Create from an upload or a URL

You have two options to create a document from file:

1. Upload a local file. For this, use the multipart/form-data request type. Typically, the frameworks are handling the headers and you just need to pass a file to the request.
2. Send a public URL in the document creation request like this:

curl --request POST 'https://api.pandadoc.com/public/v1/documents' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
   "name": "My minimal document",
   "url": "https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/2127247/public-templates/SamplePandaDocPdf_FormFields.pdf",
   "recipients": [
      {
       "email":"[email protected]",
       "role": "user"
      }
 	 ],
   "parse_form_fields": false
}'

See the Create from public PDF guide for more details.

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Note: A file you upload is not stored in your PandaDoc account, so you have to upload it with every request.

Samples

We support PDF, DocX, and RTF. We've prepared two samples that you can use to test the request. Download them here:

Form Fields:

• Download a Sample PDF with Form Fields

Field Tags:

• Download a Sample PDF with Field Tags
• Download a Sample PDF contained Stamp with Field Tags

Limitations

1. This method does not support multiple documents.
2. The maximum supported file size is 100 MB. API returns "413 Request entity too large" in case of bigger files.
3. PandaDoc does not support creating document from an encrypted PDF. To check whether a file is encrypted or not, try Get info -> Secure: Password Encrypted.

See all possible errors and the ways to mitigate them: Error handling.

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Document creation is a non-blocking (asynchronous) operation

The document creation process may take time.

With a successful request, you receive a response with the created document's ID and status document.uploaded. After processing completes on our servers, usually a few seconds, the document moves to the document.draft status. Please wait for the webhook call or check this document's status before proceeding.

The change of status from document.uploaded to another status signifies the document is ready for further processing. Attempting to use a newly created document before PandaDoc servers process it will result in a "404 document not found" response.

PDF form fields

PandaDoc can recognize native PDF form fields (text fields, dropdowns, and signatures) when you set parse_form_fields to true in the create document request.

For details on configuring form fields and using optId mappings, see Form Fields.

PDF/DocX/RTF field tags

Field tags let you embed form fields (signatures, text fields, checkboxes, dates, etc.) directly in your PDF, DocX, or RTF file using bracket notation such as [textfield:s1:optId___]. PandaDoc parses these tags during document creation and converts them into interactive form fields.

For the full syntax, supported field types, and limitations, see Field Tags.

Create on member's behalf

Create documents on your colleagues' behalf when it's needed. Simply add an additional owner section in the document creation request.
You can set an owner of a document as an email or membership_id. Unique member's identifier you may find in the List Members.

"owner":{
	"email":"[email protected]"
}

"owner":{
	"membership_id":"radQBiBkU7MBk59NSgaGfd"
}

Roles

To set roles for a document from a PDF upload, you need to do these things:

1. Associate the field tag in a document with a recipient role. For example, textfield:user___ denotes a required text field assigned to the role "user"
2. Assign roles to recipients in the request body fields section:

"fields": {
    "textfield": {
        "value": "Jane",
        "role": "user"
    }
}

Signing order

Set a signing order for documents created from a file.

"recipients": [
  {
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "first_name": "Josh",
    "last_name": "Ron",
    "role": "user",
    "signing_order": 1
  }
]

Error handling