Everything you need toknow about the

Dropbox Sign API

Contents
Business Benefits of Embedding an eSignature API
into Your Website, App, or Workflo
Common eSignature API Use CaseDo You Need an API or an App?
Building an API vs. Buying an API
How to Compare eSignature APIs
Key Features of Dropbox Sign API
Dropbox Sign API Proof Points and Case Studie
Integration Checklist for Dropbox Sign AP
Resources for Developer
About Dropbox Sign

1
The business benefits ofembedding an eSignature
API into your website,
app, or workflow

Not only do your customers crave an easy, digital process tocomplete their documentation—your business needs to embrace
digital workflows like eSignatures to compete in the age of digitaltransformation. 

At the same time, those workflows must remain compliant, secure,and legally binding. After all, what’s the point of a digitized signature
if it isn’t binding? 

The simplest and most cost-effective way to keep (or achieve!) a highlevel of security and legality is to find the right eSignature partner
who can offer you the functionality and user experience you needwith the safety measures to back it up. 

Intrigued? Here are the biggest benefits you’ll enjoy when you makethe smart choice to integrate an eSignature API into your website,
app, or workflow:A huge improvement in user
experience that flawlessly
represents your brandCompliance management

An eSignature API embeds signing functionality into your system

and GDPR compliance are core to a leading eSignature solution.

right where the customer interaction takes place (e.g., signing aThis out-of-the-box compliance is a huge plus for companies thatliability release on a gym website or signing your driver application

require safe and secure transactions. FinTech companies, forright from the Uber app). Signers don’t have to navigate to a separate

instance, will often use compliant APIs so that they don’t have toeSignature website or page. Top that off with white labeling thatgo through the time-consuming, costly, and risky compliancemaintains your brand presence (things like colors and logos) andprocess manually.

The best eSignature APIs come equipped with the propercompliance measures to protect sensitive data and ensure thatsigned documents are legally binding. Things like SOC II, HIPAA,

everybody enjoys a delightful signature experience.

Innovation
Resource savings

eSignature APIs are created by entire teams that are dedicated toCompanies that choose to integrate APIs benefit by saving the time

their time and well-honed skills into creating new features,and engineering hours that would have been required to build theimprovements, and optimizations. Companies that then choose tosame functionality. Dropbox Sign API, for example, carries anembed these APIs get 100 percent of the benefit from thisaverage integration time of 2.5 days. Compare that to the months

continual improvement. In fact, we’ve got a list of recent(and years) of development and security resources it would take toimprovements to Dropbox Sign API to help you visualize thecreate and maintain an eSignature solution independently. 

evolution of a quality API.

Additionally, compare the time spent completing a digital signature(minutes) to the time and resources wasted manually filling out,
printing, scanning, emailing, and perhaps even correcting a
document (days or more) and it becomes a no-brainer.

making the API the best it can be. Their singular job is to invest

MaintenanceIf something wonky happens with an API, dedicated teams will
launch into “fix” mode so you don’t have to. From small performance
improvements to large-scale bug fixes, the best API teams ensure
maximum uptime, which means customers get a solution that works
99.99 percent of the time on a 24/7/365 basis.

Flexibility
The best APIs give customers a large degree of flexibility in how they
are implemented. This allows your development team to create theideal experience for users instead of forcing you to rely on a vendor’s
one-size-fits-all experience. This flexibility means a much better
experience for whoever needs to sign your documents.

Focus
Companies that leverage best-in-class eSignature APIs are better
able to focus on evolving their core offerings and serving theircustomers—instead of focusing on building and maintaining an inhouse eSignature tool.

2

Signups and applications

Common eSignature
API Use Cases

Procurement and sales

By now, you’ve probably noted a few ways your organization could
benefit from integrating an eSignature API. But how and when will
you actually use it? We’ve outlined a mix of basic and advanced use
cases to help you think through your own process and identify areas
where you could really use an eSignature.

API: HR and onboarding
As employees, contractors, or agents join companies, there aredozens of documents which require their signature. Authorizations,offer letters, direct deposit sheets, and NDAs all need to becompleted and signed before any work can begin.

You might need to ask for several signatures on liability releases,
waivers, and other forms when a user signs up for a service orapplies for a membership.

When agreeing to purchase goods or services either as an individualor as a business, a signature is often required. These signatures may
take place in Point of Sale systems, B2B procurement systems,
invoicing tools, or software agreements.

Procurement and sales
When agreeing to purchase goods or services either as an individualor as a business, a signature is often required. These signatures may
take place in Point of Sale systems, B2B procurement systems,
invoicing tools, or software agreements.

Taxes, insurance, and loans
The financial services industry is highly complex. Professionals inthis space know how long a loan application, a set of corporate taxes,
or an insurance application can take to complete—especially when
they require multiple signatures by multiple parties in multiple
locations.

