How to create a contract template from scratch

This article will guide you through the process of creating your own data-rich Contractbook template from scratch. 

How to create a contract template from scratch

Create new template

From the Templates tab of the main menu, click on the blue button Create new and choose the option to Create new template.

You will be transferred to an overview of your recently used templates, as well as the pre-made Contractbook templates from our own library which you can choose to customize. 

For the case of creating your own template from scratch, choose the first option Create a blank template:

Add your logo

Adding your logo to the template means that every document created from that template will automatically have it added in as well. You can choose to select one of the following options:

• Use your team logo
• Upload a new logo

Add content to the body of your template

In order to start creating the body of your template, you need to activate the Create mode of the template from the top navigation bar:

If you wish to add content from an existing document, you can simply copy/paste it in between the two pre-created boxes dedicated to the parties and signatures fields.

Hint: If the content is formatted wrong after pasting it into the editor, try to remove it and paste again this time by right-clicking and choosing Paste and match style or Paste without formatting.

Alternatively, you can type the body text in between the two boxes.

Basic formatting of your template

Contractbook Editor offers several options for formatting your new contract template. 

1. Undo/redo last change
2. Paragraph style (where you find text formatting options such as code and headings)
3. Font and font size
4. Bold, italic, underline & strikethrough
5. Text alignment
6. Lists
7. Editable fields
8. Formula
9. Table
10. Checkboxes
11. Embedded attachment
12. Horizontal rule
13. Further options

Learn more about how you can use Contractbook editor from our article here.

Editable fields

Adding editable fields to your template is the key to creating a template that is easy to fill in and use multiple times.

Step 1: To add editable fields, start by finding and highlighting the text you would like to be editable. Alternatively, you can just place your cursor where you want the editable field.

Step 2: Press the editable field icon as shown here:

Step 3: Now you need to fill in two fields Name and Default value.

Learn more about Editable fields in our article here.

Attachments

To add attachments to your template, scroll down to the bottom and click on Upload attachment.

The maximum file size is 100 MB, and we support the following file types:
.pdf, .doc, .docx, .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .csv, .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm, .txt

Creating a custom e-mail message

You can add a custom message that will be sent along with the email notification to future recipients of contracts made from this template. 

Settings

There are two setting options you can control on a template level: Document language and Add drafts to a shared folder.

Document language: This refers to the label language for the template. This language will be used on all drafts created from the template after it has been completed. It will be visible to all recipients of drafts and contracts created from the template, in downloads of drafts and contracts created from the template, and in Preview mode of the template itself.

NOTE: Should you need to change the label language for a specific draft but not all drafts created from the template you can do that in the right-hand menu in the draft itself.

Add drafts to a shared folder If you have already created any shared folders you can make sure all drafts created from your template are automatically added to a specific one. 

Save your new template

Make sure to click on the blue button called Save changes in the upper right-hand corner, and your new template will then appear under the Templates tab from the main Contractbook menu.