The Getting started checklist

A new administrator lands on a checklist rather than an empty portal.

Every step’s completion is worked out from real state rather than being ticked off by hand. That makes the list honest: it cannot say the add-in is deployed when nobody has ever received a signature.

The steps

Step	Completes when	Required
Connect Microsoft 365	Sigil’s application can read your directory	Yes
Add a payment method	A card is on file in Stripe	Yes, unless nobody invoices you
Add your billing details	A company name and a complete billing address are saved	Yes, unless nobody invoices you
Accept the Data Processing Agreement	Acceptance is recorded against your organisation	No
Customise your signature	The active template is no longer the seeded starter	Yes
Deploy the Outlook add-in	Sigil has seen a real signature request from your tenant	Yes
Invite your team	At least one other person has been given a role	No
Send a test email	A test email has been sent	No

Required and optional steps

The required steps are the ones without which signatures do not reach anybody. The panel stays open until all of them are done.

The optional steps are prompts rather than gates. They matter, but an organisation whose signatures are working correctly should not be nagged by a permanently open checklist because of them.

The data processing agreement is deliberately in the optional group for that reason. It is how you evidence Article 28, so it belongs on the list, but an unsigned document holding the checklist open for a tenant whose signatures work would be the wrong trade. See compliance.

An organisation nobody invoices moves both billing steps into the optional group rather than ticking them off. They keep their Optional badge and stay listed as not done, because no card was added and no billing details were saved, but they stop holding the panel open and stop counting toward the progress line. That is the honest reading: the steps were not completed, they were excused. See what the Billing view shows for which arrangements those are.

Being managed by a partner is a separate thing from being excused. A managed client can still see the two billing steps listed as outstanding and required, even though its provider is the one invoiced. Nothing stops working as a result, and the client is not charged. See partner billing.

An organisation on invoice terms is a different case again. The payment step asks whether Sigil can collect what you owe rather than whether a card exists, so it completes for an account paying by invoice without one ever being added. It reads “Payment method” and says that invoices are emailed to your billing contact.

Unlike the excused steps above, it stays required and counts toward the progress line, because it genuinely is done rather than being set aside.

Cancelling is the exception. The step reopens for both arrangements, because at that point it stops asking about payment and starts asking you to reactivate.

Connecting Microsoft 365

This is the first step in every sense. Without admin consent, Sigil cannot read your directory, so there is nothing to personalise a signature with and no users to pull in.

It completes when Sigil’s application registration can actually read your directory, which means it also un-ticks itself if that consent is later revoked. A Microsoft 365 administrator grants it once. See connect your organisation.

The add-in step

This is the one that matters and the one that is easiest to get wrong, so it carries the full instructions: the Microsoft 365 Integrated apps steps and the manifest URL, with a button to copy it.

It completes only when the service has actually seen a signature request arrive from your organisation. Uploading the manifest does not tick it. Somebody composing a message and getting a signature does.

That is the point. Deployment is asynchronous and takes 6 to 72 hours to propagate, so a step that completed on upload would tell you nothing useful.

See deploy the add-in.

Publishing a signature

New tenants are seeded with a ready-made starter design, so this step completes when you replace it with something of your own.

That is a deliberate default. Opening a signature product on a blank page makes the first hour harder than it needs to be, and a seeded design gives you something to edit rather than something to invent.

The panel

The checklist shows automatically until the required steps are done, or until you dismiss it. Dismissing it is the one piece of state stored about the checklist; everything else is computed.

You can return to it from Getting started in the sidebar at any time.

After the checklist

Once the basics work, the usual next steps are assignment rules if different groups need different signatures, a compliance footer if legal needs one, and Activity to confirm coverage across the organisation.

For a larger deployment, planning a rollout sets out a phased approach.