Recipients are the people assigned to an envelope to take a specific action — signing or reviewing the documents. Each recipient is defined in the envelope create body and linked to their signing fields via a shared referenceSignerId.
Doctavian supports three recipient roles:
signer) — must complete all assigned fields before the envelope can proceedviewer) — views the document and can leave comments but is not required to signcc) — receives a copy of the completed envelope by email, no interaction requiredSee Signature Fields Reference for the full role reference.
A recipient group allows any one member to fulfil the group's signing requirement — only one person from the group needs to sign. This is useful when the specific signer isn't known in advance, or when any authorised representative from a team can sign on behalf of the group.
When using groups, role and mandatory are defined on the group itself, not on individual recipients. Each recipient in the group carries a referenceSignGroupId linking them to the group. Fields are also assigned to the group via referenceSignGroupId rather than to an individual recipient.
See Configure Signing Order for a full example of recipient groups in a request body.
The envelope-level isSignOrder setting controls whether recipients sign in parallel or sequentially. In parallel mode, all recipients are notified simultaneously and can complete their actions in any order. In sequential mode, each recipient is notified only after the previous one has completed — useful for approval chains where the order of signatures matters.
Ready to put this into practice? See Configure Signing Order for a step-by-step guide to sequential vs parallel signing and mandatory recipients.
A recipient marked as mandatory means their participation is required for the envelope to complete. If a mandatory recipient declines, the entire envelope is declined and all other recipients are notified — regardless of their own completion status. Optional recipients can decline without affecting the outcome.
MFA adds an identity verification step before a recipient can open the envelope. When required, the recipient must provide a one-time code before gaining access to the signing session.
See the FAQ for more on how MFA works at the platform and per-envelope level.
Each recipient receives a personalised email notification with the subject and message configured on the envelope, and a unique link to their signing session.
Recipient links are personalised and must not be forwarded or shared. Each link is tied to a specific recipient identity and every access is recorded in the audit trail.