DocuSign REST API V2 make signature mandatory

Question

Currently we use DocuSign to let users sign documents with 3 prepared anchors for SignHere , DateSigned and Location (which is a text tab). We do this by sending an envelope, with a signer and three anchored tabs. Now we have the new requirement to sign arbitrary documents with the same 3 mandantory tabs.

If I send the envelope with the same 3 anchors, the DocuSign GUI ignores these anchors and lets the user place any tab into the document. But if the user places any single tab, it DocuSign enables the "finish" button and when the user presses it, GET /v2.1/accounts/{accountId}/envelopes/{envelopeId}/recipients returns status COMPLETED.

On the other hand, if I set the SignHere tab to pageNumber 1, it works, but the tab is not where I want it and the user cannot move it. In general we do not know where we should place tabs in arbitrary documents.

Is there any way to force the user to add certain tabs AND to allow him/her to move them to a place were they should be?

Answer 1

Short answer - no, you cannot do this.

Long answer - when the envelope has no tabs (signing elements, fields) for a given recipient (signer) then the DocuSign UI enter what we call "free form signing" mode which enables the end-user to drag-and-drop tags/tabs (hence this is called a tagger) to the documents. There's no way to require a minimal number of tags, or any other requirement since it's freeform signing.

The best bet is to use fixed position for your tabs and place them somewhere on the document and or change the document to include the anchor strings you need.