Managing the Document Library: Categories and Custom Documents

Purpose

The Document Library is where you keep the documents employees must read, acknowledge, sign or fill in: handbooks, policies, agreements and your own forms. You organize documents into categories, decide whether each document only needs to be read and acknowledged or needs signatures and filled-in fields, and assign documents to one employee, a group, or everyone. UZIO tracks who has completed what and notifies you when an employee signs or declines.

Who can do this: the Employer Administrator, or a user whose custom role grants Documents Library under Company Access. To see a specific employee's completed documents, the role also needs the Employee Documents tier under Employee Access for that employee. See Understanding Roles and Access.

The Document Library is managed in the Employer Portal on the web. Employees complete assigned documents in the Employee Portal, or in the UZIO Mobile App, where Edit and Sign opens the same signing experience.

When to use this

• A policy or handbook must be read and acknowledged by every employee, or by everyone at one location.
• An agreement needs the employee's signature, and sometimes yours as well.
• A form needs the employee to fill in information, with their name, address or SSN pre-filled from their record.

For read-only reference material that needs no acknowledgement (benefit guides, org charts), use Resources instead. See Adding and Managing Resources. For Form I-9, use the I-9 workflow, not a custom document. See I-9 & E-Verify.

Acknowledge or sign?

You no longer pick a document type up front. Every document is added the same way, and what the employee does depends on the fields you place on it.

You can also reserve fields for someone at your company to complete after the employee, by answering Yes to the employer-signing question when you add the document.

Create a custom document category

Categories keep similar documents together, for example "Safety Policies" or "Equipment Agreements".

1. Go to Documents > Document Library in the left navigation.
2. Click Add Category at the top of the page.
3. In the Add New Category popup, enter a Category Name (the only field) and click Save.

The new category appears in the library with its own + Add Document link and an edit (pencil) icon for renaming it later.

The categories

Each category shows its document count and a short description. The library ships with Agreements, Employee Handbooks, Tax and Compliance Forms and Custom, plus any categories you add.

• Custom and the categories you create can be renamed (pencil icon).
• Agreements, Employee Handbooks and Tax and Compliance Forms cannot be renamed.
• Tax and Compliance Forms is system-managed. It holds platform-provided documents such as the Form I-9. You can assign from it but cannot add documents to it. Put your own compliance documents in a category you create.

Add a document to a category

1. On the Document Library page, find the category and click + Add Document next to its name. The document setup page opens.
2. Enter the Document Name (this is what employees see) and a Description.
3. Under Select Template, click Browse file and upload the document. PDF only — password-protected or encrypted PDFs are rejected, because fields cannot be printed onto them.
4. Answer "Do you want to share this document with other linked Companies?"
5. Answer "Do the Employer(s) also need to sign the document?" Choose Yes if someone at your company must sign after the employee.
6. If you chose Yes, an Employer Signatory dropdown appears. You can name a specific employer user, choose Reporting Manager (which resolves to each employee's own manager), or leave it blank.
7. Click Configure & Save. The Configure Fields screen opens.

Placing fields on the document

The Configure Fields screen shows your PDF with a fields panel beside it. Drag each field onto the page where it belongs.

First set Assigned to at the top of the panel — Employee or Employer. Every field you drag belongs to whoever is selected, and the colours carry onto the document: blue boxes are the employee's, green the employer's. The Employer option appears only if you answered Yes to the employer-signing question.

Click a placed field to mark it Required, duplicate it, or delete it. Required is not offered on signature boxes, because every signature box must be signed.

When the layout is done, click Save. At least one employee signature is required, and if you answered Yes to employer signing, an employer signature is required too. The document then appears under its category, ready to assign.

For the full field reference, the save rules, and what the finished signed PDF and its audit trail contain, see Configuring Documents for Signature. For the employer's own signature, see Countersigning a Document and Changing the Signatory.

Assign documents to employees

Select one or more documents in the library and click Assign to Employee(s). The same option is available per document from its Actions. You can assign to one employee, multiple employees, or all employees in a class or work location.

What happens after you assign

• Each employee receives an email that you have assigned them documents to review and sign, with a link to the Employee Portal.
• The document appears under Your Action Needed on the employee's home page until they complete it.
• Employees who have not completed a document receive reminder emails listing the document and its due date.
• When an employee signs or acknowledges, you receive an email naming the document. If the document has employer fields, the email asks you to complete your part.
• Employees cannot decline a document from the Document Library. Agreements, handbooks and custom documents offer no decline option. The only document an employee can decline is an offer letter, which is part of hiring rather than the Document Library.
• Documents that carry an expiration date trigger an expiry reminder to the employee and to you as the date approaches.

The completed document is stored on the employee's record, under Documents, for both of you.

Sign or acknowledge on an employee's behalf

By default, only the employee can complete a document assigned to them. If you need to complete one for an employee (for example, a signed paper copy exists and the employee has no portal access), two settings must be in place:

1. In Settings > Preferences, set "Allow employers to sign or acknowledge the documents on behalf of the employees?" to Yes. The default is No. See Managing Employer Preferences.
2. Your role must include Employee Portal Impersonation. The Employer Administrator grants this in Manage Users.

Then impersonate the employee and complete the document from their view. Use this deliberately: it records a completion under the employee's name.

Common problems

The employee says they have nothing to sign. Check that the assignment saved (the document's assignee list), that the employee has registered for the portal (unregistered employees cannot open it; use Send Registration Link on the Employees page), and that they are looking under Your Action Needed.

I cannot add a document to Tax and Compliance Forms. That category is system-managed. Create your own category for compliance documents.

An employee says they do not want to sign. There is no decline option on Document Library documents, so nothing will come back to you as a refusal — the document simply stays Pending with Employee. Speak with them. If they will sign on paper, keep the paper copy and, if your preference and role allow, acknowledge on their behalf.

The document will not upload. Only PDF files are accepted. Convert the file to PDF first. A PDF that is password-protected or encrypted is also rejected, because UZIO cannot print fields onto it — save an unprotected copy and upload that.

I cannot save the layout. If you answered Yes to employer signing, the document needs both an employee signature box and an employer signature box before it will save. If you answered No, it needs at least one employee signature box — or no fields at all, in which case UZIO adds a Signature Page at the end.

I want to fix a typo in a document already assigned. Fix it on the document and re-assign. Every assignment keeps its own copy of the document and its field layout from the moment it was assigned, so editing the document does not disturb anyone who already has it, and it does not correct their copy either. Copies already out must be re-assigned to pick up the change.

Still stuck?

Please reach out to us at support@uzio.com or call +1-571-601-1752. Include the document name and category, the employee's name or ID, what you assigned and when, and a screenshot of the document's status. Do not attach the employee's signed documents.

Related articles

• Configuring Documents for Signature: the full field reference, save rules, signed PDF and audit trail
• Countersigning a Document and Changing the Signatory: the employer's own signature
• Best Practices: Organizing Employee Documents
• Managing Employer Preferences: the on-behalf signing preference and the employee upload switch
• Managing Users and Roles: Documents Library and Employee Documents access
• Managing Employees: Viewing and Editing Employee Records
• Employee side: Viewing and Uploading Documents