Concepts
Foundational concepts behind document signing, recipient roles, field types, and certificates.
Core Concepts
Document Lifecycle
How documents move from draft to pending to completed or rejected.
Recipient Roles
Signers, approvers, viewers, assistants, and CC recipients.
Field Types
Signatures, text, dates, checkboxes, dropdowns, and more.
Signing Workflow
The complete process from preparing a document to collecting signatures and sealing the final PDF.
Signing Certificates
How documents are digitally signed and verified.
How These Concepts Apply
These concepts work consistently across all ways you interact with Documenso:
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Web application: When you create documents in the UI, you'll select recipient roles, add fields, and track documents through their lifecycle states.
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API integration: The same concepts map directly to API endpoints. Documents have status fields, recipients have role properties, and fields have type configurations.
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Self-hosting: The signing certificate concept becomes particularly relevant when you deploy your own instance and configure your own certificates for document signing.
Understanding these fundamentals will make the rest of the documentation easier to follow.