Some signatures do not need a ceremony. A clinician signs prescriptions under a standing authorization. An officer signs routine documents under a power of attorney. For workflows like these, interacting with the document adds friction without adding evidentiary value. The new automatic_signer recipient type handles them directly.
How it works
An automatic signer is a natural person whose signature is applied by the system at envelope creation. No email is sent, no ceremony is created, and the recipient never opens the document. You supply the signature image, the initials image, or both, depending on which places are assigned to the recipient. Images are referenced by upload URL, the same as preset symbols for a standard signer.
You also supply a mandate, a short statement of the authority basis under which you are signing on the person’s behalf. The mandate is recorded verbatim in the audit log, alongside the signer’s name and a short hash, and attributed to the initiator of the transaction. Phrase it as a complete statement that stands on its own in the permanent record, since it is what a reviewer will see if the signature is ever challenged.
Automatic signers follow the envelope’s routing. In sequential envelopes they complete in list order and activate the next recipient. In parallel envelopes they complete as soon as the envelope is released.
A note on legal weight
An automatic signer does not interact with the document, so this type does not carry the same legal weight as a standard signer in every jurisdiction. In US frameworks (ESIGN, UETA) it is generally defensible when the initiator has recorded authority. Under EU eIDAS, the lack of direct consent and signing action weakens the evidentiary trail within the Simple Electronic Signature level. Use a standard signer when the document warrants it, and consult legal counsel for high-risk cases.
See the automatic signer docs for the full attribute list and examples.
