Order an ASIC document image (PDF)

An ASIC document image is the scanned PDF of a form as it was lodged: the signed Form 484 that appointed a director, the Form 388 financial report, the Form 505 notice of a liquidator's appointment, the constitution lodged with a Form 201. The register tells you what changed; the image shows you the document that changed it. This endpoint places an order with ASIC for the image of one document, or up to ten in the batch form, and returns an order that you track until the PDF is ready to download or has been sent by email or post. Unlike a company or person extract, which comes back in the same call, an image order is asynchronous: ASIC produces the PDF after accepting the order. The purchasing guide compares the two.

How an order flows

Path parameters

Request body

Send Content-Type: application/json. An Idempotency-Key header is strongly recommended: a retried request with the same key returns the original order instead of placing and billing a second one. An X-Client-Reference header (up to 30 characters) is stored on the order and shown on your invoice.

Example request

curl -X POST https://api.asicapi.dev/v1/documents/0E5123456/image-orders \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ASICAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: 3b9d2f7a-order-0E5123456" \
  -H "X-Client-Reference: MATTER-4471" \
  -d '{
    "pages": { "from": 1, "to": 4 },
    "delivery": { "method": "web" }
  }'

Example response

The order is accepted with HTTP 202 and processed asynchronously. ASIC confirms that the request has been forwarded to its imaging system and provides billing details; the PDF itself arrives shortly afterwards.

{
  "object": "order",
  "id": "ord_01J9AJ4P7Q0R3S6T9V2W5X8Y",
  "type": "document_image",
  "status": "pending",
  "documents": [
    {
      "documentNumber": "0E5123456",
      "formCode": "484",
      "formDescription": "Change to company details",
      "pages": { "from": 1, "to": 4 },
      "pageCount": 4,
      "large": false,
      "supplementaryDocuments": []
    }
  ],
  "delivery": {
    "method": "web",
    "email": null,
    "contactName": "ACCOUNTS PAYABLE",
    "contactPhone": "03 9000 0000",
    "recipient": null,
    "address": null,
    "instructions": null
  },
  "downloadUrl": null,
  "downloadExpiresAt": null,
  "asicRequestIds": ["7331245"],
  "clientReference": "MATTER-4471",
  "failure": null,
  "createdAt": "2026-09-04T03:20:11Z",
  "readyAt": null,
  "deliveredAt": null,
  "meta": {
    "billable": true,
    "product": "document_image",
    "quantity": 1,
    "requestId": "req_01J9AJ4P7Q0R3S6T"
  }
}

Batch request

Order up to ten documents in one request. Every document in the batch shares one delivery instruction, and each is billed separately.

curl -X POST https://api.asicapi.dev/v1/documents/image-orders \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ASICAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "documents": [
      { "documentNumber": "0E5123456", "pages": null },
      { "documentNumber": "4E6677889", "pages": { "from": 1, "to": 12 } }
    ],
    "delivery": { "method": "email", "email": "records@example.com.au" }
  }'

{
  "object": "order",
  "id": "ord_01J9AJ8B2C5D8E1F4G7H0J3K",
  "type": "document_image",
  "status": "pending",
  "documents": [
    {
      "documentNumber": "0E5123456",
      "formCode": "484",
      "formDescription": "Change to company details",
      "pages": null,
      "pageCount": 4,
      "large": false,
      "supplementaryDocuments": []
    },
    {
      "documentNumber": "4E6677889",
      "formCode": "388",
      "formDescription": "Copy of financial statements and reports",
      "pages": { "from": 1, "to": 12 },
      "pageCount": 42,
      "large": false,
      "supplementaryDocuments": ["4E6677890"]
    }
  ],
  "delivery": {
    "method": "email",
    "email": "records@example.com.au",
    "contactName": "ACCOUNTS PAYABLE",
    "contactPhone": "03 9000 0000",
    "recipient": null,
    "address": null,
    "instructions": null
  },
  "downloadUrl": null,
  "downloadExpiresAt": null,
  "asicRequestIds": ["7331246", "7331247"],
  "clientReference": null,
  "failure": null,
  "createdAt": "2026-09-04T03:24:52Z",
  "readyAt": null,
  "deliveredAt": null,
  "meta": {
    "billable": true,
    "product": "document_image",
    "quantity": 2,
    "requestId": "req_01J9AJ8B2C5D8E1F"
  }
}

The batch body fields are documents[] (1 to 10 entries of documentNumber and optional pages) and delivery (same shape as the single form). The whole batch is validated before ASIC is contacted; if any document fails validation the order is not placed.

Response fields

Errors

Two further errors belong to the order once it exists and are returned by the order endpoints: order_not_ready (409) when the download is requested before status is ready, and order_download_expired (410) when it is requested after downloadExpiresAt.

Notes from the ASIC register

• Delivery limits. ASIC will not email a document of more than 50 pages, and will not deliver more than 500 pages through its web facility. Documents over 500 pages must be posted. Order a page range to bring a long document under the limit, or use method: "post" for the full copy.
• Page ranges. Start and end pages should only be supplied when part of the document is required. Supply both or neither; the complete document is provided when they are omitted. The range must exist in the document.
• Supplementary documents. Where supplementary documents have been lodged against a requested document, ASIC provides them automatically and at no additional charge. This is how XBRL data reaches you: XBRL files cannot be ordered by their own document number because they are delivered as an additional file with the original document.
• Many-to-many. ASIC splits an order into one or more internal imaging requests, and one imaging request can carry several documents. asicRequestIds[] lists every identifier so that ASIC's document imaging help desk can trace delivery if an image does not arrive. Alternatively quote the document numbers.
• Billing. ASIC bills per document image and marks large documents separately; asicapi reports one document_image product per document in meta.quantity and the large flag on each document. The fee is incurred when ASIC accepts the order (the 202 response), not when you download the PDF, and an order that later fails is not billed. Reading the order and downloading the PDF are free.
• Post delivery. Postal orders require a contact name, phone number, recipient, postal address and postcode. Delivery times depend on Australia Post and the order reaches delivered when ASIC confirms dispatch.
• Imaged documents only. Images exist for imaged, publicly accessible ASIC documents. Check imaged on get a document before ordering to avoid document_not_imaged.
• Sandbox. With a test key, images can only be ordered for documents of ASIC's sample company 009 136 109. Orders complete within a minute and are never billable.

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