Box Developer Documentation
 

    In person signatures

    In person signatures

    Imagine your application is used by a salesperson when they are face to face with a customer and an immediate signature is required, for example, to subscribe to a service or to confirm a purchase.

    In this case, the salesperson can use your application to create a signature request and then hand over the device to the customer to sign the document, immediately closing the deal.

    Doing this using the Box web application, for example from a template, is very straightforward. You set the signer or signers email so they can receive a copy of the signed document, flag them as in person, and as soon as you send the request, the Sign interface opens requesting the signature for the first signer, then for the second signer, and so on.

    In order to use this within your application, you need to create a signature request with the is_in_person flag set to true for each signer.

    However because your application needs to show the Sign interface to the signer, you also need to use the embed_url_external_user_idso that you get back the embedded URLs, and then either open a browser window or use an iframe to display the signature interface.

    In person signing loops through signers

    Create an in person signature request

    Let's use a template with a single signer as an example:

    cURL
    curl --location 'https://api.box.com/2.0/sign_requests' \
        --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
        --header 'Authorization: Bearer Le...Cb' \
        --data-raw '{
          "template_id": "ee9a689e-96b6-4076-92a0-b9b765eb09ca",
          "parent_folder": {
            "id": "234102987614",
            "type": "folder"
          },
          "signers": [
            {
              "email": "signer@example.com",
              "role": "signer",
              "is_in_person": true,
              "embed_url_external_user_id": "1234"
            }
          ]
        }'
    

    Resulting in (simplified):

    cURL
    {
      "signers": [
        {
          "email": "sender@example.com",
          "role": "final_copy_reader",
          "is_in_person": false,
        },
        {
          "email": "signer@example.com",
          "role": "signer",
          "is_in_person": true,
          "embed_url_external_user_id": "1234",
          "embed_url": "https://app.box.com/sign/document/...",
          "iframeable_embed_url": "https://app.box.com/embed/sign/document/..."
        }
      ],
      "id": "a9159d31-d2fb-4e88-9306-02c00de013d1",
      "parent_folder": {
        "id": "234102987614",
        "type": "folder",
        "name": "signed docs"
      },
      "name": "Simple-PDF (1).pdf",
      "type": "sign-request",
      "status": "created",
      "template_id": "ee9a689e-96b6-4076-92a0-b9b765eb09ca"
    }
    

    Notice the embed_url and iframeable_embed_url in the response. Now when we browse to the embed URL, you see the signature interface:

    In person signing

    Once finished the signer will receive a copy of the signed document via their email.

    Multiple in person signers

    As long as the signer is flagged as is_in_person, the signing interface cycles through all the signers in the request.

    For example, if you add a second signer to the request:

    cURL
    curl --location 'https://api.box.com/2.0/sign_requests' \
        --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
        --header 'Authorization: Bearer Le...Cb' \
        --data-raw '{
          "template_id": "ee9a689e-96b6-4076-92a0-b9b765eb09ca",
          "parent_folder": {
            "id": "234102987614",
            "type": "folder"
          },
          "signers": [
            {
              "email": "signer_a@example.com",
              "role": "signer",
              "is_in_person": true,
              "embed_url_external_user_id": "1234"
            },
            {
              "email": "signer_b@example.com",
              "role": "signer",
              "is_in_person": true
            }
          ]
        }'
    

    Results in (simplified):

    cURL
    {
      "signers": [
        {
          "email": "sender@example.com",
          "role": "final_copy_reader",
          "is_in_person": false,
        },
        {
          "email": "signer_a@example.com",
          "role": "signer",
          "is_in_person": true,
          "embed_url": "https://app.box.com/sign/document/...",
          "iframeable_embed_url": "https://app.box.com/embed/sign/document/..."
        },
        {
          "email": "signer_b@example.com",
          "role": "signer",
          "is_in_person": true,
          "embed_url": null,
          "iframeable_embed_url": null
        }
      ],
      "id": "d066575f-f22b-42fc-b9e2-701468776475",
      "parent_folder": {
        "id": "234102987614",
        "type": "folder",
        "name": "signed docs"
      },
      "name": "Simple-PDF (3).pdf",
      "type": "sign-request",
      "status": "created",
      "template_id": "ee9a689e-96b6-4076-92a0-b9b765eb09ca"
    }
    

    Browsing to the embedded URL shows the signature interface for the first signer:

    First in person signer

    Once the first signer has signed, the signature interface automatically switches to the second signer:

    Alt text