Real estate
Real estate documents almost always require signatures—and a lotof them. There are many forms required when leasing, buying, ormanaging a property. Everything from lease agreements to HOA
resolutions require a signature from home buyers, homeowners, andreal estate agents.

Legal agreements
Last but not least are general legal agreements. Whether for court
proceedings, civil cases, estate planning, or other situations; legal
firms must have a way to capture legally binding digital signaturesfrom a number of parties—often in different geographical areas.

3
Do You Need an API oran App?
It’s only natural to wonder if you really need an API or if you cansimply handle your documents via a no-code eSignature tool.
Choosing the best solution depends on your company’s needs andyour desired level of integration. 

For teams that want a non-embedded experience or who don’t
want to deal with any coding, our standalone product Dropbox Sign
is a great option. For teams of 10 or more, we offer a secure andscalable enterprise eSignature platform. We’re also making asplash with our new Salesforce integration, which is the only tool
currently on the market that allows users to prepare, edit, and send
documents for signature without leaving their Salesforce instance.

However, if you need a customizable eSignature collector thatembeds seamlessly into your workflow, Dropbox Sign API is yourbest bet.

As an API-first company, Dropbox Sign prioritizes developing andsupporting our API unlike anyone else in the industry. We focus on
making our API easy to implement, hassle free, feature rich, andfully customizable. We want our customers to use and enjoy all
those great benefits we mentioned earlier like compliancemanagement, hands-off maintenance, flawless white labeling, andmore.

If you’re still not sure whether to choose an app or an API, here’s a quick chart to help you
figure out which solution is the best fit for your business:

Volume: What volume of documents

Low/Medium

Medium/High

Non-embedded eSignatures only

Embedded and non-embedded

do you expect to need signed

Signature experience: Do you want toeSignaturesembed the eSignature experience on
your website?

Branding only

Branding and white labeling

Nope

Yes

Development resources: Do you have

Doesn’t require development

Requires development resources

software development resources to get

resources

Branding: Do you want to brand or
white label the eSignature experience?

Flexibility: Does your workflow
contain complexity or nuance?

up and running

Setup time: How long do you have to
set up your account?

Several minutes

Several days

4
Building an API vs.
buying an API

We work, and have worked, with a lot of companies that have
pondered the “build or buy” dilemma when it comes to an eSignature
API. What we can tell you is that most of them eventually figured outthat it was a better investment in both the short- and long-term tooutsource the development and maintenance to an eSignature
professional like Dropbox Sign. 

While a home-grown system may seem better at a glance; the costof building, improving, and maintaining an in-house system becomesprohibitive when you take into account the lifetime of the tool. 

Consider the initial and ongoing time it’ll take your team to...
Develop a back and front end to capture an electronic signature
Adhere to the various domestic and international eSignature laws
and regulations including SOC II, HIPAA, eIDAS, etc.
Build and maintain functionality such as signature options, bulk
send, font and color options, template links, and more
Add and maintain integrations to other systems like Salesforce,
Google, and Oracle
Set up and maintain support for internet browsers, mobile
devices, form factors, and hardware sizes In general, unless you have a bored development team and an
extremely rare use case for eSignatures, buying an eSignature API
will always be more cost effective and result in a better experience
for users and admins.

5
How to compare
eSignature APIs
There is a litany of eSignature solutions on the market—all ofwhich you don’t have the time (nor the desire) to compare. 

When it comes to finding the perfect solution for your uniquebusiness needs, we suggest comparing the top three or fourindustry leaders. 

These companies likely have been through tens if not hundredsof thousands of eSignature implementations and have a wellstructured product that will grant maximum reliability, features,
security, and stability. These are some of our favorite tools forcomparing eSignature API platforms:

Product trials
The best eSignature API competitors offer free trials or test accessto their API so prospects can get a feel for their products. Take
advantage of these benefits as they can give a good indication as tohow your paid experience might go.

G2 crowd
A great place to start your comparison is G2 Crowd, where you can

G2 Crowd’s Implementation Index for eSignature, which we included

find user reviews, analyst ratings, and key differentiators for a variety

some screenshots of below, is a report based entirely on userof software solutions. 

feedback, reviews, and ratings for major eSignature companies. 

In fact, when prospects ask “Why should I pick Dropbox Sign?” weAs you’ll see, among the top 24 eSignature vendors indexed in theoften point them in the direction of G2 Crowd because of theirreport, Dropbox Sign is highly ranked—scoring better thanthorough analysis of the eSignature space and their impartial

established eSignature players in major categories like ease of setup,

reviews of all key players.

implementation time, satisfaction, and average user adoption.

