Sharing is caring: Introducing Shared Access for your Docusign eSignature envelopes

We’ve just added one of our latest eSignature features to our eSignature REST API: Shared Access!

This new feature lets you share your Docusign eSignature envelopes with another user. You can grant permission to existing users or create new ones, enabling them to manage your envelopes on your behalf. You can choose each user's access level, enabling them to manage, send, or sign envelopes as per your preference. All of these functions can be seamlessly integrated into your existing workflow through the eSignature REST API.

Take advantage of the opportunity to try out Shared Access for free in your developer account!

Use cases

Sharing access to a Docusign envelope inbox can be an incredibly powerful tool for improving collaboration, delegating tasks, and streamlining workflows. By granting other users the ability to manage your envelopes, you can save time and enhance productivity in a variety of contexts, such as:

• Delegating responsibilities: If you're working on a project with a team, you may want to delegate specific envelope-related tasks to other team members. Sharing access to your envelope inbox enables them to take on these responsibilities and help streamline the process.

• Assistance with administrative tasks: Sharing access to your envelopes can be beneficial if you need someone to help manage administrative tasks related to your account.

• Access management: If you're a supervisor or manager, you may need to grant access to a team member who needs to review or approve envelopes that you've sent. Shared access allows you to delegate this task to them without giving them full access to your account through risky practices like password sharing.

• Improved customer service: If you work in a client-facing role, you may want to share access to your envelope inbox with a colleague who can help manage client requests and ensure that envelopes are processed quickly and accurately.

Sharing access using the API

At a high level, the process of authorizing a new user to have access to your envelopes involves two steps:

1. Permission the user by utilizing Authorizations:createUserAuthorization.

2. Verify the sharing of envelopes through the Shared Access UI.

Refer to this how-to guide for a more comprehensive understanding of this process.

Example: Share access to an inbox with your assistant

For example, let's assume that I want to provide my assistant, Nami, access to my Docusign envelope inbox by authorizing an existing user.

First, I need to collect the required data to create the user authorization. Since I have confidence in Nami's ability to manage all my envelopes, I will grant her manage permission by submitting a POST request, which should incorporate both my account ID and her user ID in the API call.

POST /restapi/v2.1/accounts/{myaccountId}/users/{heruserId}/authorization

The request body should look like this:

{
    "agentUser":
        {
            "userId": "c316f86c-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-6b39358381d2",
            "accountId": "b71dbd28-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-8d99842a7982"
        },
    "permission": "manage"
}

Next, I will log in as Nami to make sure that she has successfully gained access to my inbox. When I navigate to her Manage tab and check the Shared Access panel, I should see my name listed along with all the envelopes visible to me.

Additional resources

• API Reference: Authorizations

• How to share access to a Docusign envelope inbox

• Shared Access User Guide

• Docusign Developer Center

• Docusign for Developers on YouTube

• @DocuSignAPI on Twitter

• Docusign on Twitch

• Docusign For Developers on LinkedIn

• Docusign Developer Newsletter