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# Authoritative copies

> Describes how to designate a document as an authoritative copy.

## Authoritative copies

An *authoritative copy* is the single, distinct, absolute original version of a document that is unique, identifiable, and unalterable without detection. You can specify whether all of the documents in an envelope are authoritative copies or just specific documents.

Whether a document is considered an authoritative copy depends on the values of three properties in the envelope and `document` objects.

| PROPERTY                            | DESCRIPTION                                                                                                                  |
| ----------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Envelope `authoritativeCopy`        | Enables or disables the feature. If this value is **false**, no documents are authoritative copies.                          |
| Envelope `authoritativeCopyDefault` | The default value of the document's `authoritativeCopy` property if it is not set.                                           |
| Document `authoritativeCopy`        | As long as the envelope's `authoritativeCopy` property is **true,** specifies whether the document is an authoritative copy. |

Note that, to make every document in an envelope authoritative, it is enough to make the envelope's `authoritativeCopyDefault` property **true**, leaving the other properties unset. Conversely, to make no documents authoritative, it is enough to set the envelope's `authoritativeCopyDefault` property to **false**.

After an agreement, authoritative copies are watermarked, then should be *vaulted* and stored in an external system. The following diagram and table describes how these settings affect whether a document is an authoritative copy and subsequently vaulted.

![Diagram showing when a document is classified as authoritative copy, in relation to your envelope and document properties.](/_fern-files/_img/ce6e8a3725ee3747d6bf46b90e5e5601e8a566f77a8fb11d6f448eef45e6e973.webp)

| ENVELOPE AUTHORITATIVECOPY | ENVELOPE AUTHORITATIVECOPYDEFAULT | DOCUMENT AUTHORITATIVECOPY | DOCUMENT IS AN AUTHORITATIVE COPY                    |
| -------------------------- | --------------------------------- | -------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| false                      | any                               | any                        | No document in the envelope is authoritative         |
| true                       | false                             | false                      | No                                                   |
| true                       | false                             | true                       | Yes                                                  |
| true                       | true                              | false                      | No                                                   |
| true                       | true                              | true                       | Yes                                                  |
| true                       | true                              | null                       | Yes                                                  |
| true                       | false                             | null                       | No                                                   |
| true                       | null                              | null                       | Yes, every document in the envelope is authoritative |

In the table above, **null** means that no value was set; **any** means that the value can be **null**, **true**, or **false**.

Authoritative copies can be purged once they have been exported.

See [Working with authoritative copies using Docusign APIs](https://www.docusign.com/blog/developers/the-trenches-working-authoritative-copies-using-docusign-apis) for examples on how to construct envelopes flagged for authoritative copy, check its status, update it, frequently asked questions, and more.