CODEWITHSUNDEEP
docusignapi
user3157973
user3157973

Reputation: 1

Docusign API possibilities

A question from a non-developer. I am getting a website made of my business where our product is to email signed documents. I want to automate that process by incorporating Docusign. The documentation is written for developers, so I just want a laymen's version.

Can I get the API to sign a document with my signature, add the signed date and two other custom fields and then email to the customer?

The way I think it may work is by creating a template in docusign and adding the tags then the api going to work to email it.

Am I correct?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 436

Answers (1)

Kim Brandl
Kim Brandl

Reputation: 13500

Technically speaking, the scenario you describe is achievable with the DocuSign REST API -- with a couple of caveats:

  • The API call would have to supply the document(s) as part of the API call. It's not currently possible to auto-apply signatures with the API when you're using DocuSign Templates as a basis for creating the envelope.

  • Regarding the "two other custom fields" you want to auto-populate on the document(s) via the API at the same time that the API auto-applies your signature and signed date -- the only two types of fields that are supported in this scenario are Text and Checkbox.

Although you can't use a Template to specify the document(s), fields/tags, recipients, etc. -- all of this can be specified via the API call itself. Assuming you have control of the document(s) being sent, you could use DocuSign's "anchor text" feature to specify where each field/tag should be placed in the document(s).

Keep in mind that the audit trail for the Envelope will show that the API auto-applied the signature to the document(s), rather than an actual human purposefully and intentionally (electonically) signing the document(s) themselves. I'm no lawyer and this is certainly not intended to be legal advice -- but common sense may imply that a programmatically-applied signature might not be considered equal to a signature that a human actually purposefully and intentionally (electronically) applied themselves. IMO, one of DocuSign's strengths is the audit trail information recorded for each transaction that can be used to prove the authenticity of each signing transaction -- if you start auto-applying signatures via the API, you might risk losing that ability to prove the authenticity of the transaction(s).

Upvotes: 0

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