Docusign TemplateRecipientTabs API

The TemplateRecipientTabs resource provides methods that let youadd,update,and delete tabsfrom an envelope.Tabs are associated with a specific recipientin an envelopeand are only used by the recipient typesIn Person Signers and Signers. ## Tab TypesThis table lists the available tab types.| Tab Type | Description || :------- | :---------- || Approve Tab | Place this tab on the document if you want the recipient to approve documents in an envelope without placing a signature or initials on the document. If the recipient clicks the Approve tab during the signing process, the recipient is considered to have signed the document. No information is shown on the document for the approval, but it is recorded as a signature in the envelope history. || Checkbox Tab | Place this tab on the document in a location where the recipient can select a yes/no (on/off) type option. || Company Tab | Place this tab on the document where you want the recipient's company name to appear. || 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. || Decline Tab | Place this tab on the document where you want to give the recipient the option of declining an envelope. If the recipient clicks the Decline tab during the signing process, the envelope is voided. || Email Address Tab | Place this tab on a document where you want the recipient's email, as entered in the recipient information, to appear. || Email Tab | This is a single-line field that accepts any characters. || Envelope ID Tab | Place this tab on the document where you want the envelope ID for to appear. Recipients cannot enter or change the information in this tab. It is for informational purposes only. || First Name Tab | Place this tab on a document where you want the recipient's first name to appear. This tab takes the recipient's name, as entered in the recipient information, splits it into sections based on spaces and uses the first section as the first name. || Formula Tab | This tab is used to add a calculated field to a document. Envelope recipients cannot directly enter information into the tab. The formula tab calculates and displays a new value when changes are made to the reference tab values. The reference tab information and calculation operations are entered in the "formula" element. See the Using the Calculated Fields Feature quick start guide or DocuSign Service User Guide for more information about formulas. || Full Name Tab | Place this tab on the document where you want the recipient's full name to appear. || Initial Here Tab | Place this tab where the recipient must initial the document. This tab can be set to be optional. || Last Name Tab | Place this tab on a document where you want the recipient's last name to appear. This tab takes the recipient's name, as entered in the recipient information, splits it into sections based on spaces and uses the last section as the last name. || List Tab | This tab has a list of options that a recipient can select. The `listItems` parameter is used to set the options that can be selected. || Note Tab | Place this tab on the document where you want to add a note for the recipient on a document. || Number Tab | This tab is a field where the recipient can enter numbers and decimal (.) points. || Radio Group Tab | This group tab is used to place radio buttons on a document. The `radios` parameter is used to add and place the radio buttons associated with the group. Only one radio button can be selected in a group. || Sign Here Tab | Place this tab where the recipient must sign the document. This tab can be set to be optional. || Signer Attachment Tab | The signer attachment is where the recipient initiates the process of adding supporting documents to an envelope. || SSN Tab | This tab is a single-line field where the recipient can enter numbers. A Social Security Number can be typed with or without dashes. || Text Tab | This tab is a field where the recipient can enter any type of characters. || Title Tab | Place this tab on the document where you want the recipient's title to appear. || Zip Tab | This tab is a single-line field where the recipient can enter numbers. |## Using Custom Tabs in Envelopes and Templates Custom Tabs can be added to envelopes and templatesby setting the `customTabId` propertywhen creating an envelope or template recipientor when adding a new tab for an existing recipient.The custom tab must be added as the correct tab type.For example if the custom tab type is text, it cannot be used as a number tab.When the `customTabId` property is set,the new tab inherits all the custom tab properties.Required information that is not included in the custom tab,such as document ID and page ID, must be included when adding the tab.If the custom tab does not have anchor settings, the X and Y positions must be included.After the tab is created,it is treated as any other tab for updating or deleting. ## Anchoring TabsThe tab anchoring optionallows you to send documents for signaturethat do not have a fixed layout or format.In these documents you might not knowthe absolute location of the tabswhen you design your API client application because the tabs must move with text.As an alternative to sending X and Y coordinates for tabs,the DocuSign Service can derive an anchor location for the tabby correlating anchor information to data within the document.When the DocuSign Service receives a request that contains tabswith anchor information,it searches the document