Bulk send vs Web Forms: which tool starts the envelope

Both tools start from a workspace template. Both create real envelopes that count toward the monthly envelope cap. The difference is who holds the recipient list. Bulk send is you pushing a known set of names and emails. A Web Form is a public /form/SLUG that lets someone you have not listed start the envelope themselves.

If you pick the wrong one, you will either paste a CSV you do not have or publish a slug you cannot police. This guide is the fork. The walkthroughs are bulk send for HR and sales envelopes and publish a Web Form from a template. Desk help is Docs and Docs.

The fork in one sentence

Use bulk send when you already have the addresses. Use a Web Form when you do not, and you want people to arrive when they are ready. Use a one-off send when the PDF is unique — the five-minute send. Use the public API when your own system already owns the list and should mint envelopes without a person on the desk.

What both need first

A template. There is no “upload a PDF and also a CSV” in this pass, and a Web Form is not a blank public upload. Save the PDF and its field marks once — templates that reuse field layouts — then open Bulk send or Web Forms. Members of another organization cannot see that layout.

When bulk send is the right tool

Open Bulk send on the desk (/desk/bulk). Choose the template, paste or upload names and emails, map the columns, preview the count, and start the job. Each unique email gets its own envelope with the same field layout and the reminder, expiration, and optional access code you set on the job. A job accepts 100 unique emails. Duplicate addresses send once. Retrying skips rows that already went out.

• Offer-letter cohorts, policy acknowledgments, a vendor list you already exported.
• You want every envelope started today, not whenever someone finds a link.
• You need a shared cadence: one reminder interval and one expiration for the job.
• You will copy signing links yourself if invite email was not sent — a sent row means the envelope exists.

Each sent row counts toward the monthly envelope cap. Free allows 5 packets a month. A row that would exceed it returns HTTP 402, ENVELOPE_LIMIT — the same send cap as a single send. If start fails after create, the desk says Job created, but sending did not finish. Open the job, see which rows exist, and retry; retries do not mint a second link for a row that already sent.

When a Web Form is the right tool

Publish from the template and share /form/SLUG. The filler does not sign in to the desk. They complete required text, date, checkbox, and select fields plus their name and email. Inkpacket creates an envelope, copies those values, and sends the signing invite. Signature and initials still happen on the signing page. If Resend is not configured the fill still succeeds and the page says The invite email was not sent. Use the signing link below.

• Intake, vendor onboarding, a public request, an intranet acknowledgment you cannot pre-list.
• You want one slug, not fifty outbound emails you typed yourself.
• You can live without multi-signer routing on that fill. Routing lives on a send you start, not on the public form — sequential vs parallel signing.

Free includes 1 published Web Form. Starter is 20 envelopes — more than Free — plus 3 published Web Forms. Growth is 10 forms, Agency 25. Starter grants more envelopes than Free (20 versus 5) and extra Web Forms. Each fill is a sent envelope. Free at 5 packets a month is still the monthly gate on Free. Seat counts are planning numbers; invite does not refuse when a workspace is full.

PIN, reminders, and expiry on the form

You can set an optional access code, reminder days, and expiration on the Web Form. The PIN uses the same five-try, 15-minute lockout as an envelope access code. Share the code separately from the slug. Bulk send can set one access code for every recipient on the job the same way. More on access codes match both paths. How to choose an envelope expiry is the window decision.

What neither tool does

• Text-message (SMS) is coming soon. The path does not wait on Drive or payment keys. The path is live. SMS, Drive archive, and in-envelope payments are coming soon.
• Neither is a second envelope factory that skips the monthly cap.
• Neither places fields for you. Suggest starting layout is a page-count heuristic, not a model.
• Bulk send does not take a phone column on the CSV in this pass. A Web Form fill uses the email the filler typed; it is not an SMS entry point.

If you have the list, start the job. If you do not, publish the slug. If the PDF is one-off, upload once. If your stack already has the recipients, mint a token and create from the template. Then file what they sign — what a completed envelope includes. Open a workspace on Free, or read published pricing before you assume paid means more envelopes.