Document list aging and status honesty

Documents at /desk is the inbox of envelopes in this workspace. Each row shows a title, a status badge, a field count, and an Updated date. Status is draft, sent, completed, voided, expired, or declined — lowercase on the badge. The list sorts by updatedAt, newest first. Empty copy says No envelopes yet. Aging is how a SENT row becomes expired when the window ends. The hourly cron marks overdue SENT envelopes expired so the document list stays honest. That is list-aging honesty: the row does not vanish, and the badge is not a guess.

What an envelope is is what is a signing envelope. The window itself is how to choose an envelope expiry and reminder cadence versus envelope expiry. After-send verbs are when to void, correct, or resend an envelope. Desk help is Docs. This guide is the list you stare at on a Tuesday.

Ask Inkpacket for open files or document list to open Documents. Ask how expiration works for the window. Those phrases stay on the product screens. This article is the public version of why a quiet SENT row is not “done” and why an expired row is not a void.

What the badges mean

• draft — uploaded, not sent. Not an envelope toward the monthly cap.
• sent — the signing link exists. Reminders may still fire. Envelope admin is available.
• completed — stamped PDF is filed. Cannot void, correct, or resend.
• voided / declined / expired — signing stopped. The envelope id stays on the list.

Expired is not voided and not a cancel. Void is the sender stopping the deal. Decline is the signer’s verb. Expiry is the window ending. The signer sees This signing link has expired. Envelope admin cannot void, correct, or resend an expired envelope. The API returns This envelope has expired. Ask for a new envelope if the work still needs a signature — that new send is a new envelope toward the cap.

The list can lag an hour

Expiration is enforced when someone opens or submits the signing link, and the hourly cron marks overdue SENT envelopes as expired. Between those two moments a row can still read sent even though the window has ended. That lag is honesty, not a bug. Do not treat a still-sent badge at 8:05 as proof the link still works. Open the document. If the signer already hit the expired page, the next cron pass will match.

Updated is updatedAt — last write on that row — not “last viewed by the signer.” A reminder that logs when Resend is missing can bump the date without changing status. Do not read a fresh Updated stamp as progress. Open the audit on that document — reading an audit trail.

What the list is not

• Not a delete queue. Completed, voided, declined, and expired rows stay.
• Not Team. Operators live at /desk/team. Envelopes live here.
• Not the Web Form slug page. Fills appear as sent envelopes after submit.
• Not Billing. Checkout is not open and does not filter this table.

On a phone, Documents is in the desk menu. Help is not a drawer row — it stays in the header. A bulk job’s rows show up as separate envelopes, each with its own status. One declined row does not decline the rest of the job. Bulk send Free envelope math is that fan-out.

Drafts and the cap

A draft is visible and is not a send. Saving a template is not a send. Publishing a Web Form is not a send. The send that issues the signing link is. Free allows 5 packets a month. Free at 5 packets a month is the live cap. Hitting it returns HTTP 402 ENVELOPE_LIMIT. The list will still show the drafts you could not send.

The click-path

1. Open /desk. Read status, not only the title.
2. If it is sent and the window should have ended, open the document before you nag the signer.
3. If it is expired, start a new envelope — do not look for Envelope admin on that id.
4. If it is sent and mail skipped, copy the signing link. Do not mint a twin.
5. If the deal is off, void while it is still sent.

A webhook can fire expired when you have a URL configured. Do not treat iframe postMessage as the list. The desk row is the record you operate. Listen for envelope status webhooks is the server copy.

Caps and what is not open yet

Reading the list is not a send. Free allows 5 packets a month. Free at 5 packets a month is the live cap desk send, bulk rows, Web Form fills, and API send share. Hitting it returns HTTP 402 ENVELOPE_LIMIT. Starter is 20 envelopes — more than Free — plus 3 published Web Forms. Seat counts are planning numbers; invite does not refuse when a workspace is full.

Billing is published, not charging. Checkout is not open. Text-message (SMS) is coming soon. Drive missing: Drive not configured. Stripe off: Payments not live. Those flags do not hide expired rows or invent a completed badge. The FAQ and expiration help use expired status in the same words.

Read the badge. Trust expiry more than a quiet inbox. Stay on that envelope id until they sign, decline, you void, or the window ends. Then file the stamped PDF from that row — the list was the product telling the truth. Open a workspace on Free — see published pricing — or sign in and send a throwaway with a short expiry so sent-then-expired is a pair you have watched on the same table.