DocuSign Date signed pre-filling

Question

I have an 18 page document with the "Agreement Date" on page 2 and a Single Signature required on page 18.

When I use the following parameters (whether via an HTTPS POST from my server OR via the DocuSign API Explorer) then the date is getting PRE-FILLED with the date that the envelope was created and appears as such when the signer opens it up to sign it.

I'm using the Sandbox environment. Is there a bug? Might this be something to do with the Time Zone?

{
    "documents": [
    {
      "documentBase64": "<Base64BytesHere>",
      "documentId": "1",
      "name": "<document name>"
    }
  ],
  "emailBlurb": "<email blurb>",
  "emailSubject": "<email subject>",
  "recipients": {
    "signers": [
      {
        "email": "<email address of signer>",
        "name": "<name of signer>",
        "recipientId": "1",
        "tabs": {
          "dateSignedTabs": [
            {
              "documentId": "1",
              "font": "TimesNewRoman",
              "fontSize": "Size11",
              "pageNumber": "2",
              "recipientId": "1",
              "xPosition": "235",
              "yPosition": "96"
            }
          ],
          "signHereTabs": [
            {
              "documentId": "1",
              "pageNumber": "18",
              "recipientId": "1",
              "xPosition": "310",
              "yPosition": "351"
            }
          ]
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "status": "sent"
}

Answer 1

I am such an idiot.

Having set my Time Zone as UTC-London when I set up my account, it had somehow got itself reset back to California time i.e. 8 hours behind.

I'm an early riser and so when I was testing this I was getting unexpected results,

E.g.:

• I create an envelope 8:00pm UK time on 08 May and open it up for signing: It said 08 May.

• The following morning at, say 6:00am UK time, I open it up for signing: It STILL said 08 May because in California it was 10:00pm on 08 May.

• Therefore I assumed that the "Date Signed" was being irreversibly stamped as the envelope creation date.

I've just reset my Time Zone back to UTC-London and done some testing and hey presto! every time the envelope is opened up for signing the CORRECT date is being stamped in the "Date Signed" tab.

Anybody else who has this issue: There is no bug: Just double-check your Time Zone settings.

I apologize profusely for wasting everybody's time.

Answer 2

Use the Date tab instead of the Date Signed tab.

From Documentation

• Date Signed Tab : Place this tab on the document where you want the date the recipient signed the document to appear.
• Date Tab : Place this tab on the document where you want the recipient to enter a date. Date tabs are single-line fields that allow date information to be entered in any format. The tooltip for this tab recommends entering the date as MM/DD/YYYY, but this is not enforced. The format entered by the signer is retained. If you need a particular date format enforced, DocuSign recommends using a Text tab with a Validation Pattern and Validation Message to enforce the format.

• To prefill the date value, set the value property.

• If the Signer should not edit the date value then set the locked property to true

          "tabs": {
              "dateTabs": [
                  {
                      "documentId": "1",
                      "pageNumber": "2",
                      "xPosition": "235",
                      "yPosition": "96",
                      "width" : "80",
                      "value": "12/13/2016",
                      "locked" : "true"
  
                  }
              ]
          }