Publish a Web Form from a template

A Web Form is a public web form published from a workspace template. You share /form/SLUG. The person on the other end does not sign in to the desk. They complete the 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.

This is the public walkthrough for that path. Desk help is Docs. Features is Web Forms. If you do not have a template yet, save one first — templates that reuse field layouts. If you already know the recipient list, use bulk send instead of a public slug.

When a Web Form is the right tool

Use a Web Form when you do not have the signer’s email in advance and you want them to start the envelope themselves. Intake, vendor onboarding, a public request form, a handbook acknowledgment you post on an intranet — those are Web Form jobs. You publish once. People arrive when they are ready.

Do not use a Web Form when you already have a list of names and emails. That is bulk send: you start every envelope. Do not use a Web Form when one envelope needs several people in sequence or in parallel — routing lives on a send you start, not on the public fill. See sequential vs parallel signing and More on signing order.

• Publish when strangers or unlisted teammates should start the envelope.
• Bulk send when you already have the addresses.
• Send a one-off envelope when the PDF is unique — the five-minute send.

Start from a template

A Web Form is not a blank upload. Save the PDF and its field marks as a workspace template, then open Web Forms on the desk and publish from that layout. Members of another organization cannot see the form or the template. More on templates is the three-click save; reusable templates is the marketing note.

Place signature and initials marks for the person who will later open the signing link. The public page collects the fields a filler can type or check. The invite still asks them to sign. If a mark is assigned to a recipient slot that the fill does not create, that field sits empty until the signer reaches it — keep the layout honest.

How to publish and share the slug

1. Save the workspace template with the fields you want on the public page and on the later signing page.
2. Open Web Forms. Publish from that template. Name the form so the team recognizes it later.
3. Copy /form/SLUG and put it where people will actually land — an email you write, an intranet page, a QR on a counter.
4. Optionally set an access code, reminder interval, and expiration on the form. Those defaults apply to every envelope the fill creates.

The filler does not create an Inkpacket account. They open the slug, complete required fields, and submit their name and email. Inkpacket creates the envelope, fills the values they typed, and sends the signing invite. If Resend is missing, the desk still has the envelope and the signing URL — same fallback as a one-off send.

Access code, reminders, and expiry on the form

The optional access code on a Web Form is the same lock as a one-off send: hash at rest, not in the invite email, lockout after five wrong guesses. Share the PIN separately from the public slug if the page is easy to find. Access codes for sensitive envelopes and More on access codes match that rule.

Reminder days and expiration are form defaults, not a per-filler picker. After a fill becomes a sent envelope, the hourly job treats it like any other envelope. Reminders and expiry and reminder help explain the cadence.

Each fill is a sent envelope

A Web Form submission is not a free extra. Inkpacket creates an envelope and sends it. That send counts toward the workspace monthly envelope cap — the same cap as a desk send, an API send, and each row of a bulk job. Free allows 5 packets a month and 1 published Web Form. Starter is 20 envelopes (more than Free) and 3 published Web Forms. Growth is 100 envelopes and 10 Web Forms. Agency is 500 envelopes and 25 Web Forms. Starter grants more envelopes than Free and extra published forms.

Seat counts on Pricing are planning numbers — invite does not refuse when a workspace is full. Monthly envelopes and published Web Forms are the live gates. Billing is published, not charging; workspaces stay on Free until checkout is live. The send path still checks the monthly count. Choosing a plan and billing help state the same ladder.

Disable the form, not the filed envelopes

Disable a Web Form when you want to stop new fills. Existing envelopes stay. Void an in-flight envelope the usual way if that one deal is off — envelope admin. Completing an envelope from a fill files a stamped PDF like any other send; see what a completed envelope includes.

What a Web Form will not do

• It will not sign the envelope on the public page. Signature and initials wait for the signing link.
• It will not route a second signer after the fill. Multi-signer routing is a send you start.
• Text-message (SMS) is coming soon. It will not wait on Drive or payment keys. The path is live without those credentials.
• It will not invent a template. Publish from a saved layout.
• It will not leak the form into another organization.

Operators who already have a template should keep More on Web Forms open while they publish. This article is the indexable version: when to use a public slug, how the fill becomes an envelope, and the honest lane math — Free at 5 packets a month and one published form. Share the slug. File each completed PDF on its own envelope. Open a workspace on Free if you still need one.