Templates versus one-off envelopes

Every Inkpacket send starts with a PDF. The fork is whether that file is a one-time agreement or a layout you will reuse. A one-off envelope uploads, places fields, and sends. A template saves the PDF and its marks on the workspace so the next envelope copies that layout. Pick wrong and you either place the same signature box every Tuesday, or you keep a template for a file nobody will see again.

How to save and start from a layout is templates that reuse field layouts. The five-minute upload path is send a document for signature in under five minutes. Desk help is Docs. This guide is the choice: when the extra save is worth it, and when a single upload is the whole job.

Pick a one-off envelope when the PDF is unique

Upload once when this file will not come back. A custom amendment. A one-time vendor envelope with a name already baked into the first page. A settlement that exists only for this counterparty. You still place signature, date, text, initials, checkbox, and select marks. You still set reminders, expiry, and an optional access code. You do not create a template. The envelope is the record.

Empty files, non-PDFs, unreadable bytes, and files over 15 MB are rejected on upload. Settings shows S3-compatible storage when the S3_* keys are set, otherwise Local fallback. Other workspaces cannot see the object. Where uploaded PDFs are stored and FAQ list those messages.

What a one-off will not do

• It will not feed bulk send. A list job needs a workspace template.
• It will not publish a Web Form. A public slug is born from a saved layout.
• It will not remember field coordinates for next week. You place them again if you upload again.

Pick a template when you will send this PDF again

Save the PDF and marks when the next envelope should take a signer and a send, not another afternoon in the field editor. Offer letters. Handbook acknowledgments. NDAs. Intake forms. The template stays inside the current organization. Members of another workspace cannot see or start envelopes from it. Suggest starting layout can drop a signature, initials, and date per recipient on the last page — a page-count heuristic, not a model that reads the PDF. You still place or adjust the marks.

Name it so next month’s sender does not have to open the file. “Vendor agreement — 2026” beats “Template (3).” Then start an envelope from Templates, or create from that template on POST /api/v1/packets. Create an envelope from a template via the API is that path.

Lists and public slugs need a template

Bulk send chooses a workspace template, then a CSV or paste of names and emails. Each unique address gets its own envelope with the same marks. You cannot start a bulk job from a one-off draft. Bulk send for HR and sales envelopes walks the list. Bulk send vs Web Forms is the other fork — you already have the emails, or strangers start themselves.

A Web Form is also published from a template. Share /form/SLUG. Each fill is a sent envelope. Free allows 1 published form. If the PDF is unique, upload once. If strangers should start the envelope, save the layout and publish the slug. Publish a Web Form from a template is the click-path.

Routing stays on the envelope

Sequential or parallel order is a send decision, not a reason to skip the template. Save the marks. Then add recipients on the envelope you start from it — send one envelope to multiple signers. Bulk send still creates one envelope per email, not one multi-signer envelope per row.

Caps and what is not open yet

Saving a template is not a send. Starting an envelope from it and sending is. Free allows 5 packets a month. Free at 5 packets a month is the live send 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. A one-off upload still stores the PDF. A template still copies the marks. None of those flags pick the fork for you. The FAQ uses the same phrases.

If you will send this PDF again, save the layout. If the file is unique, upload once and send. Do not keep a graveyard of templates for envelopes that will never repeat. Then file what they signed. The filed copy still lives on that envelope either way — completed envelope, stamped PDF, and audit. Open a workspace on Free — see published pricing and Free versus paid lanes if you want the proposed ladder — and save the first form you already know comes back next week.