G2 Crowd eSignature Rankings

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Sizing up the competition

Dropbox Sign

DocuSign

Adobe Sign

85%

83%

86%

1.3 mo

1.1 mo.8 moPandaDocs

Ease of Setup

93%

Implementation Time

.5 mo

Avg. User Adoption

86%

70%

68%

85%

99%

90%

92%

98%

Led by Vendor PS

1%

7%

7%

0%

Led by 3rd Party

0%

3%

2%

2%

Implementation Method

Led by in-house team.

Overall Ratings

HelloSign is Best in Industry for Ease of
Setup, Time to Integrate, and User Adoption
implementation score

220 Ratings
4.8 / 5 stars

months to go live*

9.6
Average 8.71

2 weeks
implementation data
Ease of Setup

Average 1 month

93%
Average 8.71*

 Based on G2 Crowd respondents. The total average for HelloSign
Customers to go live is 2.5 days 

Average User Adoption* Based on total number of G2 Crowd Hellosign respondents.

86%
Average 8.71

implementation method
In-House Team

68 respondents

Vendor Servives Team

1 respondent

3rd Party Consultant

0 respondentAragon research
Aragon’s 2018 report on digital transaction management evaluates
an exclusive group of 16 DTM providers based on their strategy,
performance, and reach in the market. The leaders on this index are
acting upon proven, comprehensive strategies that align withindustry direction and market demand. 

Contender

LeaderAs you’ll see below, Dropbox Sign is happy to have been identified as
one of Aragon’s DTM leaders because of our commitment toinnovating eSignatures, our explosive growth in the market, and ouradvanced API technology.

Kofax

Topaz

NintexAdobe

Dropbox Sign
eOriginal

NamirialeSignLive
Sertifi
CitrixSignNow

Specialist

Intelledox

AssureSign

ThinkSmart
ZorroSign

Innovator

6

Key features of the
Dropbox Sign API
While Dropbox Sign API has a robust list of features (which you canview here), in this section we’re highlighting the features ourcustomers have told us are the reasons they decided to choose ourAPI.

Embedded signing
Embedded signing is the ability to have someone sign a document
right on your website or in your app. When guiding signers through aworkflow, a blissfully simple and straightforward process is crucial tominimize drop offs and maximize completions. 

A great example of this is signing up for a gym membership online.
Users are a lot less likely to chicken out if they’re prompted to sign
the liability waiver and other agreements without ever having to open
another window or find an attachment in their inbox.

Embedded requesting
Kind of like a relative to embedded signing, embedded requestingenables our customers to extend the power of requesting a signature
to their end users. 

An example of this would be ADP giving their customer (the Directorof HR at Company XYZ) the ability to send an employee a document
for signature right through ADP’s system. When the signature
request comes from a name and a provider they trust, it’s a lot lesslikely you’ll see employees sending important work attachments
right to their spam and trash folders.

Embedded templates
Embedded templates put the power of template creation in thehands of your customer and allow you to provide a more flexible andcustomized solution. 

Premium branding
Let’s use our ADP example again. In addition to allowing users tosend documents for signature, ADP also wants to let their users

The holy grail of flexibility and customization, premium branding

upload templates for documents they frequently use (e.g. a standard

allows a customer to fully brand all aspects of the signature

corporate NDA). With embedded templates from Dropbox Sign API,

experience down to the colors and logos. It actually removes all

ADP can give their customers yet another level of control andmention of Dropbox Sign, allowing our customers’ brands to shine

customization in the signature sending and signingand creating a consistent experience for their end users.

Enterprise features

Signer reassignment

We find that many of our larger or more established customers often

Imagine a large deal for Deloitte falling through just because the leadlook for a common set of features that give senders and signers

partner isn’t available to sign. In large organizations, there are often

increased flexibility to cater to even the most unique use cases.

multiple people who have the power of signature. With signer

DropboxSign.com HR Automation | 18 reassignment, any partner can easily, digitally reassign the power of

These are some of our most widely-used enterprise features.

signature to another person to get documents signed and deals
closed efficiently.

Bulk send

Signer attachments

Bulk send allows you to send a single document to a large audience

Signer attachments are perfect for when signers need to upload ain one fell swoop. Before bulk send, you could easily spend a month

document to an agreement. A great example of this is employment

or more sending and getting everyone to sign and return an

verification where a new hire needs to provide a copy of theirimportant document like an updated stock agreement. 

passport or driver’s license. Instead of eSigning and then trying toremember which papers to bring in on their first day, the new hire
can complete the entire process digitally so they can get to
productivity quickly and HR can get back to work.

