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I am trying to make tabs autoplace themselves based on some anchor text as per the documentation. I added the anchor text in white in the pdf (so as not be visible to the users) and then created a template with it. But whenever I try to drop a custom field with the matching autoplace text, it tells me “No instances of "x" were found.”. I have also tried adding standard fields with autoplace option set up the same way. No luck. Any help would be appreciated.

For context, I am testing this so I can use it in a power automate flow where after a user responds to a Microsoft form, it create an envelope and adds a recipient based on the form responses. Then I want to add tabs for this recipients in the correct locations based on the related anchor strings. Then send the envelope. Thanks!

@Izzy

The issue is probably on how you add the anchor text strings to the PDF document.

For testing purposes I recommend to add them in black or any other color so they can clearly be seen. You can always come back and make them white at a later point in time. I suggest testing it with an empty Word document, where you add the anchor text strings and upload to DocuSign eSignature for testing. You can convert it to PDF if you like, otherwise DocuSign will do that for you on upload.

If this works, then the way on how you add them to the PDF document is clearly the issue. The anchor text strings must be machine readable, which means that if it is e.g. a part of an image then it will not work. There may be other reasons depending on what software you use to create the anchor text string in the document, as they are maybe overlayed to the actual PDF document, etc.

@Michael.Rave Thank you so much for the response. I tested it and it worked using the anchors from a Word document. Unfortunately, the documents I am working with were received from a third party as PDFs and so I must use those. I added the tags using Nitro but maybe there is another editor that will make it machine readable as you mentioned? Or is there any other way? Thanks

@Izzy 

The issue is problem with Nitro then. Do you have access to a different editor to can try it with that one? Adobe Acrobat (not Reader, the full version) is something I know other customers used successfully. You can use the free trial to do this.

The other option would be to ask if the third party can provide you the documents in Word format?

@Michael.Rave I’ll give those solutions a try. Thanks again for your assistance!

Hi @Izzy,

 

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.

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