for instances of the `anchorString` property.When found,it places a tab of the specified type for the designated recipient.Tab positions are established by setting offsets for the tab.When you apply tabs to the document,DocuSign does not remove or replace the text in the `anchorString` property. You can hide codified anchors by using the same font color as the background of the document. So the anchor can be used by DocuSign processes and it will not be visible on the document.To use an anchoring option:1. Identify the location in the document by text string. You can use a pre-existing text string or add a new one.For best performance DocuSign recommends using single word anchor strings when possible, especially when there are a large number of pages in the envelope. For example, you might want to add a Sign Here tab to the "Borrower's Signature" lines in a document, but that phrase might occur in places in the document where you don't want to tab to appear. In this case, you could add the text "BorrowerSignHere" in white font color (so that isn't visible in the document) to all the places you want Sign Here tabs to appear and use "BorrowerSignHere" as the anchor string. 1. Reference the anchor through the `anchorString` property of the tab.1. Determine the offset from the anchor string location to where the tab should be placed. Setting a positive value in the `anchorXOffset` property moves the tab right on the page and positive values in the `anchorYoffset` prove moves the tab down the page. The `anchorUnits` property specifies the units used for the offsets.For Sign Here and Initial Here tabs the bottom-left of the anchor string is equivalent to position (0,0), and the bottom-left of the tab graphic is placed relative to that.For all other tabs the bottom-left of the anchor string is equivalent to position (0,0), and the top-left of the tab graphic is placed relative to that.DocuSign does not currently provide tools to derive the offset values. Determination of the proper offset will likely require some trial-and-error.### Rules for working with anchor tagsWhen anchor tabs are used, all documents in the envelope are searched for the `anchorString` property.* You set the text of the anchor string in the `anchorString` property. DocuSign tabs are created for each instance of the `anchorString` property within the document, so special care must be taken to establish unique anchor strings that do not result in unintentional tabs.* You cannot use the same anchored tab for different recipients for the same document.* The DocuSign system cannot search for text that is embedded in an image when checking for anchor strings.* X or Y offsets supplied for a tab apply to all instances of the tab in the document. To use different offsets at different locations in the document for the same recipient, create multiple, unique anchor tabs.* If the Y offset value of an anchor string would force a tab outside of the page boundaries, the tag is placed at the page boundary. If the X offset value places a tab outside of the page boundaries, the error message `Invalid_User_Offset` is sent. The error message includes the X offset that resulted in the error.* The system does not support an anchor string embedded in the form of a PDF X-object in the document.* The system does not re-flow the text that surrounds the anchor tabs. It is the responsibility of the document author to provide sufficient white space to contain the potential width of the ultimate tab value.### Tips and TricksThe following are tips for effective use of anchor tags:* In order to avoid unintentional conflicts between text contained in an `anchorString` property and the text that naturally exists in documents, establish a codified syntax for the anchor string text that is unlikely to appear elsewhere in a document.* Develop an extensible and consistent syntax that can be used across multiple document types.* Especially for documents that have variable numbers of tabs or signers, author the source document to include hidden anchor tabs for all potential signers/permutations. Then, control the tabs that are actually placed by including/excluding the anchor tabs in the request. This approach allows a single document to be used for all use cases instead of maintaining separate documents for each scenario.## Automatically Populating TabsIf you want similar tab typesto automatically populate with the same data,you must follow these guidelines:* Each `tabLabel` entry must have the characters `\\*` in front of the label. If you omit the `\\*` prefix, only the first occurrence of the tab is populated. When automatically populating tabs, the `tabLabel` must not contain any spaces. In the JSON example below, the Text tabs properties `StudentLastName` and `StudentFirstName` will be auto-populated as specified ("Doe" and "John") each place they appear throughout the envelope. ``` "tabs": { "textTabs": [ { "tabLabel": "\\*StudentLastName", "value": "Doe" }, { "tabLabel": "\\*StudentFirstName", "value": "John" }] } ```* Each occurrence of the tab must have identical properties. For example, suppose there are two Text tabs in a document, each with `tabLabel` set to `Name`. If one tab has the `bold` property set to **true**, and the other has the `bold` property set to **false**, only the first one will be populated. In order to automatically populate both occurrences of the `Name` Text tabs, the `bold` property must be set to the same value for both tabs.