An envelope is the core object in the Doctavian Signatures API. It brings together documents, recipients, and signing fields into a single signing transaction, and defines all the rules governing how and when each party signs. Every signing workflow starts with creating an envelope.
Envelopes are created in a single API call — POST /signatures/envelope/create — with documents, recipients, and fields all provided in the request body alongside the envelope settings.
The envelope settings control the communication and behaviour of the signing transaction. This is where you define who the sender is, what recipients see in their notification email, how long the envelope stays open before expiring, and whether reminders are sent automatically. You also control whether recipients sign in parallel or in a defined order, and whether you are notified when they open or complete the envelope.
See the API Reference for the full list of envelope properties.
Envelopes move through a defined set of states from creation to completion. Every state transition is recorded in the Audit Trail.
For the full status reference including transition rules and audit trail events, see Envelope Lifecycle.
Beyond creation, envelopes support a full set of lifecycle operations. Once created, an envelope in Draft state can be edited before sending. After sending, you can resend notifications to recipients who have not yet acted, reassign a recipient's signing responsibility to another person, or cancel the envelope entirely. Cancelled envelopes can be restored to their previous state if needed.
See the full set of envelope endpoints in the API Reference.
Ready to put this into practice? See Create and Send Envelope for a complete step-by-step walkthrough.