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Kolton Dupey2025-06-187 min read

How I Automated Certificate of Completion Downloads from DocuSign with Python

Automation

Quick summary

Learn how to build a free, custom solution using DocuSign's REST API and Python to automatically download and organize Certificates of Completion, avoiding paid solutions like DocuSign Retrieve.

Figure: supporting visual for “How I Automated Certificate of Completion Downloads from DocuSign with Python”.

If your organization relies on DocuSign for electronic signatures, you'll eventually run into the need for a scalable way to download Certificates of Completion (COCs)—whether for compliance, archiving, or audit purposes.

DocuSign does offer a paid solution for this: DocuSign Retrieve, which uses SFTP to export documents at scale. But for our use case, I opted to build a free, flexible alternative using the DocuSign REST API and a bit of Python scripting.

Why This Only Took 15 Minutes ⚡

This specific automation only took me about 15 minutes to go from idea to downloading thousands of certificates.

Why so fast? A few months prior, I built a full-scale system using the DocuSign API to push over 10,000 PDF files into templates—automatically assigning Signer, Date Signed, and Name blocks, and compiling them into envelopes. That experience gave me a strong foundation in how the API works, so this project was more like repurposing existing tools than starting from scratch.

If you're just getting started with the API, I highly recommend watching

this YouTube video

. I'm not affiliated with it, but it was extremely helpful when I first learned how to configure the API correctly.

Project Overview 🔍

Managing signed documents through DocuSign is smooth—but retrieving COCs in bulk becomes a huge manual bottleneck if you're doing it envelope by envelope.

To solve this, I created a Python-based automation that:

Authenticates securely with the DocuSign API
Queries completed envelopes by date
Downloads all associated COCs
Renames the files based on signer name
Can be scheduled to run automatically

🧩 Step 1: Define the Problem and the Goal

The problem: Manually downloading COCs from hundreds (or thousands) of envelopes is slow, repetitive, and error-prone.

The goal: Build a script that automatically fetches completed envelopes, downloads the COCs, and saves them with meaningful filenames.

🔎 Step 2: Evaluate Your Options

Option A: Use DocuSign Retrieve (paid add-on, requires SFTP setup)

Option B: Use the free DocuSign eSignature REST API to build your own solution

If you have technical ability or want more flexibility (e.g., naming conventions, filtering, post-processing), Option B is likely your best bet.

🛠️ Step 3: Register a Developer App in DocuSign

Start by registering an app in the

DocuSign Developer Center

Navigate to "Apps and Keys"
Click "Add App & Integration Key"
Choose JWT Authentication (ideal for backend scripts)
Upload your RSA public key
Save your:
- Integration Key (Client ID)
- API Account ID
- User ID (GUID)
Authorize consent for impersonation using the app's JWT scope

Once confirmed working in the Demo environment, submit it for go-live approval to move into production.

🔐 Step 4: Authenticate with JWT

The script generates a JWT (JSON Web Token) using:

Integration Key
User ID
Scope: signature impersonation
Expiration time
Your private key

You then make a POST request to DocuSign's OAuth server to exchange the JWT for an access token (valid for 1 hour), which is used in all subsequent API requests.

📦 Step 5: Query Completed Envelopes

With authentication complete, call the /envelopes endpoint using filters like:

status=completed
from_date=YYYY-MM-DD
order=desc
count=100 (max per request)

Handle pagination using the start_position parameter to ensure you collect all envelope IDs across pages. Each envelope ID will be stored for the next step.

📄 Step 6: Download the COCs

For each envelope, call the following endpoint:

/accounts//envelopes/
/documents/certificate

This returns a binary PDF file. Save each file locally to your output folder using the envelope ID as a fallback name (e.g., 12345678_certificate.pdf).

🧼 Step 7: Rename Based on Signer Name

To make the files easier to search and organize, I use the PyPDF2 library to inspect the first page of each PDF. The script looks for a "Signer Events" section and skips generic terms like "Signature" or "Email."

Once a name is identified:

Remove special characters
Rename the file as: SignerName_EnvelopeID_certificate.pdf

⏰ Step 8: Schedule the Workflow

This script can be scheduled to run regularly using:

Windows Task Scheduler
Linux/macOS Cron Jobs

You can run it weekly, monthly, or even trigger it via webhook from another system.

Final Thoughts 🧾

This solution has already saved our team time and money, and it gives us complete control over how and when certificates are downloaded, renamed, and stored.

Compared to DocuSign Retrieve, this approach:

Costs nothing
Can be customized to your environment
Works locally or in the cloud

If you're in a compliance-heavy industry and rely on DocuSign, this kind of automation is an easy win.

Want the Code? 💬

Send me a message—I'm happy to share the full script and setup notes I used.

