From the Trenches: Controlling Sign on Paper options via the API

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Summary•3 min read

Learn to control "wet signing" on your Docusign templates by using the eSignature REST API's Templates:update call to override account-level settings.

Configuring a template via Postman
Configuring template options using the Node.js SDK
Additional resources

Configuring a template via Postman
Configuring template options using the Node.js SDK
Additional resources

It is common for Docusign account administrators to disable certain options on the account to prevent specific actions from recipients, such as the Sign on Paper option.

However, the Sign on Paper option works in two places:

Account level
Template level

That means that you can disable the option globally on your account, but if a template was configured previously to have that option enabled, the template will continue to have that option working.

How can an account administrator disable that option without turning on the Sign on Paper globally and expose the option for all recipients?

The response is simple: the eSignature REST API.

Even when the Sign on Paper option is disabled on your account and you cannot see the option to turn it off on a template’s advanced settings in the UI, you still can configure the template’s settings via the API.

Configuring a template via Postman

Use the Templates:update endpoint and insert the following body:

{
    "enableWetSign" = "false"
}

This code turns off the Sign on Paper option on the template level.

Configuring template options using the Node.js SDK

You can download the Node.js SDK from the Docusign Developer Center. Once you’ve got it installed and configured, use the Templates:update endpoint and use the following code:

const setWetSign = async () => {
   let templateId = 'templateID'; //insert the Template ID you wish to alter the Sign on Paper.
	
   const templateAPI = new docusign.TemplatesApi(dsApiClient);
  
    const tempDef = new docusign.EnvelopeTemplate();  //creating the template definition
    tempDef.enableWetSign = "true";  //enabling Sign on Paper
 
       try {
           const response = await templateAPI.update(accountID,templateId,{"envelopeTemplate": tempDef}) //API Templates:update method
       } catch (error) {
           console.log(error);
       }
}