For many businesses signed up to Windows and Microsoft 365, using SharePoint is a necessary evil, but a new update may finally make it less painful for users everywhere.
The online collaboration platform is often a major pain point for users looking to access and collaborate on documents and files within an organization.
However these processes could soon be a lot easier after Microsoft revealed it is bringing esignature tools to SharePoint, hopefully speeding up approval and other processes.
SharePoint esignature
In an entry on the official Microsoft 365 roadmap, the company noted, "Microsoft's native eSignature service allows users to request simple electronic signatures from internal and external recipients for a PDF document in SharePoint."
In theory, this should massively cut down on waiting time for employees at all level waiting for a sign-off or approval from bosses or co-workers, but could also mean to quicker processing of invoices or contracts, with approvers simply needing to add an esignature via SharePoint rather than have a face-to-face meeting or signing.
The company also notes that this update adds an extra level of safety and security when it comes to dealing with valuable business documents such as contracts, noting how it means, "recipients can easily sign documents without the document leaving the trusted boundaries of Microsoft".
The update is rolling out now, and will be available to all SharePoint web users imminently.
The news is the latest boost to SharePoint, which took a surprisingly central stage at Microsoft Ignite recently with the launch of a new premium version.
The imaginatively-named SharePoint Premium will receive the full power of Microsoft's Copilot AI platform, giving it richer content processing, organizational skills and governance capabilities and controls.
This includes a new integrated file viewer that will offer support for more than 400 file types, a new Business Documents app in Teams that can send alerts for contracts that are expiring soon or need attention, and a "rules deviation engine" that is able to spot document changes.
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