Docusign API - Read Only Tabs vs Edittable Tabs - docusignapi

Simple Question,
I have a document with about 100 read only text tabs, but only about 5 sign here / edittable text tabs...
In order to populate all the text tabs with the data on entry, I have had to send them with the signer(s) individually... is there a way to specify the read only text tabs as a "Document" Level... and then only use the edittable tabs in each particular signers section?

Tabs are always set with regards to particular recipient, for document level data there are Envelope Fields but those are used for custom meta data for the envelope and not during the signing experience.
One option I'm not sure will help you or not is Custom Fields (not to be confused with Envelope Fields) which are recipient level tabs you can create one-time then re-use in your requests/templates. You can test them easily by editing a template and going into the Custom Tab section in tagging palette on the left.
As you can see you can set the Initial Value and also make it Read Only then save the Custom Tab. Then in your code you can reference this tab where needed for your recipients to save some legwork.

DocuSign tabs need to be assigned to the recipients only, you cannot have DS Tabs on the envelope without assigning it to a recipient. If I understood your query, then you have multiple recipients on the envelope at the same routing order and each recipient should see the pre-populated data for each read only DS Tab on the document before signing. If yes, then there is one setting at an account level which will burnt the DS tab value on the document before any signer will start the signing ceremony. If you go to Admin --> Sending and Signing Section --> Sending Settings --> then select When an envelope is sent, write the initial value of the field for all recipients. With this setting enabled all recipients at the same routing order will be able to see the values of these read only tabs pre-populated from your application.

Related

Assign signer to specific signature form field

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.

How to use Automated anchor tags feature on the Embedded Sending View

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:

Can we position signers by recipient id through the DocuSign 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

How to use DocuSign labels?

When sending a document to be signed, with DocuSign, I can choose a Document Label for the document with a dropdown list which I can manage administrative access. I don't, however, see the purpose of the Document Labels since I don't see any obvious way of using them to e.g. filter documents and create statistical reports. More information on the subject can be found here.
Can somebody describe to me the actual purpose of having these labels?
Here is screenshot of the Document Labels section:
Hmm, I agree the documentation you linked is missing some detailed information on what they are for. In Classic (and soon again to be in the New UI) they were called Envelope Custom Fields, from the old documentation they are classified as "fields that can be used to record information about the envelope, help search for envelopes and track information. The custom fields are shown in the Message window when a user is creating an envelope. The custom fields are not seen by the envelope recipients."
Think of it as an invisible label that you can than use to report on later. In the Reporting section of DocuSign it's actually called "Custom Field" and can be added to reports:
Envelope custom fields (Document Labels) are labels used to classify, record, and track information about envelopes sent by a user. These labels are shown to a sender when an envelope is being created; they are not seen by recipients.
The values for an envelope custom field can be free-text entries, or selected from a list of possible values. Envelope custom fields can be required or optional.
It is a metadata over envelopes. For instance, if you want to associate a case number or Invoice Number present in your system with an envelope but you do not want recipient to see it then you use Envelope custom fields (Document Labels) for this purpose. Then you can search envelope based on this label value in the Manage tab in your DocuSign Account. So Document Label helps in mapping data in your system with the envelopeId plus it helps you send extra data on an envelope which you do not want recipient to see.

Can a Docusign signer view and sign documents or just sign only?

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.

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