser.

That’s standard for web-based digital signing: you don’t interact with the PDF directly in the browser — you interact with page images (one PNG per page) and signature/field overlays rendered on top of those images.

For this to work reliably a PDF needs to be reasonably well-formed; when PDFs are malformed the rasterisation step becomes slow, lossy or error-prone.

The problem we’ve been fighting

Many PDFs aren’t produced “to spec”. Systems that generate PDFs (accounting software, portals, CRMs and government sites) often emit files that are technically malformed. In fact, roughly 90% of files uploaded to Annature aren’t fully compliant with the ISO 32000 PDF specification.

The result: conversions fail, pages take ages to render, text gets scrambled, form fields don’t flatten correctly and hyperlinks disappear. In December 2025 the main library we relied on reached end-of-life, so we used that moment to move to a modern, actively supported processing stack.

Over the past month we handled bug reports where malformed PDFs were a) not uploading, b) uploading but taking ages to process, or c) uploading but being modified in ways that damaged content. We fixed those issues and completed a wholesale migration to the new processor.

What we changed

• Migrated the PDF processor to a modern, actively supported processing stack with much better handling of malformed PDFs.

• Reworked our normalisation and optimisation steps so malformed documents are sanitised and standardised automatically.

• Hardened field flattening, text handling and hyperlink preservation so documents remain intact during processing.

• Tuned PDF compression: small files get better compression; large files now prioritise speed.

• Extensive end-to-end testing and regression work to ensure full fidelity for previously problematic documents.

What you’ll notice

• Uploads are 5–6× faster once your file reaches our servers (your local network speed still applies, so if you have poor internet you won’t see much difference on the client side).

• PDF → PNG processing is 11–12× faster — and that’s the big practical win. When you upload a PDF to prepare an envelope we show a page tally (e.g. 1/32, 2/32) while we rasterise each page to a PNG. You must wait for that processing to finish before you can add fields and prepare the document. Because rasterisation is now an order of magnitude faster, that wait time is dramatically reduced — you can start adding fields and preparing envelopes much sooner.

• Signing and viewing large documents feels snappier thanks to better compression. For PDFs under 5 MB compression is ~100% better, which means the browser downloads far less image data (we’re often sending ~50% less data than before). The result: pages load faster while signers move through a large document and scrolling or navigating pages is noticeably quicker.

• API behaviour improves too — for integrations that send envelopes via the API, the “envelope_sent” webhook is only fired after page processing completes. Faster processing therefore means webhooks and downstream automation trigger sooner.

• Fidelity: malformed PDFs that previously produced scrambled text, broken fields or missing links now process correctly and preserve original content.

• Reliability: far fewer edge-case failures and one-off fixes — the pipeline is much more robust and predictable.

Note on large files: for PDFs over 5 MB we now prioritise processing speed over the absolute smallest output size. Practically this means very large files will process much faster, but the resulting images or outputs may be larger than before. For PDFs under 5 MB we’ve improved compression without compromising quality.

Faster uploads and dramatically faster processing mean envelopes are ready sooner, signers see document pages load and navigate much faster, API-driven envelopes trigger webhooks earlier, and your teams spend less time waiting or re-uploading documents. Better fidelity means fewer manual interventions and far fewer cases where PDF content is changed or lost during conversion.

Increased upload and page limits

Because of these upgrades we’ve increased some of the limits across the app:

• Individual document size (pre-processing): 30 MB → 50 MB.

• Total envelope size (pre-processing): 30 MB → 50 MB (sum of all documents uploaded to an envelope).

• Pages per document: 500 → 2,000.

• Pages per envelope (total): 500 → 2,000.

These are significant increases and have only been possible because of the performance, reliability and compression improvements in the new pipeline. Note: we measure the file-size limits at upload (pre-processing).

Summary (non-technical)

• We rebuilt the part of Annature that turns PDFs into the images you see when preparing and signing documents.

• Uploads and page processing are much faster: you’ll see 5–12× improvements depending on the step. The page tally you watch when preparing an envelope now completes much quicker, letting you add fields and send envelopes sooner.

• Smaller PDFs compress much better; very large PDFs now process much faster. This also means signers download less data when browsing large documents.

• We’ve increased document limits: up to 50 MB per document, 50 MB total per envelope, and up to 2,000 pages per document / per envelope.

• Fewer broken documents and far fewer edge-case failures — text, fields and links are preserved much more reliably.

• No action required: just upload documents as before. If something looks wrong, send us the PDF and we’ll sort it.

This update is live in production. We’ll keep monitoring for any remaining edge cases — and a big thank-you to everyone who reported problematic PDFs and for your patience while we completed the upgrade.

We’ve launched a new 21 CFR Part 11 module to help organisations that must meet U.S. FDA electronic records and signatures requirements. The module is available now in Annature and is designed to make it straightforward to collect signatures that align with Part 11 expectations.

What’s new

• Part 11 signature field — a dedicated field type you can add to any document. When used, the field requires recipients to authenticate themselves before signing and records a tamper-evident audit trail tied to that signature.

• Auditability and controls — signatures captured via the Part 11 field include the metadata and controls organisations need to demonstrate signature integrity, traceability and accountability.

• Availability — the module is available now for all accounts and is enabled by default.

Who this is for

This is aimed at FDA-regulated organisations and any team that needs a higher-assurance signature workflow: life sciences, medical device manufacturers, clinical research organisations and regulated healthcare providers. It’s built to make compliant signing easier without forcing teams into awkward manual processes.

