Duplicate Hyperlink Tabs - docusignapi

I am using SOAP API to add hyperlink tabs on a document. The second recipient/signer is getting a duplicate link placed on top of the existing link. See attached screenshot.
No issues for the first signer though.
I have also noticed that though the signer can see the active link, the signed & completed document displays an inactive link when added as a Tab through the API.
Is there a possibility that I can embed a link within PDF and Docusign can activate this link while signing?
Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure what you mean by "...getting a duplicate link placed on top of the existing link" -- but if you're seeing tabs in unexpected places within the envlope, a good first step in troubleshooting might be to execute a "Request Envelope" operation for the envelope, and compare Tab information in the response with the Tab information you specified in your Create Envelope operation.
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:ns="http://www.docusign.net/API/3.0">
<soapenv:Header/>
<soapenv:Body>
<ns:RequestEnvelope>
<ns:EnvelopeID>ENVELOPE_ID</ns:EnvelopeID>
<ns:IncludeDocumentBytes>false</ns:IncludeDocumentBytes>
</ns:RequestEnvelope>
</soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>
Regarding your statement that "the signed & completed document displays an inactive link when added as a Tab through the API" -- this DocuSign Community forum post (http://community.docusign.com/t5/Templates-and-Powerforms/Hyperlink-in-contract/td-p/25837) describes the expected behavior of the hyperlink for completed envelopes: "When the envelope is completed, the hyperlink will no longer be active from the member console but will be active from the Completed PDF. However, it will appear as static text.".
AFAIK, it's not possible for you to embed a link within a PDF and force DocuSign to 'activate' the link during the signing session.
-- UPDATE #1 --
Thank you for posting the "Request Envelope" response. Interestingly, that response shows that the Envelope only contains a single 'HREF' tag -- assigned to the first recipient, but shared amongst all recipients:
I've attempted to reproduce the issue that you describe, but without success. i.e., I created/sent an envelope with two recipients, and included a single 'HREF' (text) tab assigned to the first recipient (but shared). When the first signer signs, he sees the link just fine:
And when the second signer signs, the link appears exactly the same for her as it did for the first signer:
In your scenario, does the text string "TERMS & CONDITIONS" appear as text in the PDF itself -- and then perhaps you're trying to (exactly) overlay that text with a DocuSign (HREF) text tab? If so, then perhaps that's what's causing your issue -- i.e., the overlay position isn't quite precise enough -- so the signer is seeing the "TERMS & CONDITIONS" text in the document itself, overlayed by the (slightly offset) Hyperlink that you've added using a DocuSign tab.

Related

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

Docusign API - Read Only Tabs vs Edittable Tabs

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.

Can a signer have no interaction with a document?

This is thru the Rest Api. Suppose you have a signer and a document with a few signing tabs. I'm using a composite template and the signer has a template role. Suppose the template role does not match up, so the signing tabs aren't created. What you get is the left tools pane and the user can drop/drop signatures. My question: if no tabs can be created, is it possible to stop the left tool pane from showing up, that the person is basically just viewing the document? This situation may never happen, but I'd like to know if there is a way out if it does. I'm sure the answer is to prevent it from happening in the first place.
In DocuSign, recipients who are assigned the "Signer" role will always be given the opportunity to provide input -- either via tabs that you've assigned to them in the document(s) or via tabs that they place on the document(s) themselves (if you assign no tabs to them). If you specify a recipient as a "Signer" but include no tabs for them, they will get the "freeform" signing experience that you describe, where they can drag/drop tabs from the left panel onto the document(s) where ever they choose -- I don't believe there's any way to prevent this.

Adding additional pages to envelope created from a template

Is it possible to add extra pages to the middle of the document on envelope created and ready to send from a set template.
Use case:
Using DocuSign UI, Template-Sample saved with 4 pages, signing tab at the end of 4th page
Using API on code, envelope is created with the Template-Sample
Add 1 or more pages (with data contents) after 3rd page on template
Send for signing.
Yes. While the envelope is in the Created status (draft), it is no problem to change the envelope's contents.
Changing a specific document within the envelope is only supported by changing the entire document. That's possible, but the easier way is to have a series of separate documents in the envelope, and then only insert the new document.
Eg, if you still want the signing page at the end of all the pages, you'd have three documents:
The front matter document
The document that you're changing on the fly
The final document, including the signature page
Doing this sort of document manipulation usually involves the use of composite templates. Please ask additional questions if you'd like more help.

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