Thanks for reading!

Kolton Dupey | Automation Developer & API Integrator

Subscribe for more posts like this.

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DocuSign Automation System →

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Field note

Kolton Dupey2025-06-187 min read

How I Automated Certificate of Completion Downloads from DocuSign with Python

Automation

Quick summary

Learn how to build a free, custom solution using DocuSign's REST API and Python to automatically download and organize Certificates of Completion, avoiding paid solutions like DocuSign Retrieve.

Why This Only Took 15 Minutes ⚡

This specific automation only took me about 15 minutes to go from idea to downloading thousands of certificates.

If you're just getting started with the API, I highly recommend watching

this YouTube video

. I'm not affiliated with it, but it was extremely helpful when I first learned how to configure the API correctly.

Project Overview 🔍

Managing signed documents through DocuSign is smooth—but retrieving COCs in bulk becomes a huge manual bottleneck if you're doing it envelope by envelope.

To solve this, I created a Python-based automation that:

Authenticates securely with the DocuSign API
Queries completed envelopes by date
Downloads all associated COCs
Renames the files based on signer name
Can be scheduled to run automatically

🧩 Step 1: Define the Problem and the Goal

The problem: Manually downloading COCs from hundreds (or thousands) of envelopes is slow, repetitive, and error-prone.

The goal: Build a script that automatically fetches completed envelopes, downloads the COCs, and saves them with meaningful filenames.

🔎 Step 2: Evaluate Your Options

Option A: Use DocuSign Retrieve (paid add-on, requires SFTP setup)

Option B: Use the free DocuSign eSignature REST API to build your own solution

If you have technical ability or want more flexibility (e.g., naming conventions, filtering, post-processing), Option B is likely your best bet.

🛠️ Step 3: Register a Developer App in DocuSign

Start by registering an app in the

DocuSign Developer Center

Navigate to "Apps and Keys"
Click "Add App & Integration Key"
Choose JWT Authentication (ideal for backend scripts)
Upload your RSA public key
Save your:
- Integration Key (Client ID)
- API Account ID
- User ID (GUID)
Authorize consent for impersonation using the app's JWT scope

Once confirmed working in the Demo environment, submit it for go-live approval to move into production.

🔐 Step 4: Authenticate with JWT

The script generates a JWT (JSON Web Token) using:

Integration Key
User ID
Scope: signature impersonation
Expiration time
Your private key

You then make a POST request to DocuSign's OAuth server to exchange the JWT for an access token (valid for 1 hour), which is used in all subsequent API requests.

📦 Step 5: Query Completed Envelopes

With authentication complete, call the /envelopes endpoint using filters like:

status=completed
from_date=YYYY-MM-DD
order=desc
count=100 (max per request)

Handle pagination using the start_position parameter to ensure you collect all envelope IDs across pages. Each envelope ID will be stored for the next step.

📄 Step 6: Download the COCs

For each envelope, call the following endpoint:

/accounts//envelopes/
/documents/certificate

This returns a binary PDF file. Save each file locally to your output folder using the envelope ID as a fallback name (e.g., 12345678_certificate.pdf).

🧼 Step 7: Rename Based on Signer Name

Once a name is identified:

Remove special characters
Rename the file as: SignerName_EnvelopeID_certificate.pdf

⏰ Step 8: Schedule the Workflow

This script can be scheduled to run regularly using:

Windows Task Scheduler
Linux/macOS Cron Jobs

You can run it weekly, monthly, or even trigger it via webhook from another system.

Final Thoughts 🧾

This solution has already saved our team time and money, and it gives us complete control over how and when certificates are downloaded, renamed, and stored.

Compared to DocuSign Retrieve, this approach:

Costs nothing
Can be customized to your environment
Works locally or in the cloud

If you're in a compliance-heavy industry and rely on DocuSign, this kind of automation is an easy win.

Want the Code? 💬

Send me a message—I'm happy to share the full script and setup notes I used.

Thanks for reading!

Kolton Dupey | Automation Developer & API Integrator

Subscribe for more posts like this.

Related services

If you need this kind of work for your business, these are the closest scoped service pages.

Automation

Related project field notes

DocuSign Automation System →

More field notes

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Google Maps Lead Generation: Automate Business Discovery with n8n (Step-by-Step Guide)

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Read field note →

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15 min read · 2025-08-22

Read field note →

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Automating Earnings Call Intelligence with Python, GPT-4, and Twitter Integration

10 min read · 2025-07-23

Read field note →

Running into something similar?

This note is from a real constraint and a real project. If you are dealing with something adjacent, send a message or book a short call — I will give you a straight answer on scope and fit.

Send a message Book a 15-min call Browse services →