I'm evaluating DocuSign esignature API (c# SDK) for an e-signature solution.
Our scenario is easy:
single PDF
multiple signers
each signer has its own signature form field defined in the PDF
Is there a way to map specific signature form field inside PDF to specific signer?
What we already tried:
Anchor text is working but it is cumbersome for our clients to position anchor text, changed its color so it is invisible. Also it is error-prone
TransformPdfFields somewhat working but as I understand it is all or nothing it transforms all form fields and all signature fields are mapped to single signer (am I wrong here?)
Thanks.
With DocuSign, each field (SignHere fields, text input fields, etc) is owned by a specific signer or other recipient type. Fields are called tabs in the API.
At a schematic level, the object hierarchy is:
There are multiple ways to map signHere tabs to different signers and locations in your documents:
Use a template. You or your business person can create a template using the DocuSign web tool. Then your app can use the template id to create and send an envelope.
The different signers are referred to as roles in the template. Eg customer signer 1, internal signer etc. Your app assigns specific names / emails to the roles when it creates the envelope.
Assign the tabs (fields) to signers using the API. The tabs can be positioned using absolute locations or via anchor strings.
Use an HTML document as your source documents. You can specify the tab locations in the HTML. See docs.
Use a PDF Form as your source document. If you name the form's fields consistently then you can use the DocuSign composite templates feature to have the form's fields belong to different recipients/signers. I do not recommend this approach if you have control over the source documents. But if you are give PDF Forms as your source documents, you can make use of them.
Related
I have a working application where a generic document is defined in the DocuSign template with auto-place anchor strings. In creating the envelope I replace the generic document with a document generated by my application.
A new requirement is to have multiple documents in the template with document visibility turned on so as to control recipients only seeing certain documents.
I have successfully created envelopes replacing the multiple documents with my generated documents using composite templates.
The problem I'm having is with using auto-place anchors. I either receive a response from the API that anchors must be specifically placed on the document or when the recipient receives the document, the process repeatedly loops thru the anchors and never allows the recipient to finish the signing of the document.
The question is can I use auto-place anchors with document visibility?
The documents I am generating are the same as in the template, but now have been populated with customer information that may change the location of where a signature is needed
I suggest you try with multiple composite template, each with 1 document.
See my article for more template ideas.
I am testing the Docusign API and I can send a document to sign and get it signed in the position I want using the SignHere data structure and setting the AnchorString.
I want to add a field for the signed date but what is the format and field name required. I can't see anywhere that tells me how to type these into a Word document.
I see you can create templates online using Docusign and put in these fields but I don't see how that will work for us. The document will be dynamically created by our document assembly system and then sent via the Docusign API so I need to build in the fields at that point when I add the signature anchor string.
So what is the Word document special field format and list of Docusign available fields please?
Also it would be good to know how to insert a field to ask the signer to enter some text. Any entry box.
Thanks for any help.
If you're using Salesforce to send out these documents, the DocuSign CLM product supports template codes in Word. See docs.
Otherwise, you can only specify locations of fields (tabs) in the Word doc. This is done via anchor strings also known as auto-place fields. Docs.
Placing the anchor strings in your Word doc is the first step. For the second step, I recommend that you create a DocuSign template by using the DocuSign web tool. Then, when you send the document via the API, you combine it with the template. Or better, you can insert the Word document into the template itself.
The advantage of this technique is that your business users, with the right instructions, can update the template by themselves.
An alternative is for the DocuSign API request to specify the document and the various fields (tabs) that should be included in the document for the signers.
Added
Two other options:
Create your source documents as HTML documents. You can include special tags to indicate different types of DocuSign fields. You can also indicate sections of documents that can be expanded/closed by the signer. HTML field documentation.
This is the best approach, IMHO.
Create your source documents as PDF Forms with form fields. DocuSign can then transform the PDF form fields into DocuSign form fields. There are limitations. Docs.
I have a question regarding the Embedded Sending View. Through our program, the user selects documents which are sent to the Embedded Sending View where the user then selects recipients and has the option to add fields on the documents. The documents can have automated anchor tags such as \s1\, \s2\, and so on. What we need is for the tabs, such as Sign Here or Initial, to be displayed in the add fields page of Embedded Sending, which is not happening. Templates are not an option at this time as the documents are defined by our users. I tested this in the DocuSign Console and it didn’t work there at all, no tabs came up automatically on the add fields page despite anchor tags existing on the page.
This is the document that I tested
This is a screenshot of the Embedded Sending View. There were two signature anchors in the document and two signers/recipients were created in the Embedded Sending View.
This is a screenshot of the Tagging View - The Sign Here tabs do not come in automatically.
This is a screenshot of the page to actually sign the document through the email is sent. There are no Sign Here tabs displayed.
Automated anchor tags rely on the number in the tag text matching a recipient ID in the signer's definition. In order for \s1\ and \s2\ to map to your recipients, they'll need to have recipient IDs 1 and 2.
Automated anchor tags do not work if the document is uploaded through the web console - only if the envelope is created through the API with the document and recipients defined.
The 'stock' automatic anchor tags only work through DocuSign for Salesforce. Upon closer inspection, it looks like DFS includes a set of tags in its API traffic to create an envelope.
To approximate this behavior, I created a custom anchor tag that did work. To create these tags yourself:
Navigate to Go to Admin > Document Custom Fields
Add Field
Name: Anchor Signature
Type: Sign Here (or Initial Here if desired)
Shared: Checked (makes tag available to all users on the account)
AutoPlace Text: \s{r}\
In practice, the {r} gets replaced with the recipient ID.
This tag definition:
Results in tags being placed in my example draft that I created through the API:
We've set up our template to include signature blocks and we're able to send the recipient's name and email address with the envelope. These recipients appear in the recipient list and when you sign in to DocuSign you're able to select one of the recipients from the list and position it appropriately.
We're looking at removing this manual step so that we can say, for example, the first signature we send across in the envelope corresponds to signature block one in our template and the second to the second as so on.
When we create the signature blocks in our template we can assign roles and the DocuSign documentation suggests that if we send a role across with the envelope we should be able to achieve the automatic positioning that we're after.
What we're wondering is whether we can also do this with the recipient id rather than the role?
There are multiple ways to position tabs (signature blocks) for recipients.
One approach is to specific x/y coordinates where the tab should be located inside the document (also specify page #)
Another approach is to use AnchorTags which is specific text that the tab (or tag) would be located in. This can be used with white-on-white text in the document, that could be invisible to the signer but allows the tag to be placed there. This can also be a real part of the document (like 'Date:') and you can specify an offset to improve your positioning.
Read more how to use AnchorTags in the API here - https://developers.docusign.com/esign-soap-api/reference/sending-group/using-anchor-tags
Tell me if this is correct: suppose I have an envelope with a couple of documents that need signing and a couple that just can be viewed. The template is set up to place signing tabs at specific anchor text spots in the document. I use the same template for all the documents. Can I create just a signer for all these documents and they will not be asked to sign anything on the view only documents because there are no anchor tags to match up? There is no way that they would be made to perform some action on the documents to be only viewed?
If the Recipient is of type Signer and have tabs assigned on an envelope then the recipient will not be able to add any additional tabs. This applies to the entire envelope, individual documents does not matter.
However if the Recipient has no tabs assigned then the recipient will have the option of Free form signing.
Free-form signing occurs when no tags are placed on a document submitted via DocuSign. This means that the signer will be presented with a palette of signature options (Signature, Initial, Full Name, etc.) which can be applied to the document at will.
So for your case, if you assign the Signer a Tab on the first document then the Signer will not be able to add new tabs on any document.