Use Docusign to pre-fill but not sign documents - docusignapi

Question

We have a flow where we want to generate completed contracts with data pre-filled from our application. In some cases, the documents then need to be signed by a human, but in other cases they don't actually need a human signature (e.g. we don't need a human review of the generated contract). Can I use Docusign to implement both kinds of documents? We'd like to have one person set up all the tabs for all of our templates, regardless if they need human signatures or not.

Answer 1

DocuSign completed envelopes must be "acted" upon by at least one recipient. That means that your second scenario (no human signature) will require some other type of human interaction. For example, you have a single recipient that must view the envelope/documents. They don't have to sign, but they have to interact with the envelope. That's a requirement that cannot be avoided at this time.
And yes, pre-fill fields can be used in both cases, and you can do this programmatically as I explain this this blog post. Here is how to do this in C# after the envelope was already created:
// You need to obtain an access token using your chosen authentication flow
var apiClient = new ApiClient(basePath);
apiClient.Configuration.DefaultHeader.Add("Authorization", "Bearer " + accessToken);
EnvelopesApi envelopesApi = new EnvelopesApi(apiClient);
PrefillTabs prefillTabs = new PrefillTabs();
prefillTabs.TextTabs = new List<Text>();
prefillTabs.TextTabs.Add(new Text { PageNumber = "1", DocumentId = "1", Value = "MyValue" });
Tabs tabs = new Tabs();
tabs.PrefillTabs = prefillTabs;
envelopesApi.CreateDocumentTabs(accountId, envelopeId, "1", tabs);

