Why an envelope stops at 20 recipients

When you send an envelope, add recipients and pick Sequential or Parallel — Documents → new #routing. An envelope accepts up to 20 recipients. Sequential routing uses an Order field (1–20). Parallel invites every recipient at once. One decline still closes the whole envelope. That is recipient-cap honesty: a 21st name is not a second envelope, Starter does not sell “more signers on one id,” and opening Billing will not raise the slot list.

How the two modes differ is sequential vs parallel signing on one envelope. Shared Order slots are when recipients share a sequential order. The waiting page is first-signer waiting message. Desk help is Docs. This guide is why the recipient list stops at twenty, and why that stop is not ENVELOPE_LIMIT.

The FAQ says more than one person can sign the same envelope. Ask Inkpacket for why an envelope stops at 20 recipients to open this article. Ask how routing works to open help. Those phrases stay on the product screens. This article is the public version of why the 21st row is not a paid lane, and why twenty people on one id still count as one envelope.

What twenty covers

• Up to 20 names and emails on one envelope id. Sequential or parallel does not multiply the count.
• Order field 1–20 on sequential. People who share an order sign in parallel with each other.
• One envelope toward the monthly cap when you send. Twenty signers are not twenty envelopes.
• One decline closes the whole envelope. Later sequential orders are not invited after a refusal.

Need a 21st person? Send a second envelope. That second send counts. 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. The recipient cap is a different no — you still have envelopes left, you just cannot put twenty-one live links on this id. Bulk send is the other direction: one template, many envelopes, one envelope per unique address. Do not use bulk send to “add a 21st signer to this id.” That creates another envelope.

What this is not

• Not HTTP 402 ENVELOPE_LIMIT. That is the monthly send cap after twenty or one recipient.
• Not a seat cap. Teammate invites are a different object. Seat counts are planning numbers; invite does not refuse.
• Not a Web Form published-form 402. A public fill creates its own sent envelope with the filler as signer.
• Not checkout. Billing is not open. Paying a listed price does not add a 21st slot.

Place fields for a recipient before you send. A mark with no assignee is a gap on the filed PDF. A later sequential signer who opens their link early sees This envelope is waiting for an earlier signer. Reminders and resend only email people who have already been invited. Public API send accepts recipients and routingMode SEQUENTIAL or PARALLEL. A single name and email still works. The API will not take a 21st recipient on that id either. Mail still soft-fails. Text-message (SMS) is coming soon. Drive archive waits for completed. Stripe off: Payments not live.

The click-path

1. Add up to 20 recipients on Documents → new #routing. Pick sequential or parallel.
2. If you need more people, send this envelope, then start another. Do not open Billing for a 21st slot.
3. If send returns HTTP 402 ENVELOPE_LIMIT, that is the monthly cap, not the recipient list.
4. If one of twenty declines, the envelope is closed. Send a new envelope for the remaining work.
5. On a phone, Documents is a drawer row. Routing still sits on the send form. Help is not a drawer row — it stays in the header.

Ask Inkpacket for why an envelope stops at 20 recipients to open this article. Ask how routing works or how does signer routing work to open help. Ask add recipients to open the send form. Marketing Ask stays site Q&A and deep links. It will not add a 21st signer or split the envelope from this article. Twenty is the list. A new envelope is the overflow.

Caps and what is not open yet

Adding a 21st name is not a send. Send of a legal 20-person envelope is. 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 add a 21st slot or hide routing. The FAQ and More on signing order use An envelope accepts up to 20 recipients in the same words.

Stay at twenty on this id. Send a second envelope if you must. Open a workspace on Free — see published pricing — and try to add a 21st throwaway name so recipient-cap honesty is a stopped list you already saw, not a Starter checkout you hoped would grow the row.