Merging Wet-Signed or Digital Signature Pages into the Petition
Glade generates a Signature Pages.pdf every time you generate a petition, and lets you splice the client's wet-signed pages back into the petition PDF — page by page, in the right place — without regenerating the document or asking the client to sign again.
Tutorial:
Overview
For firms that collect wet signatures, three things used to be manual and painful:
Getting the signature pages out. Pulling signature pages out of the petition to send to the client was a manual extract-and-upload job.
Re-signing after any edit. Change one number on a schedule and the whole signed page was stale — even though the signature itself was still valid.
Getting the signed pages back in. In districts like the Central District of California, signed pages must live inside the filed petition PDF, not as a separate ECF event. That meant hand-swapping pages before filing.
Glade now handles all three. Signature pages are generated automatically, signature-block-only mode keeps signatures valid through unrelated edits, and Merge Signature Pages puts the executed pages back into the petition for you.
The merge flow lives in Glade 2.0.
How It Works
1. Export the signature pages
Every time you generate the petition, Glade also produces Signature Pages.pdf in the Forms & Schedules folder of Case Documents, right alongside Petition (Draft).pdf. Nothing to click — it's created on every generation run.
It contains only the signature pages, in the same order they appear in the petition. Download it and send it to your client, or attach it to the checklist item they're already working from.
Two formats, set once per firm. Under Settings → Petition settings → Signature pages mode:
Mode | What it generates | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
Full page | Each document's complete signature page | You want the client to see the full page they're signing |
Signature block only | Isolated signature blocks, on their own page | You want edits outside the signature area to not invalidate a signature the client already gave |
Signature block only is required for merging.
2. Collect the signed pages
Add a document checklist named Signature Pages to the case (the name has to match). Signed pages uploaded there — by the client in their portal, or by your team — become available to merge.
Glade accepts PDF, PNG, and JPEG, so a phone photo of a signed page works. A single multi-page PDF containing several signed pages works too.
3. Merge them into the petition
Open the petition PDF preview on the case and click Merge Signature Pages.
Review the form list. Glade lists only the generated forms that actually contain a signature page — nothing else clutters the list.
Map a page to each form. Click Upload on a form to see the files in the Signature Pages checklist, pick the signed page, and preview it before confirming. Use Skip for forms you're not merging this round.
Click Merge. Glade works through each mapped form and reports a result per form.
Check the results. Each row shows Merged, Needs review, Not merged, or Failed.
The merged petition replaces the petition document in place — the row keeps its name, so your filing packet picks up the signed version automatically.
How Glade Knows Where the Page Goes
Glade reads the footer on the signed page — the Official Form 106Dec / page 1 of 1 line every official form carries — and matches it to the page with the same footer in the petition. It reads the PDF text layer first and falls back to OCR when the text layer doesn't carry the footer, or when the upload is a photo.
If the match isn't unambiguous, Glade replaces nothing. A footer it can't read, or a page that could plausibly belong in more than one place, comes back Needs review and the petition is left untouched. A wrong-page splice into a document you're about to file is the one outcome this feature must never produce.
Key Details
Both settings must be on. Signature-page merging requires Signature block only mode plus merging enabled for your firm. Contact Glade support to turn it on.
The checklist name matters. The checklist must be named Signature Pages for its uploads to appear as merge candidates.
Merge after your last regeneration. Regenerating the petition produces a fresh, unsigned petition. If you regenerate after merging, you'll need to merge again.
One page per form, per merge. Each merge replaces one signature page in one form. Map several forms and merge them in a single pass; results are reported per form.
Photos are fitted to the page. PNG and JPEG uploads are placed on a page sized to match the form, centered, and rotated if the photo is sideways.
Every merge is recorded. Glade logs which page was replaced in which form, so a case's signature history is auditable.
FAQ
Q: Do I have to generate signature pages manually?
A: No. Signature Pages.pdf is created automatically every time you generate the petition, in Forms & Schedules.
Q: A client already signed, and now we need to fix a number on a schedule. Do they have to sign again?
A: Not if you're using Signature block only mode. Because the signature page holds only the signature block, edits elsewhere in the form don't change the page the client signed, so the existing signature stays good.
Q: Can the client just take a photo of the signed page?
A: Yes. PNG and JPEG uploads are accepted and converted to a properly sized page. A clear, straight-on photo where the form footer is legible merges most reliably, because that footer is what Glade matches on.
Q: One of my forms came back "Needs review." What happened?
A: Glade couldn't confidently place that page — usually because the footer wasn't readable, or the footer didn't clearly match exactly one page in the petition. Nothing was changed. Re-scan or re-photograph the page so the footer is legible, confirm you picked the right file for that form, and try again.
Q: Can I merge signed pages for several forms at once?
A: Yes. Map a file to each form, then click Merge once. Glade processes them in order and shows a per-form result.
Q: What if I regenerate the petition after merging?
A: The newly generated petition is unsigned — regeneration builds from the current case data, not from the merged file. Merge signed pages after your final regeneration, or merge again afterward.
Q: Why don't I see the Merge Signature Pages button?
A: The feature is enabled per firm and requires Signature block only mode. If you're on Glade 2.0 with wet-signature workflows and don't see it, contact Glade support.
Q: Does the merged petition get filed with the court?
A: Yes. The merge updates the petition document your filing packet uses, which is exactly what districts that require signed pages inside the filed petition — such as the Central District of California — need.