Answer 2

Yes, you can create an envelope that will not be seen by a person.
Do this by including a carbon copy recipient to a non-existing email address (eg fake#example.com).
You will need to use prefill tabs.
Here's an example JSON followed by example C#
{
"emailSubject": "Envelope for the record",
"status": "sent",
"documents": [
{
"filename": "anchorfields.pdf",
"name": "Example document",
"fileExtension": "pdf",
"documentId": "1",
"tabs": {
"prefillTabs": {
"textTabs": [
{
"anchorString": "/field1/ ",
"bold": "true",
"font": "Garamond",
"fontColor": "BrightBlue",
"fontSize": "Size14",
"value": "This field and the following are all \"prefill\" fields: "
},
{
"anchorString": "/field1/ ",
"anchorXOffset": "0",
"anchorYOffset": "30",
"bold": "true",
"font": "Garamond",
"fontColor": "Black",
"fontSize": "Size12",
"value": "Checkbox:"
},
{
"anchorString": "/field1/ ",
"anchorXOffset": "90",
"anchorYOffset": "30",
"bold": "true",
"font": "Garamond",
"fontColor": "Black",
"fontSize": "Size12",
"value": "Radio button:"
},
{
"anchorString": "/field1/ ",
"anchorXOffset": "0",
"anchorYOffset": "60",
"bold": "true",
"font": "Garamond",
"fontColor": "Black",
"fontSize": "Size12",
"value": "Sender name:"
},
{
"anchorString": "/field1/ ",
"anchorXOffset": "190",
"anchorYOffset": "60",
"bold": "true",
"font": "Garamond",
"fontColor": "Black",
"fontSize": "Size12",
"value": "Sender company:"
}
],
"checkboxTabs": [
{
"anchorString": "/field1/ ",
"anchorXOffset": "70",
"anchorYOffset": "30",
"fontSize": "Size14",
"selected": "true"
}
],
"radioGroupTabs": [
{
"radios": [
{
"anchorString": "/field1/",
"anchorXOffset": "185",
"anchorYOffset": "30",
"selected": "true",
"fontSize": "Size14"
}
]
}
],
"senderNameTabs": [
{
"anchorString": "/field1/ ",
"anchorXOffset": "90",
"anchorYOffset": "58",
"font": "Garamond",
"fontColor": "DarkGreen",
"fontSize": "Size12"
}
],
"senderCompanyTabs": [
{
"anchorString": "/field1/ ",
"anchorXOffset": "310",
"anchorYOffset": "58",
"font": "Garamond",
"fontColor": "DarkGreen",
"fontSize": "Size12"
}
]
}
}
}
],
"recipients": {
"carbonCopies": [
{
"email": "fakeEmail#example.com",
"name": "Envelope created for the records",
"recipientId": "1"
}
]
}
}
C#
// DocuSign Builder example. Generated: Mon, 22 Nov 2021 21:17:29 GMT
// DocuSign (c) 2021. MIT License -- https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
// #see https://developers.docusign.com -- DocuSign Developer Center
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System;
using DocuSign.eSign.Api;
using DocuSign.eSign.Client;
using DocuSign.eSign.Model;
namespace CSharp_example
{
class Program
{
// obtain the accessToken from an oauth flow
// obtain the accountId and basePath from /oauth/userinfo
private const string accessToken = ;
private const string accountId =
private const string basePath = "https://demo.docusign.net/restapi";
// Create the envelope request and send it to DocuSign
// Returns the resulting envelopeId or ""
static string SendDocuSignEnvelope()
{
CarbonCopy carbonCopy1 = new CarbonCopy
{
Email = "fakeEmail#example.com",
Name = "Envelope created for the records",
RecipientId = "1"
};
List<CarbonCopy> carbonCopies1 = new List<CarbonCopy> {carbonCopy1};
Recipients recipients1 = new Recipients
{
CarbonCopies = carbonCopies1
};
Text textTab1 = new Text
{
AnchorString = "/field1/ ",
Bold = "true",
Font = "Garamond",
FontColor = "BrightBlue",
FontSize = "Size14",
Value = "This field and the following are all ""prefill"" fields: "
};
Text textTab2 = new Text
{
AnchorString = "/field1/ ",
AnchorXOffset = "0",
AnchorYOffset = "30",
Bold = "true",
Font = "Garamond",
FontColor = "Black",
FontSize = "Size12",
Value = "Checkbox:"
};
Text textTab3 = new Text
{
AnchorString = "/field1/ ",
AnchorXOffset = "90",
AnchorYOffset = "30",
Bold = "true",
Font = "Garamond",
FontColor = "Black",
FontSize = "Size12",
Value = "Radio button:"
};
Text textTab4 = new Text
{
AnchorString = "/field1/ ",
AnchorXOffset = "0",
AnchorYOffset = "60",
Bold = "true",
Font = "Garamond",
FontColor = "Black",
FontSize = "Size12",
Value = "Sender name:"
};
Text textTab5 = new Text
{
AnchorString = "/field1/ ",
AnchorXOffset = "190",
AnchorYOffset = "60",
Bold = "true",
Font = "Garamond",
FontColor = "Black",
FontSize = "Size12",
Value = "Sender company:"
};
List<Text> textTabs1 = new List<Text> {textTab1, textTab2, textTab3, textTab4, textTab5};
Checkbox checkboxTab1 = new Checkbox
{
AnchorString = "/field1/ ",
AnchorXOffset = "70",
AnchorYOffset = "30",
FontSize = "Size14",
Selected = "true"
};
List<Checkbox> checkboxTabs1 = new List<Checkbox> {checkboxTab1};
Radio radio1 = new Radio
{
AnchorString = "/field1/",
AnchorXOffset = "185",
AnchorYOffset = "30",
FontSize = "Size14",
Selected = "true"
};
List<Radio> radios1 = new List<Radio> {radio1};
RadioGroup radioGroupTab1 = new RadioGroup
{
Radios = radios1
};
List<RadioGroup> radioGroupTabs1 = new List<RadioGroup> {radioGroupTab1};
SenderName senderNameTab1 = new SenderName
{
AnchorString = "/field1/ ",
AnchorXOffset = "90",
AnchorYOffset = "58",
Font = "Garamond",
FontColor = "DarkGreen",
FontSize = "Size12"
};
List<SenderName> senderNameTabs1 = new List<SenderName> {senderNameTab1};
SenderCompany senderCompanyTab1 = new SenderCompany
{
AnchorString = "/field1/ ",
AnchorXOffset = "310",
AnchorYOffset = "58",
Font = "Garamond",
FontColor = "DarkGreen",
FontSize = "Size12"
};
List<SenderCompany> senderCompanyTabs1 = new List<SenderCompany> {senderCompanyTab1};
PrefillTabs prefillTabs1 = new PrefillTabs
{
CheckboxTabs = checkboxTabs1,
RadioGroupTabs = radioGroupTabs1,
SenderCompanyTabs = senderCompanyTabs1,
SenderNameTabs = senderNameTabs1,
TextTabs = textTabs1
};
Tabs tabs1 = new Tabs
{
PrefillTabs = prefillTabs1
};
Document document1 = new Document
{
DocumentId = "1",
FileExtension = "pdf",
DocumentBase64 = ReadContent("anchorfields.pdf"), // filename is anchorfields.pdf
Name = "Example document",
Tabs = tabs1
};
List<Document> documents1 = new List<Document> {document1};
EnvelopeDefinition envelopeDefinition = new EnvelopeDefinition
{
Documents = documents1,
EmailSubject = "Envelope for the record",
Recipients = recipients1,
Status = "sent"
};
ApiClient apiClient = new ApiClient(basePath);
apiClient.Configuration.AddDefaultHeader("Authorization", "Bearer " + accessToken);
EnvelopesApi envelopesApi = new EnvelopesApi(apiClient);
try
{
EnvelopeSummary results = envelopesApi.CreateEnvelope(accountId, envelopeDefinition);
Console.WriteLine($"Envelope status: {results.Status}. Envelope ID: {results.EnvelopeId}");
return results.EnvelopeId;
}
catch (ApiException e)
{
Console.WriteLine("Exception while creating envelope!");
Console.WriteLine($"Code: {e.ErrorCode}\nContent: {e.ErrorContent}");
//Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
return "";
}
}
/// <summary>
/// This method read bytes content from files in the project's Resources directory
/// </summary>
/// <param name="fileName">resource path</param>
/// <returns>return Base64 encoded content as string</returns>
internal static string ReadContent(string fileName)
{
byte[] buff = null;
string path = Path.Combine(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory(), #"..\..\..\Resources", fileName);
using (FileStream stream = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
{
using (BinaryReader br = new BinaryReader(stream))
{
long numBytes = new FileInfo(path).Length;
buff = br.ReadBytes((int)numBytes);
}
}
return Convert.ToBase64String(buff);
}
// The mainline
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine("Starting...");
string envelopeId = SendDocuSignEnvelope();
Console.WriteLine("Done.");
}
}
}