New API Endpoint: Generate Preview PDF for Submission With Pending Data Requests

We've added a way to generate a preview PDF while a submission is still waiting for some data requests to be completed. DocSpring will normally only generate a PDF once everyone has finished signing. You are now able to generate a preview PDF to see what the document will look like, even if only 2 out of 3 data requests have been completed.

To support this feature, we have added two new properties to the GET Submission API response: preview_download_url and preview_generated_at. These will both be null by default. Preview PDFs are never generated automatically, so you must explicitly request them by calling this API.

How To Generate A Preview PDF

Call the "Generate Preview PDF" API endpoint, wait a few seconds, and then make a request to the GET Submission API endpoint. When the preview PDF is ready, the preview_download_url property will include a URL where you can download the preview PDF. The preview_generated_at timestamp will also be present. If you need to regenerate the preview, you can call this API endpoint again and wait for the preview_generated_at timestamp to change.

This API endpoint can only be used for submissions that contain at least one pending data request. It will return an error for any other submissions.

View the API documentation for this endpoint.

Billing Changes

This feature is available for no extra charge, and preview PDFs do not count as extra submissions towards your monthly usage quota. However, pending submissions with preview PDFs will be treated as if they are a processed submission for billing purposes.

Submission State	Has Preview PDF?	Billed As
Processed	Yes	1 generated PDF
Processed	No	1 generated PDF
Pending	Yes	1 generated PDF
Pending	No	Not tracked
Error	Yes	1 generated PDF
Error	No	Not tracked

Note: We don't count preview PDFs for test submissions, since the preview PDFs will also include watermarks.