How to Set a Signing Order

Problem

You need to control the sequence in which recipients receive and sign a document. For example, an internal approver must sign before the client, or multiple team members need to sign in parallel before the document goes to the next group.

Prerequisites

Authenticated via OAuth or API key
A template or document with at least two recipients

Solution

Option A: Set signing order in the create request

Add a signing_order parameter to each recipient. Lower numbers sign first:

"recipients": [
  {
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "first_name": "John",
    "last_name": "Snow",
    "role": "Signer",
    "signing_order": 1
  },
  {
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "first_name": "Josh",
    "last_name": "Ron",
    "role": "user",
    "signing_order": 2
  }
]

This sets or overrides the signing order regardless of any template settings.

Option B: Set signing order in the template

Configure the signing order directly in your template so all documents created from it inherit the same order. This is the recommended approach for standardized workflows.

2850 — Set a signing order in the template

When creating a document from this template, the recipients' signing order matches the role order defined in the template. You don't need to pass signing_order in the request.

Parallel (non-sequential) signing

If multiple recipients need to sign but the order among them doesn't matter, assign them the same signing_order value:

"recipients": [
  {
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "role": "user",
    "signing_order": 1
  },
  {
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "role": "user2",
    "signing_order": 1
  }
]

Both recipients receive the document at the same time. The document proceeds to the next signing order group once all members of the current group have completed.

Verification

Check the signing order via the Document Details endpoint. Each recipient in the response includes a signing_order field confirming their position.