Publishing makes your document live for the people who need to view it. You choose who can see it, click Publish..., and you're live. Signatures, notifications, and the rest of your audience happen when you're ready.
Here's the whole flow, start to finish.
Choose who can access your document
Before you publish, decide who gets to see the document. Hover over it on your Home page or Document Library and click Share (you'll also find it in the top right of the editor). This opens the Document Sharing panel with three tabs:
Collaborators - who can edit the document with you.
Audience Members - who can view it. This is your private audience: the people who sign in to view and sign.
Public Link - anyone with the link can view it, no sign-in required. See Private vs "Public" Links for the difference.
Add a private audience, turn on the public link, or both. You can also set these up inside the publish window in the next step, so it's fine to do it all at once.
Publish your document
Click Publish... in the top right of the editor. The Publish the [your document] window opens with a Who can view section showing two options: Audience Members and Anyone with the link. You need at least one turned on to publish.
Not ready to define your full audience? Publish with just the public link and add a private audience later. As Blissbook puts it on that screen, you can publish now and set up your audience after - signatures, notifications, and reporting will unlock once you do.
When you're happy with who can view it, click Publish. Your document is live.
Start signatures or notify your team
As soon as your document is live, you'll see two things you can do next:
Start Collecting Signatures - request acknowledgement from your employees. Click Collect to set up a signature round.
Notify your team - let your audience members know about the document or signature request by email. Click Notify to open the notification.
Do one, both, or neither. Nothing sends until you choose to send it.
Note: Signatures and notifications go to your private audience, so they need Audience Members set. If you published with a public link only, these two options are locked and you'll see an Add a Private Audience button that takes you to the Document Sharing panel.
Collect signatures or notify later
You don't have to handle signatures and notifications at publish time. Open the document and use the ••• menu in the top right of the editor whenever you're ready:
Start a new Signature Round...
Notify Audience Members...
Both become available once the document is published.
Publishing changes after you're live
Editing a live document works the same way. Make your edits, click Publish..., and choose what to publish. Your audience always sees the latest published version. For the details, see Publish Changes to Your Content.
Your Account Settings
Single sign-on, branding, email delivery, and your employee sync are organization-wide settings, and they can be found in your Setup Checklist, which you can open from the top left of the homepage. They're optional, and you can publish a document without finishing them.
Related articles
Sharing a Live Handbook - the difference between a private audience and a public link, and how to set each.
New Signature Rounds - what happens when you collect acknowledgement signatures.
Notification Emails - how notifications work across the life of your document.