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April 16, 2024
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An error occurred in the external doc service. ServFileDownloadError

  • April 16, 2024
  • 4 replies
  • 281 views

I am attempting to send a group of 8 PDFs that I have previously sent to others successfully multiple times using DocuSign but am receiving the following error message only today:

An error occurred in the external doc service. ServFileDownloadError

All of these documents are under 1 MB each.  They are text only, no form fields, images, macros, etc.  There is no explanation I can find anywhere in DocuSign’s FAQs or anywhere online explaining this error message, and my documents meet DocuSign’s criteria for appropriate uploads.

Of course, my situation is time-sensitive, confidential, and business critical.  Help, anyone?

Many thanks.

Best answer by Person

Thank you for your reply. Neither of the above responses resolved my issue because my files were not at fault.  They were not corrupted and they were the appropriate size, as I had stated in my initial post.

 

After several frustrating attempts to determine the error, what ended up working was saving the documents to a different file location.  For some reason, DocuSign would not upload the documents from the original source, even though it was of the identical type that it eventually accepted.

 

It is unfortunate that DocuSign does not provide a solution for the error message I encountered in its FAQs, or list the solution I found for others who might also run into it.  I hope that DocuSign will consider adding this information to its FAQs for other users to save them the hours of trouble that I spent.

4 replies

Justin Jiang
Established Contributor
Established Contributor
April 17, 2024

There is a limit, the size is probably too big.

Welcome to the DocuSign Community and University! Your feedback is immensely appreciated. If this answer resolves your issue, please feel free to give it a Like and mark it as the "Best Answer". This helps others in the community find the information they need. Visit us at http://dsucustomers.docusign.com for more resources and support.
JohnSantos
Guru
Guru
April 17, 2024

@Person - 

The error message “An error occurred in the external doc service. ServFileDownloadError” is not a common one. 

Check the Document: Ensure that the documents you’re trying to send are not corrupted. You can do this by opening and saving them as new files in a PDF reader. If the files are corrupted, this process might fix the issue.
 

Welcome to the DocuSign Community! Your feedback is highly valued. If you find my response helpful, please give it a "Like" and consider marking it as the "Best Answer" to assist others with similar issues.
Docusign Employee
May 1, 2024

Hi @Person,

 

I hope you are doing well.

 

I would like to confirm if you were able to solve your issue by utilizing the solution that was suggested or if the information that was provided was useful.

 

If so, please mark it as the best answer by clicking “Select as Best” to make it easier for other users to find.

 

Otherwise, feel free to let me know and I will gladly help you address the situation as soon as possible.

 

Best regards,

 

Christopher | Docusign Community Moderator

"Select as Best" below if you find the answer a valid solution to your issue.

PersonNew VoiceAuthorAnswer
New Voice
May 2, 2024

Thank you for your reply. Neither of the above responses resolved my issue because my files were not at fault.  They were not corrupted and they were the appropriate size, as I had stated in my initial post.

 

After several frustrating attempts to determine the error, what ended up working was saving the documents to a different file location.  For some reason, DocuSign would not upload the documents from the original source, even though it was of the identical type that it eventually accepted.

 

It is unfortunate that DocuSign does not provide a solution for the error message I encountered in its FAQs, or list the solution I found for others who might also run into it.  I hope that DocuSign will consider adding this information to its FAQs for other users to save them the hours of trouble that I spent.