# Create an envelope

Upload your documents, add recipients and fields, and get an envelope ready to send.

An envelope holds one or more documents and the people who need to act on them. You build it in four stages, shown in the top bar: **Documents**, **Recipients**, **Fields** and **Review**.

## Start a draft

1. Open **Envelopes** and click **New envelope**
2. Drop PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint or image files onto the upload area, or click it to choose files

The first file creates a draft. To start from a saved layout, click **Start from a template** at the bottom of the page instead. See [Templates](/docs/templates).

Click the envelope's name in the top bar to rename it. Recipients see this name in emails and on the signing page.

Your changes save as you go. The top bar shows **Saved** when everything is stored. If the draft was changed in another tab, it shows **Changed in another tab** with a **Reload** button.

### File limits

- PDF files
- Word, Excel and PowerPoint files (.doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx), OpenDocument files (.odt, .ods, .odp), .rtf and .txt
- Images (.jpg, .png, .gif, .webp, and .heic where the server supports it). Each image becomes one page, turned the right way up, so a phone photo of a paper form works
- Up to 20 files and 2,000 pages per envelope
- Up to 25 MB per file and 100 MB in total

If a PDF has a password, enter it on the file's tile and click **Unlock**. If you don't have the password, upload a copy without one.

## Arrange documents and pages

Each uploaded file becomes a document. In **Documents** you can:

- Rename a document by clicking its name
- Drag pages to reorder them, including into another document
- Use a page's **⋯** menu to **Rotate right**, **Rotate left**, **Move to** another or a new document, or **Delete page**
- Use a document's **⋯** menu to choose **Who can see it**, **Rotate all pages**, or **Remove document**
- Click **Add another file**, **Blank page**, or **Add a template**

**Add a template** adds a template's documents with their fields. You choose which recipient fills each of its roles, or create a new one.

Leave **Place fields from text tags** on to place fields from tags in your files. See [Text tags](/docs/text-tags).

PDFs with fillable form fields show a **Fillable form** note. See [Fields](/docs/fields#fields-from-fillable-pdf-forms).

## Add recipients

Open **Recipients** to add the people involved and choose what each one does: sign, approve, acknowledge, or get a copy. You can also set a signing order. See [Recipients and roles](/docs/recipients-and-roles).

Below the recipients, pick a message **Template** or write the email **Subject** and an optional **Message**, and set **Reminders and expiry**. See [Send and track](/docs/sending-for-signature).

## Place fields

Open **Fields** to place signature, date, text and other fields, and choose who fills each one. Fields you fill yourself before sending are assigned to **Me (now)**. See [Fields](/docs/fields).

## Review and send

**Review** lists anything that stops you sending, each with a button to fix it:

- No recipients, or recipients without an email address
- Fields with nobody to fill them
- Signers with no fields
- **Me (now)** fields that are still empty

An envelope also needs at least one signer, approver or person who needs to acknowledge. One with only copy recipients can't be sent.

Review also shows the email subject and how many fields each recipient has. Click **Preview PDF** to see the draft with every field labelled with who fills it.

When everything is ready, click **Send**. If you're a signer and your turn comes first, the button reads **Send and sign now** and takes you straight to signing. See [Send and track](/docs/sending-for-signature).

## Work with drafts

Drafts stay fully editable until you send them. After sending, use **Correct recipients** or **Correct documents and pages**; see [Correct a sent envelope](/docs/sending-for-signature#correct-a-sent-envelope). Find drafts under **Drafts** in **Envelopes**. To reuse a draft's layout, choose **Save as template** from the top bar's **⋯** menu.

New envelopes use your workspace's default filing rule, if you have one. You can change the rule on the envelope's page. See [Folders and filing rules](/docs/filing-rules).

Drafts that haven't changed in a while are deleted automatically (30 days by default). Owners and admins can change this in **Settings → Data & retention**.

## Create envelopes with the API

To create envelopes from your own app, build a [template](/docs/templates), then create envelopes from it with the API. See [Envelopes API](/docs/envelopes) and the [API reference](/docs/api).