How this helps

Using the Part 11 signature field gives you a signing flow that enforces recipient authentication, produces a clear and auditable record, and reduces the manual work needed to produce regulatory evidence. In short: stronger authentication, clearer audit trails, and less paperwork.

We’ve also introduced a new Stamp field — a regulation-friendly visual stamp that many overseas regulators have requested. The Stamp field complements the Part 11 signature by adding a visible regulatory element to signed documents.

Welcome back everyone and happy new year.

We’re kicking off 2026 with a small but useful change to how you reach us from inside Annature: we’re moving our live chat and support workflow into Productlane. This isn’t a big change for you — it’s just us getting better tools so we can help you faster and more clearly.

Why we’re changing things

Right now our Hubspot live chat is doing too many jobs. People use it for urgent issues, slower non-urgent support requests, and feature ideas — all in the same place. That makes it harder for you and for our support team: conversations get mixed up, long-running items get lost in chat, and there’s no public place for customers to see what we’re working on or vote on features.

Productlane lets us tidy that up. We’ll keep the realtime chat you already rely on for urgent help, move slower support work into a proper support portal, and give feature requests a dedicated public Requests page that doubles as a roadmap.

What’s changing (and what isn’t)

• Live chat (immediate help) — stays. The chat experience will be the same, but it now runs through Productlane. You’ll see a new ( ? ) widget with a Chat with us button in the bottom-right of the app — the same icon you used to open this changelog. Click that to speak to the team in realtime for things that need an immediate answer.

• Support requests (non-urgent) — moves to a dedicated support portal. Use this for queries that need more context or time (things that may take hours or days). You’ll sign in with your Annature account and open a ticket. That helps us give you clearer updates and track work properly.

• Feature requests and roadmap — gets a proper home. We’re adding a Requests page where you can submit ideas, see what we’ve reviewed, check the pipeline, and vote on features that matter to you. It makes our roadmap transparent and lets you help prioritise what we build next.

Note: The Requests page will be pretty empty at first — we’ll be filling it over the coming weeks as our team prepares the 2026 roadmap. If you don’t see much there yet, don’t worry — we’ll be adding items and context shortly.

This isn’t a new support process to learn — it’s just a cleaner one. The people answering your chats are the same; we’ve simply given them better tools to manage and follow up.

In short

• For urgent help: click Chat with us (bottom-left) and open a live chat.

• For issues that need tracking, files or a longer response: open a support request in the Support portal.

• For product ideas and voting: use the Request a feature page to submit and follow items on our roadmap.

We still have a few open live chat conversations in HubSpot, so while you won’t be able to continue those threads in the old widget, we’ll close them off over the next week and follow up by email as needed.

If anything feels odd during the switch, tell us in chat and we’ll sort it quickly.

Corey.

Hey everyone, Corey here.

You’ve probably seen a wave of emails from other vendors about ACMA’s new Sender ID rules and the national Sender ID register. There’s been a lot of noise and confusion, so I want to cut through it and explain what this actually means for Annature customers.

What's going on (short version)

ACMA is rolling out a national SMS Sender ID register, and carriers are updating how they handle alphanumeric Sender IDs to reduce impersonation scams. The intention is good — but the rollout has created uncertainty, and some vendors are sending alarmist messages telling customers they need to register Sender IDs themselves.

Why? Because many of those vendors don’t have the same carrier arrangements we do, so they’re pushing the work back onto their customers.

Annature has always allowed you to brand your SMS notifications with an alphanumeric Sender ID (like your firm name). This has always been a manually screened process — we verify every request and manage all the carrier-side approvals. When we assign a Sender ID for you, it’s already treated as vetted.

Our approach

We have a long-standing carrier partnership and a screening process that already meets the requirements of the new framework. Nothing in the ACMA changes affects how messages sent through Annature are handled.

Other vendors may require you to self-register your Sender ID because of limitations in their own carrier setups — but that does not apply to Annature customers.

What this means for you

• If you already have a custom Sender ID through Annature: nothing changes. It will continue to work exactly as it does today for messages sent via Annature. There's nothing you need to register or update on your end.

• If you want a custom Sender ID: just contact our support team. We'll review the request and handle it the same way we always have.

• If you’re getting emails from other vendors: that’s not an Annature problem — it’s a vendor problem. Those requirements relate to their carrier arrangements, not ours.

We've had quite a few customers reach out with questions about this, so I hope this clears things up — and if anything's still unclear, just get in touch and we'll help.

We’re rolling out envelope expiration — a simple way to set a firm signing deadline for any envelope.

When you add an expiration date to an envelope, it will be automatically voided if signatures aren’t completed by that date, so no further signatures can be added. This is useful whenever a document needs to be actioned by a fixed deadline — for example a contract, quote, limited-time offer, engagement letter or regulatory form. It helps you avoid stale agreements and makes deadlines explicit for signers.

We built this feature because we kept hearing the same thing from customers: people wanted a simple, reliable way to enforce deadlines so signers couldn’t come back weeks later and sign an out-of-date document. Rather than asking teams to manage deadlines manually, we wanted to give you a single control you can set when you send a document and then forget about.

Full instructions and examples are in the docs: https://annature.productlane.com/docs/advanced-envelope-features/envelope-expiration

We’re teaming up with Vinyl and SavvyWise to deliver a live webinar designed specifically for accounting firms who want to stay ahead of the curve in 2025.

Join us as Corey Cacic (Annature CEO) breaks down how accounting firms are using ID verification at engagement, and how to automatically send engagement letters for signing with zero manual handling.

Thursday, 06 November
11:00am - 12:00pm AEST

Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-SUDz0m1Q6qeCQ6F2jXdVw

Hope to see you there!