The Opportunity
PowerForms are just that - very powerful tools. These tips and tricks will help your PowerForms be more powerful and smooth running.
Mitigate user error and make-work - Auto-fill recipient information fields to reduce typos and similar mistakes
Your PowerForm will have at least one recipient, often more. The recipient who kicks off the PowerForm workflow will have to fill in their own name and email address and, if there are additional recipients, most likely will have to fill in their information as well.
It’s also likely you will want that same recipient information collected within the form itself. Rather than have the recipients fill that information in again within the form, you can have the information auto-populate provided you use the standard fields DocuSign provides. For example,
- Use the provided Name and Email fields rather than
- Using a text field that you designate as a Name or email field
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Protect access to your PowerForm
If you don’t want your PowerForm discoverable by any and everyone cruising the WorldWideWeb (including bots), publish the URL on a webpage that is accessible only with CalNet Authentication.
Distributing the PowerForm on an as-needed basis only (e.g. sending the PowerForm URL to individuals) is another approach, but that’s a ton of work if your PowerForm is used regularly and you want it to be truly self-service.
Leverage our campus data resources - increase accuracy, speed and usability
A bit more sophisticated, but not too difficult, is to create a custom PowerForm URL that will enable UCB recipient information fields to be auto-populated. Examples include:
- UID
- SID
- Department
- Job Title
- UCB Email Address
- Address
This can make the signing process easier for the recipient, and is useful if you know your recipient's identity, or you want to specify an envelope custom field or field values in advance.
For example, if your PowerForm is hosted on a website that requires CalNet authentication, it can be set up to retrieve recipient information such as UID, department and other data that the university associates with employees or students, then automatically populate that information into your form. In addition to making it easier on your recipient, it also ensures that the information is accurate (no typos) and exactly matches what’s in the system of record.
This takes a bit of programming knowledge but for someone who builds web pages is straightforward.
To do this, refer to this DocuSign support article and to this document presented during one of our Community of Practice meetings.
A Word of Caution
The first recipient/signer from a PowerForm will not see the envelope in their account membership. This is by design because PowerForms create what DocuSign calls “Captive Recipients” for the first recipients in the PowerForm workflow. Those “Captive Recipients” recipients have their own IDs which is why the envelopes will not show in the active account the signer may already have. Still, they will receive the 'Completed' notification if the sender account has the correct settings.
More information is on the DocuSign Support site:
- Captive Recipients
- Why aren't my signers receiving DocuSign Notification emails
- Refer to the Embedded/Captive Signing section for details and for how to enable notifications for first recipients. Highlights are:
- Deselect Suppress emails to embedded signers in Signing Settings/Envelope Delivery
- Select Require email validation in your PowerForm Options.
- Refer to the Embedded/Captive Signing section for details and for how to enable notifications for first recipients. Highlights are:
Signing Settings/Envelope Delivery
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PowerForm Options
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