---
title: "Signers, Signing Modes & Cohorts"
space: "Frappe Sign Documentation"
url: "https://eben.isambane.co.za/frappe-sign-docs/signers-signing-modes-cohorts"
updated: "2026-08-06"
---


# Signers, Signing Modes & Cohorts

## Signer roles

Each row in a request's **Signers** table has a role:

- **Signer** - actually signs. Only Signer rows receive signing fields in the Designer.
- **Viewer** - can see the document via their own link, but isn't asked to sign.
- **Approver** - reviews/approves without necessarily placing a signature field.

## Parallel vs. Sequential

**Signing Mode** on the request controls the order signers are notified in:

- **Parallel** - every signer can sign at the same time. All rows are treated as order `1`.
- **Sequential** - signers sign in **Signing Order**. A later signer can't sign until everyone before them has finished.

## Cohorts

Sequential signing order doesn't have to be one signer per step - you can give more than one signer the *same* order number, forming a cohort that can all sign in parallel before the next order is unlocked. For example `1, 1, 2, 3` lets the two order-`1` signers sign in either order or at the same time; only once *both* have finished does order `2` become eligible.

![A Sequential request with a two-person cohort at order 2 (one Signer, one Approver) after a single Signer at order 1](/files/fsign-signers-cohorts.png)

Here, the first signer (order 1) must complete before either of the order-2 rows becomes eligible - and those two can then proceed in any order relative to each other.

Next: place the actual fields these signers will fill in - see **The Signing Designer**.