Fax a Signed DocuSign Envelope — via Import-from-Link or the API
When a DocuSign envelope is completed, the signed PDF is what most people need to fax to a party that still requires paper — a lender, a county recorder, an insurer. Send FAX Mail has no DocuSign Connect app in the DocuSign App Center, and we do not pretend to. Instead you fax the completed document itself: pull the signed PDF from DocuSign and either hand our server a link to it or post its bytes to our REST API. Both run the same gated send.
Plan requirement
Faxing a downloaded envelope from the dashboard, by email-to-fax, or by pasting a link at /dashboard/import all work on any paid plan and need no API access. The automated listener path — posting the signed document to /v1/faxes with a document_url or inline bytes — is part of the Business ($79.99/mo) and Enterprise ($169.99/mo) plans, which is where the REST API and webhooks are enabled.
How it works
DocuSign fires a Connect webhook when an envelope reaches Completed, and its API can return the combined signed PDF for that envelope. You wire a small listener that catches the completion event, retrieves the signed document, and forwards it to us. If you can expose the PDF at a public HTTPS URL, put that link in the document_url field and our server fetches it behind an SSRF guard before faxing — no base64 needed. If the document must stay private, read its bytes and send them inline. Either way the recipient number rides along in the request, and the fax id you get back ties the sent fax to the envelope.
What you can do
- ✓Fax a completed envelope's signed PDF the moment DocuSign marks it Completed
- ✓Let DocuSign Connect notify a listener that then forwards the document to us
- ✓Pass a public document_url so we fetch the signed PDF instead of you encoding it
- ✓Send the PDF bytes inline when the document cannot be exposed publicly
- ✓Correlate the returned fax id with the DocuSign envelope id for an audit trail
- ✓Run the same BAA, quota, and number gates as a manual send
Setup steps
- 1In DocuSign, configure a Connect webhook that fires on the envelope-completed event
- 2Stand up a listener that catches the event and fetches the combined signed PDF
- 3Put the account on Business or Enterprise and create a key at /dashboard/developers
- 4Forward the document to /v1/faxes as a document_url or inline base64, with the recipient number
- 5Save the returned fax id next to the DocuSign envelope id
- 6Track delivery via GET /v1/faxes/:id or a webhook subscribed to fax.delivered and fax.failed
Example
POST /v1/faxes
Authorization: Bearer sfm_live_xxxxxxxx
Idempotency-Key: envelope-9f21c
Content-Type: application/json
{
"to": "+15551234567",
"document_url": "https://files.example.com/signed/envelope-9f21c.pdf"
}DocuSign Fax — FAQ
We do not, and claiming one would be dishonest. There is nothing to install from DocuSign's marketplace. You use DocuSign's own Connect webhook and document-retrieval API to get the signed PDF, then send that PDF to our fax API — the integration lives in a small listener you control, not in a packaged connector.
Use document_url when the completed PDF can sit at a public HTTPS address, because then our server fetches it and you skip encoding. Use inline base64 when the document is sensitive and must not be publicly reachable. The import-from-link fetch is SSRF-guarded and follows redirects safely on each hop.
Trigger it off DocuSign's completed event so the fax carries the fully executed copy, not a draft. Your listener receives the Connect notification, pulls the combined PDF, and forwards it to /v1/faxes in the same step, so there is no gap where an unsigned version could be sent by mistake.
Keep the fax id from the API response mapped to the envelope id in your own records. DocuSign already retains its certificate of completion; pairing that with the fax id and the fax.delivered event gives you an end-to-end trail from signature to received fax.
Only the automated listener route does, because it posts to the REST API, which belongs to the Business and Enterprise plans. If you fax the occasional signed PDF by hand, download it from DocuSign and send it from the dashboard, by email-to-fax, or by pasting a link at /dashboard/import — all of which run on any paid plan.
Build with the DocuSign Fax
API access and webhooks are included on the Business and Enterprise plans. Create a key at /dashboard/developers and start sending.
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