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INVALID_REQUEST_BODY


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I tried to create the Prefill tab using a POST call, but it threw an error message in Postman. I’m using the Business Pro plan on my account. Below is the request body I used for the API call.

 

Request body:

{

    "tabs":

    {

    "prefillTabs": {

      "textTabs": [

        {

          "validationPattern": "",

          "xPosition": "124",

          "tabId": "4d21df0f-7324-421d-xxxx-07142a62a055",

          "shared": "false",

          "templateLocked": "false",

          "tabLabel": "Text 50eeec15-xxx-4fe3-b950-9f9f6baf1d7d",

          "pageNumber": "1",

          "underline": "false",

          "yPosition": "182",

          "requireAll": "false",

          "tooltip": "prefiltab",

          "tabType": "prefilltab",

          "italic": "false",

          "required": "false",

          "templateRequired": "false",

          "locked": "false",

          "value": "oooo",

          "height": "41",

          "disableAutoSize": "false",

          "validationMessage": "",

          "originalValue": "oooo",

          "agreementAttributeLocked": "false",

          "bold": "false",

          "name": "prefiltab",

          "width": "306",

          "concealValueOnDocument": "false",

          "fontSize": "size9",

          "localePolicy": {},

          "documentId": "1326326",

          "maxLength": "4000",

          "fontColor": "black",

          "font": "lucidaconsole"

        }

      ]

    }

    }

}

error details:

{

    "errorCode": "INVALID_REQUEST_BODY",

    "message": "The request body is missing or improperly formatted. No tabs specified."

}

4 replies

JohnSantos
Valued Contributor
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  • Valued Contributor
  • 986 replies
  • April 5, 2025

@Karupps 

When you see the error message "INVALID_REQUEST_BODY" when trying to create a prefill tab, it almost always means DocuSign did not recognize your request body as containing any valid tabs. In other words, the JSON structure you are sending isn’t matching what the API expects.

 

  • Remove the "tabs": { ... }" wrapper.
  • Put your prefillTabs at the top level of the envelope request body.
  • If you are adding to a template via the .../templates/{templateId}/tabs endpoint, do not use prefillTabs at all—use the standard "textTabs": [ ... ] array instead.

 


Hengfeng Ge
Frequent Contributor
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  • Frequent Contributor
  • 546 replies
  • April 5, 2025

you can reference this document:https://www.docusign.com/blog/developers/common-api-tasks-customize-your-envelopes-pre-fill-fields and https://developers.docusign.com/docs/esign-rest-api/esign101/concepts/tabs/prefilled-tabs/

 

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  • Author
  • Newcomer
  • 1 reply
  • April 6, 2025

Now I have encountered a new issue with the Prefiltab POST call. The issue is mentioned below

{

    "errorCode": "INVALID_TAB_OPERATION",

    "message": "The Tab specified is not valid for the requested operation. PrefillTab is"

}

Could you please share a sample request? It is very important for me


Forum|alt.badge.img+4

Hi ​@Karupps,

I wanted to clarify a point regarding Prefill Tabs. These tabs are generally intended for the sender to prefill certain fields before sending the document for signature. However, if your goal is simply to prefill data for the recipient via the API, you don't necessarily need to use the Prefill Tabs object.

Instead, you can achieve this by using regular signer tabs.

  • You can define the text tab as a regular signer tab, set its value, and then lock it by setting the locked attribute to true. This prevents the recipient from editing the prefilled field.

I’ve attached a sample request. In this sample:

  • The document contains an anchor string (/CompanyName/) where the prefilled value will be placed.

  • The anchor string's font color is matched with the document background color (white), so it's invisible to the recipient.