SOAP API - deleting recipient

Question

Looks like we can delete recipient in the REST API but is there a method in the SOAP API that will allow deleting recipients?

Currently we are calling CreateEnvelopeFromTemplatesAndForms() from the SOAP API to create the draft envelope. The template may have multiple recipients and some of them may be optional. Before we can send the envelope by setting ActivateEnvelope to true or calling SendEnvelope(), seems like all the recipients' info (ie name, email, etc) must be filled in, otherwise the call will throw an error "...email address is invalid...". So we would like to delete the optional recipients when they are not needed.

Can we somehow define an InlineTemplate for the CreateEnvelopeFromTemplatesAndForms() call to delete recipients?

We also looked at CorrectAndResendEnvelope(), seems like we can edit recipient info but not delete.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

No, there is no SOAP equivalent for deleting recipients. This is one of the reasons why DocuSign's REST API is encouraged over the SOAP API, and this feature gap is growing with every monthly release.

Three workarounds I can think of:

1. Use a recipient type like Editor or Agent to edit the recipient info after envelope has been sent.
2. Instead of deleting optional recipients, only add them later in the process if needed.
3. Use REST to delete your optional recipients.

For #1, there are recipient types like Editor, Agent, or Manage Recipients which allow you to edit the recipient info of recipients that are later in the routingOrder.

For #2, instead of adding your recipients at the beginning, only add the required recipients then at a later time if it's decided that optional ones are needed, add them through a Recipient Correction/Addition.

For #3, the nice thing is that you can intermix the APIs, and make some calls in SOAP and others in REST. The only thing you'd have to do is write code to send a REST request and parse the response.