DocuSign - Random UNABLE_TO_CONVERT_DOCUMENT error

Question

I am using Docusign create envelop API using the endpoint https://au.docusign.net/restapi/v2/accounts/{AccountID}/envelopes. The API call works on most instance but occasionally I am receiving an error stating that the System was unable to convert this document to a PDF. I am submitting a docx type document which is failing randomly(say once in a day). On re submission the same document submission works without any issue.

In order to understand the problem I tried enabling logging on DocuSign login. Since the log can only keep upto 50 entries at any given time I am clearing the log to ensure I am ready to capture the failure when it happens.

Actual Error Message received:

{
  "errorCode": "UNABLE_TO_CONVERT_DOCUMENT",
  "message": "System was unable to convert this document to a PDF. Unable to convert Document(Document Name.docx) to a PDF. Error: UserId:{GUID} IPAddress:XX.XX.XXX.XXX Source:ApiRESTv2:Failed to convert FileType: docx"
}

Now I am trying to download the log file via DocuSign UI and I am receiving constant timeout issue while trying to do so. Does anyone know about any programmatic log file extract from DocuSign? Anyone done this previously?

Any pointers on the error resolution or help downloading the error log is much appreciated. Please help

Is there anything "dynamic" or "live" about the Word Document? If it's secured with a password, or has macro-enabled content, it might not be easily converted in to a PDF. — Drew
Also, if you upload the document through the web console does it convert successfully? — Drew
The document upload through web works perfectly fine. The same document if resubmitted via API request after failure works without any issues. The failure is intermittent. — vivek bhat

Ergin Ergin · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-13T23:56:08

The DocuSign platform by default accepts PDF documents so when sending through the API you simply need to include the document bytes for PDFs. However for any other file format you need to set the fileExtension property on the document object to the file type you are sending.

For example if using one of the open source DocuSign SDKs use the setFileExtension() setter method to set the extension:

document.setFileExtension("docx");

Or if you are calling the REST API directly (ie not using an SDK) then set the fileExtension property to "docx":

{
    ...
    "fileExtension": "docx",
    ....
}

If you still receive the error after this then you I would start testing with a different document and confirm the document you are using not corrupt in any way and if properly formatted.

DocuSign - Random UNABLE_TO_CONVERT_DOCUMENT error

1 Answers