Skip to main content
arrow-left Back to Docusign.com

Hello everyone,

I have created a simple Web Form with only two fields, FirstName and LastName, using my DocuSign developer account. I've activated the form link and submitted data multiple times, including some submissions in Incognito mode with different names. However, when I send a GET request to retrieve all instances via the following API route:

/api/webforms/v1.1/accounts/{accountId}/forms/{formId}/instances

I receive an empty list ([]).

{
    "items": []
}

I’m unable to find any of the submitted form data.

Could anyone explain why this is happening? Is it expected that form submissions don't appear in the developer environment, or should I be able to retrieve submitted data even in dev mode? Or perhaps are there restrictions on the Web Forms API in the developer environment that only allow access in production mode?

For context, I am using JWT Grant for authentication and have admin access to my developer account. I’ve followed the instructions in the DocuSign documentation:

Web Forms API Reference - List Instances

Any insights or suggestions on how to retrieve the submitted instances would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Any update?

I can confirm that I DO get a list of instances when I call this endpoint in dev, so it should work in the developer environment. 

In my own experience, the Web Forms API doesn't always return very clear messages if there is an authorisation problem, so rather than saying that you are not authorised, it may return empty results. 

  • Check that you have added the correct scopes to your app registration ("webforms_read", "webforms_instance_write", "webforms_instance_read")
  • Ensure you are getting an access token specifically from the Web Forms API and not using one generated by other API services such as eSignatures
  • Check your base URL is correct as it may differ between services: https://apps-d.docusign.com

(Apologies for teaching granny to suck eggs as the saying goes)

Don’t know why, my previous comment was deleted. 

I do get the list of instances when I call it in developer mode so it should be working in dev. Problems I have had with the web forms API is that it doesn’t always give clear error messages for authorisation problems, it may just return empty results. Check the following, and I apologise in advance if I am stating the obvious:

  • Check you have the appropriate scopes added to your app registration ("webforms_read", "webforms_instance_write", "webforms_instance_read")
  • If you are using other API services as well, make sure the base URL is correct (https://apps-d.docusign.com) and that you have obtained an access token specifically from the web forms service, I made the mistake of sharing an access token that I generated using the eSignature API. 

Hey ​@JoshHoughton, thanks so much for your time and kind support! I had already considered all those options but unfortunately ended up with the same results. I’d really appreciate it if you could share the steps you followed, so I can try to replicate them on my end. Apologies for any inconvenience, and thanks again for your help!

As for your deleted comment, I'm not sure what happened there. It's been a while since I originally posted the question, and honestly, the DocuSign community seems pretty slow and not very active. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much help from their own team either, which is a bit disappointing, they could definitely be more engaged and supportive.

Thanks again, ​@JoshHoughton, for taking the time to help out. I really appreciate it!

Code of Conduct

Docusign Community

Code of Conduct