Dropbox Sign API Proof
Points and Case Studies

Brokermint increased sales conversion rate

LoftSmart created a paperless real estateby 23% after integrating DropboxSign API

marketplace with DropboxSign API

KinHR used DropboxSign API to build a

DropboxSign API decreased FrontFundr’s

totally seamless onboarding platform

financial document processing time by 75%

DropboxSign API helped decrease document
turnaround time from 48 hours to 11 minutes
at EquityZen

8

PHASE II: Design
Scope out your signing (and/or requesting) workflow from start tofinish. Things to ask yourself include:

Integration Checklist for
Dropbox Sign API

Will documents be generated in an iFrame on your site or on
dropboxsign.com?

Once you’ve determined you want to use an eSignature API, it’s
simple to get up and running with Dropbox Sign API—even if you’recurrently using another product or service for your eSignatures. 

How branded do you want the customer experience?
(Choose between white labeled with your brand in theforefront or the standard Dropbox Sign-branded interface.)

This checklist will help you set up your Dropbox Sign accountquickly and seamlessly.

How will requests be generated?

PHASE I: Secure engineeringresources

How will you be retrieving data from signed documents?

Ensure that your company has the necessary API development
resources to support you through design, implementation, andlaunch (the average Dropbox Sign API deployment is just 2.5 days!).
For those who don’t have engineering resources in-house, third-party
development companies are a great option for implementing our API.

Will the signing take place on your site or on dropboxsign.com?

What features would you like your signers or users to access?

How would you like to store completed documents?
What kind of post-signing access to those documents will you
provide signers?
What goals will determine the success of your integrations?
Then get familiar with our API resources:
API Documentation
Official SDKs

PHASE III: Build
Integrate Dropbox Sign API feature and workflow that you
decided upon during Phase II.
If you’re using templates, create the templates that will be used inyour integration.
Prepare for properly handling callbacks and retrieving the PDFs
and data from your signature requests.
Consider creating a second API app to be used for your test or
developer environment.

PHASE IV: App approval
Embedded flows require a 30-minute app approval with a
Dropbox Sign API Support Engineer. We will review yourintegration to ensure it’s working properly and that yourintegration meets signer verification guidelines.
After passing your app approval, you will be able to use
embedded flows in Production. (This will require a paid
subscription).
Launch! Your app is now ready to be used in Production and you
can start sending documents for signature!

PHASE V: Monitor, iterate,and improve
Monitor adoption and usage amongst your user base to ensure
your process is working.
Measure the success of your integrations against the goals set
during the design phase.
Collect feedback from your users to improve your process andfind ideas to expand upon functionality.

We recommend reviewing each phase with the current admin or
project leader for eSignatures at your company. If you haveadditional questions you can always contact our API team or lookthrough our technical documentation and API Help Center.

8
Resources for Developers
Developers want to leverage Dropbox Sign workflow tools in a broad
range of environments and with a wide degree of options. They want
to be able to remove restrictions that don’t seem necessary so that
the API’s behavior can be as natural as possible within the confinesof whatever system they happen to be working within. 

API dashboard
Why Every API Needs a Dashboard Getting Started with the Dropbox Sign API Dashboard ProTip: The best companies have dedicated API support teams
staffed by software engineers to help with setup, implementation,and best practices. Make sure your vendor of choice has thetechnical support capabilities to take care of your team during andafter implementation.

As an API-focused company, the Dropbox Sign team has made great
strides to meet developers where they are. We’ve also worked hard to
give our developers tools to save their end users from tedious,
repetitive processes and avoid reinventing the wheel wherever
possible. 

Here are the tools you or your developers can use to best explore andtest Dropbox Sign API.

Documentation
https://app.hellosign.com/api/documentation

Official Dropbox Sign
libraries
Dropbox Sign Python SDK Dropbox Sign Java SDK Dropbox Sign Ruby SDK Dropbox Sign NodeJS SDK Dropbox Sign PHP SDK

Dropbox Sign C#.NET SDKTest accountIt’s possible to access Dropbox Sign API in test mode using theboolean parameter “test_mode”. Signature requests created in test
mode are not legally binding and are watermarked as such.

Restricted endpoints
The following API endpoints require a paid plan but are always
accessible in test mode:
signature_request/sendsignature_request/send_with_template (previously send_with_reusable_form)
signature_request/bulk_send_with_templatesignature_request/create_embedded
signature_request/create_embedded_with_template (previously create_embedded_with_reusable_form)

About Dropbox Sign
The Dropbox Sign digital workflow platform—which includes
eSignature, digital workflow, and electronic fax solutions— helps
over 80,000 companies and millions of people do business fasterevery day. 

We help our customers close deals faster, onboard new hires withease, complete documents without error, and much, much more. 

Contact the developer-led Dropbox Sign API team today to see what
Dropbox Sign API’s smart, integrated eSignature system can do foryour business.