The Verdocs document processing pipeline allows key features to be flexible, regardless of the use case.

Organization pipeline settings

When you upload a PDF or DOCX to a template—or attach documents directly to an envelope—Verdocs can automatically scan the file for signing fields. That automation is powerful for Dynamic Tagging and fillable PDF workflows, but it is not always desirable: some documents contain {{field_type:role_name}}-style text that is not a Verdocs tag, and auto-detecting fillable PDF widgets can create duplicate fields when you already place fields in the template builder.

Pipeline settings let each organization opt in to the behaviors it needs. All flags default to false, so new organizations start with conservative, manual-first document handling until you explicitly enable automation.

This guide explains the four pipeline flags, where they apply, how to read and update them through the REST API, and common configuration patterns.

Document Processing Pipeline

When to configure pipeline settings

Consider adjusting pipeline settings when any of the following apply:

Your integration embeds handlebars-style tags in server-generated PDFs or DOCX files and expects roles and fields to be created automatically on upload.
You upload fillable PDFs (for example standard government forms) and want Verdocs to map native AcroForm widgets to signing fields without hand-placing them.
Your tag source documents are generated programmatically, and you prefer to skip occasional malformed tags rather than fail the entire upload.
You never want automatic field detection—you place all roles and fields through the template builder or API and only need the raw document stored.

Pipeline settings are stored per organization and are evaluated using the organization tied to the profile or API key that performs the upload.

The four pipeline flags

Each organization has a pipeline_settings object with four boolean flags. When a flag is unset, the API treats it as false and always returns an explicit boolean for each one.

Flag	When `true`	When `false` (default)
`process_tags`	Scan uploaded PDFs (and PDFs converted from DOCX) for Verdocs text tags and run the tag pipeline (redaction, role/field creation).	Treat the document as untagged—no tag scan, no tag-driven automation.
`process_acroforms`	If a PDF has no text tags, attempt to detect native fillable PDF (AcroForm) widgets and map them to signing fields.	Do not auto-detect AcroForm fields.
`ignore_invalid_roles`	Skip tags whose role name is missing or invalid; continue processing other tags.	Reject the upload when an invalid role tag is encountered.
`ignore_invalid_fields`	Skip tags that cannot be resolved to a valid field; continue processing other tags.	Reject the upload when an invalid field tag is encountered.

process_tags** and process_acroforms are independent.** You can enable AcroForm detection without text-tag scanning, or the reverse. AcroForm detection only runs when no text tags were found on the document.

The ignore_invalid_* flags apply when documents are attached to templates (see When settings take effect below).

When settings take effect

Pipeline settings are read from the sender's organization at document-ingest time.

Template documents

When you attach a document to a template—via file upload, URI, or base64—the organization's flags control whether text tags and AcroForms are detected, and whether invalid tags cause a hard failure or are skipped.

Relevant API: Attach a document to a template

Envelopes without a template

When you create an envelope and supply documents inline (rather than referencing an existing template), the same process_tags and process_acroforms gates apply.

Envelopes created from an existing template

Envelopes created from an existing template use the template's already-defined roles and fields. Pipeline settings do not re-scan template source files at send time.

Reading current settings

Organization pipeline settings are available to organization admins only. An admin can read settings for their own organization; cross-organization access is denied.

GET /organizations/\{organization_id\}/pipeline-settings

Example response:

{
  "process_acroforms": false,
  "process_tags": false,
  "ignore_invalid_roles": false,
  "ignore_invalid_fields": false
}

Updating settings

PATCH /organizations/\{organization_id\}/pipeline-settings

Send only the flags you want to change. Updates are merged—setting one flag does not reset the others. Unknown keys and non-boolean values are rejected with 400.

Enable dynamic tagging for an org that generates tagged PDFs server-side:

{
  "process_tags": true
}

Enable AcroForm auto-detection for standard fillable PDFs:

{
  "process_acroforms": true
}

Multi-tenant note: In a parent/child organization hierarchy, pipeline settings are stored on each organization individually. If child orgs upload their own documents, configure each tenant org separately. See Organization Hierarchies.

Common configurations

Dynamic Tagging workflows

If your integration embeds handlebars-style tags in PDF or DOCX source files (Tagging Dynamic Documents), enable:

{ "process_tags": true }

Confirm your organization's current values with GET /organizations/\{id\}/pipeline-settings before relying on automatic tag processing in production.

Fillable PDF auto-detection

Enable AcroForm detection when you are not also embedding text tags in the same file:

{ "process_acroforms": true \}

Test in staging first: some PDFs mix visible widgets with manually placed builder fields, and auto-detection can create overlapping fields.

Programmatically generated tags with occasional errors

If tags are generated programmatically and occasional malformed entries are acceptable:

{
  "process_tags": true,
  "ignore_invalid_roles": true,
  "ignore_invalid_fields": true
}

With both ignore flags off (the default), Verdocs surfaces authoring errors immediately—usually preferable while you are still building templates.

Manual field placement only

Leave all flags at their defaults (false). Uploaded PDFs and DOCX files are stored as-is; define roles and fields through the API or UI separately.

Document Processing