Good Seal
Notes

14 August 2026 · 2 min read

Radio button or checkbox: how to pick the right field

One is for choosing exactly one option. The other is for anything else. Getting it backwards on a contract quietly creates a document that can be filled in two contradictory ways.

Placing fields on a contract, the choice between a radio button and a checkbox looks cosmetic. It is not. The two answer different kinds of question, and picking the wrong one leaves the document able to be filled in ambiguously - which defeats the point of having fields at all.

The rule

A radio button is for exactly one of several options. A checkbox is for yes or no, one at a time, independent of anything else on the page.

Radio buttons: mutually exclusive choices

"Which payment schedule applies — monthly, quarterly, or annual?" is one question with three possible answers, and only one can be true at once. Radio buttons sharing a group name enforce exactly that: choosing one clears the others. Good Seal groups them the same way — give several buttons the same group name and the signer can pick exactly one.

Checkboxes: independent yes or no

"I have read the privacy policy" and "I agree to receive marketing email" are two separate questions. Someone might tick one and not the other. Turning those into radio buttons in a shared group would be a real bug: ticking the second would silently untick the first, and neither party would notice until it mattered.

The mistake that is easy to make

"Select your plan: Basic / Pro / Enterprise" placed as three separate checkboxes is the single most common field mistake on any signing platform, because a checkbox is the field most people reach for first. Nothing stops a signer from ticking all three, or none - the document does not enforce the one-of-three the sentence implies.

  • Ask: could more than one of these be true at the same time?
  • If yes, use checkboxes.
  • If no - exactly one of these must be true - use radio buttons in one group.

Good Seal keeps checkboxes independent by default, even across custom fields sharing a name. Nothing you place will act like a radio group unless you explicitly group it, so the mistake above has to be made on purpose rather than by accident.

It is a small decision that determines whether a filled-out contract is actually unambiguous. Worth the extra ten seconds to get right.

Good Seal is a free DocuSign alternative: upload a PDF, place the fields, email a link. The other side signs in the browser and everyone gets a sealed copy.

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