Is there a way to send an envelope using the eWitness feature? - docusignapi

Question

I'm currently working on a document signing and management app that uses the Docusign API to handle the signing of the documents. The documents need to allow for a witness to sign, but we don't necessarily know who will be acting as the witness at the time of sending the envelope. The app would need to ask the signer(s) who will be witnessing at the time of signing.
After some digging, I found Docusign's eWitness feature which does exactly what we need our app to do. However, I couldn't find anything in the API documentation that describes how to use this feature.
Ideally, I'd like to use the API to create and send an envelope from a template using the eWitness feature.
Any help is greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Yes!
The EnvelopeRecipients object has a new attribute of witnesses Docs for both. witnesses is an array of witness objects.
When sending the envelope via the API:
Create the signer recipient object. Remember the recipientId you're using.
Create a witness recipient object with two attributes: recipientId (a new value), and witnessFor, set to the recipientId of the signer.
Create a SignHere tab for the signer recipient and the witness recipient.
Send the envelope.
When the signer signs, they will be asked to provide the name and email of the witness to their signature.
After the signer signs, the witness receives an email that enables them to sign the document as the witness.
The signer recipient can be an embedded signer or a "remote" signer and receive their invitation to sign via email.
You may be able to set the witness' name/email when you create the envelope, but I have not tested that. You may also be able to set the witness' clientUserId so you can give them an embedded signing experience but I haven't tested that either. (Please let us know if you test either of these flows.)
Using a template with recipient who has a witness
To use a template with a recipient who has a witness, just create the template with a role that has a witness enabled. Then when sending the envelope use the template and include a role definition for the signer recipient (their name/email).
JSON example
Here is the working JSON for an embedded signing recipient with a witness. The signer enters the witness' name/email into the embedded signing ceremony.
"envelopeDefinition": {
"emailSubject": "Please sign the attached document",
"status": "sent",
"documents": [
{
"name": "Example document",
"fileExtension": "pdf",
"documentId": "1"
}
],
"recipients": {
"signers": [
{
"email": "signer_email#example.com",
"name": "Signer's name",
"recipientId": "1",
"clientUserId": "1000",
"tabs": {
"signHereTabs": [
{
"anchorString": "/sig1/",
"anchorXOffset": "20",
"anchorUnits": "pixels"
}
]
}
}
],
"witnesses": [
{
"recipientId": "2",
"witnessFor": "1",
"tabs": {
"signHereTabs": [
{
"anchorString": "/sig1/",
"anchorXOffset": "200",
"anchorUnits": "pixels"
}
]
}
}
]
}