Multiple Recipients Signing In Parallel

When sending an envelope for signatures, you can control how it’s sent to recipients using the routing property in the Envelope.

There are two options: Sequential and Parallel. By default, SignatureAPI uses parallel routing.

With Parallel Routing, the envelope is sent simultaneously to all recipients. Each recipient can sign the document whenever they want, and there is no required signing order.

In this example, we will create an envelope with:

• A single PDF document.
• Two recipients (signers) signing in parallel (the default), with the keys disclosing_party and receiving_party.
• Two signature places positioned with placeholders [[disclosing_party_signature]] and [[receiving_party_signature]].

All other envelope settings use the default configuration:

• The recipient will receive an email with a link to sign.
• The account’s default language, timezone, and timestamp format used.

​

Prepare your Document

Placeholders are text markers within your PDF document indicating specific locations for items such as signatures, initials, or text inputs. Each placeholder follows the format [[place_key]], where place_key uniquely identifies the specific location within your document.

In this example, we have prepared a document containing the placeholders [[disclosing_party_signature]] and [[receiving_party_signature]]. These placeholders mark the exact positions within the document where the signatures corresponding to each key (disclosing_party_signature and receiving_party_signature) will be inserted.

​

Create the Envelope

When creating the envelope:

• Set routing to parallel (this is optional, as parallel is the default envelope routing)
• Add your recipient objects to the recipients property of the Envelope in any order, as they’ll be sent simultaneously.
• Add the signature place objects to the places array inside the document object:
  • key: Must match the placeholder within the document file (e.g., disclosing_party_signature).
  • type: Set as signature.
  • recipient_key: Matches recipient keys (disclosing_party and receiving_party).

// POST https://api.signatureapi.com/v1/envelopes
// X-Api-Key: <Your API Key>

{
  "title": "Dummy NDA",
  "message": "Please review and sign the following Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) for internal testing purposes. This document is not legally binding and is used solely for demonstration\n\nThank you for your cooperation.",
  "routing": "parallel",
  "documents": [
    {
      "url": "https://pub-9cb75390636c4a8a83a6f76da33d7f45.r2.dev/dummy-nda.pdf",
      "places": [
        {
          "key": "disclosing_party_signature",
          "type": "signature",
          "recipient_key": "disclosing_party"
        },
        {
          "key": "receiving_party_signature",
          "type": "signature",
          "recipient_key": "receiving_party"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "recipients": [
    {
      "type": "signer",
      "key": "disclosing_party",
      "name": "Jane Doe",
      "email": "jane@example.com"
    },
    {
      "type": "signer",
      "key": "receiving_party",
      "name": "Richard Roe",
      "email": "richard@example.com"
    }
  ]
}

​

Result

If successful, SignatureAPI will send emails to both Jane Doe (“disclosing_party”) and Richard Roe (“receiving_party”) with links to sign the document. Each signer places their signature on their designated signature line.

​

Try It

Try this example in Postman using your test API key to create a free, non-binding test envelope. Test envelopes won’t send emails, but you can review them in your dashboard.

​

Keep Learning

• Learn about sequential signing for workflows where the order of signing is important.
• Explore other types of places, such as initials, text inputs, or completion dates.
• Position signatures using precise coordinates.