As you may know, Legito Template Editor is where logical dependencies (conditions) are defined and applied to help regular users draft smart documents. Templates are built individually, or more often in groups, and stored in Template Suites. Template Suites help users organize and automate interconnected templates, making it easier to generate document bundles.

Some aspects of Template Editor automation that are more visible in Document Editor are Elements, which provide the catalyst for most automated document assembly. Elements, for the most part, are self-explanatory and easy to implement features.

The four Elements that form the foundation of Smart Document Drafting (and therefore Document Editor)

Question, While technically not a true Element, this quasi-Element sets up conditional scenarios where the Response to the Question can determine, among other options, if clauses or even other documents are included or added to a document.

Select Elements, which allow users to choose items from a dropdown list which connect to other Elements or Conditions;

Button Elements, which are just that -buttons to which certain actions could be applied, such as repeating a particular clause; and

Link Elements, which are used to link or import various Elements within a single template or among several.

Elements which play a key part in drafting automation

Calculation Elements that perform calculations depending on defined functions;

Text Input Elements that allow for free text input;

Date Elements for entering dates;

Money Elements for capturing currencies;

Text Elements, which allow for the entry of text that can be unlocked and edited by appropriately permissioned users;

Table Elements, which are used to place a modifiable table into the body of the document;

Image Elements, which provide a space for entering images -widely used to apply company logos or seals for signature blocks;

Other Template Editor features that power Document Editor

Initial Instructions, which provide instructions to users on how to proceed with drafting the document, or how to share the document for review and collaboration;

Follow-up Instructions, which can be configured to populate a document dependent on how a document is drafted using conditions. For example, follow-up instructions can be used to populate the body of an email when a document is sent by Email;

Warnings, which provide users with topical directions on how to enter information, for instance, alerting a user if data entry exceeds vetted parameters;

Help text, which provides users with in-document assistance;

Comments, which allow users to communicate with one another on a document, or leave drafting notes;

Automated Data Retrieval, which lets users automatically populate portions of a document by completing designated Text Input Elements; and

Mandatory and Optional clauses, which lets users know which clauses of a document are mandatory or can be removed without additional review / approval.

These features are described in detail in the Template Automation area of the KnowledgeBase.

As soon as a user starts drafting a document, there is an option to save the document by clicking the Save button on the bottom of the page.

Best practice, as when working with any electronic file, is to save early and often.
Legito however, regularly automatically saves your work to your browser, so should there be any accidental shutdowns, or closures of your working device, you are protected.
Upon resuming work on a document, a pop-up window will appear prompting you with options to continue working from where you last left off, or to start from the last saved version of your document.

When a document is initially saved in Document Editor, a new Document Record is automatically created in Legito’s Smart Document Management area. Once saved, the first version a document is created.  Additionally, a range of Smart Document Management tools become available, including Conversation and Download.  

Each saves creates a new document Version, to which a user can always return. And each new Version updates the Document Record in Legito’s Smart Document Management area. More about Version History can be found in the Version area of the KnowledgeBase.

When Saving, users may see the option to “Save as a New Document”. Only occasionally used, this feature allows users to save the current document as an entirely new document (with a new and separate Document Record), rather than saving the current version and continuing work on the new version of the document.

Generally, it is preferable to reduce the number of separate document records where possible, but a potential use case for saving a new document from an existing one may be a situation that calls for drafting two documents from the same template, but one in which the occurrence will not occur often enough to save a Favorite Setting, or was not anticipated to repeat at all. In such a situation, it may be preferable to save as a new document.

Take the following scenario of a real estate Legito user:

 

In our opinion, and based on recognized best practice, when working within Legito Smart Document Workspace, the best way to share and / or collaborate on documents is to do so within Legito, thus maintaining a clear audit trail. If however, if it becomes necessary to export a document from Legito, users may do so using the Download feature, which allows a user to download a document as a Word or PDF file, in additional to the following file formats: HTML; HTM For Excel; RTF; XML; ODT; TXT. 

Before downloading, users have the option to include Comments, or Help text, or to allow for entering handwritten text by choosing “Select For Handwriting”, which leaves certain fields in the document open for manual data entry.

After clicking the Download button at the bottom of the Document Editor page, or clicking the dropdown arrow next to that button, users will see the Send by Email option. 

Once selected, a new pop up will appear listing the users to whom a user may send the document (default is yourself, the Document Owner). Simply select a name from the drop down, and click, “Add Recipient”, repeating as many times as needed. Additional send by email settings are whether to include document Comments or Help text or to allow for hand-written text (see the Download article).

By default, documents sent by email are sent as Word and PDF files. Transmittal email contents can be tailored through setting up the proper conditions in Template Editor. 

The Comments feature is helpful to users who wish to communicate with others working or viewing the same document draft or leave notes to themselves. Moving the cursor over any clause or item in the document will cause a “Comment” icon to appear to the right of that clause, with the help text, “Add Comment”.

Click on it and a field will appear for entering text.  

Comments can be viewed by other users in your workspace or by guests, and depending on the document Owner’s preference, comments may be responded to or resolved by other document viewers provided the viewer holds the appropriate edit or manage permission rights.

Should a user choose to download a document locally or send it by email, Comments may be hidden. More information on this can be found in the Download article of the KnowledgeBase.  

Translations

Legito lets you generate documents in the language of your choice. Once a document is translated at least once, and that translation is published, A dropdown will appear under the settings tab in Document Editor displaying options for all published translations, from which the preferred document language can be selected.

Dual Language Documents

Users can automatically generate dual language versions of documents in Legito’s Document Editor. The translation tools ensure that entered content remains in both languages. You may toggle between a single or dual language view easily by checking or unchecking the box next to the language dropdown. After checking the box, it’s possible to choose which language appears on the left column of the document, and which appears on the right.

Note for template designers: It is possible to set the text string entered into specified TextInputs to be populated automatically in the language of your choice, conveniently displayed in a second column in the document. This action can also be prepared in reverse, to ensure that a specific clause is not be added to the second language version; for example, signature blocks can be set-up to remain static.

Customized vs. Standard Text

Longer documents may have large blocks of text that are locked and cannot be revised, or do not require any data entry. In order to make your document review more efficient, it is possible to select a view that only shows those areas of the document that require user input, or that may be revised by the user. You can toggle between this view and the standard view by checking or unchecking the box next to Modifiable Fields Only.

Apply Conditions

The conditions that automate document drafting are configured in Legito Template Editor. Many clauses and options are not visible to a user because they only appear depending on a particular input.
For instance, in the Loan Agreement Document created in the Document Drafting Automation Basics eCourse, an additional clause appears if the user choses installments instead of lump-sum.
If you want to see/hide all potential clauses in a document, regardless of text input or chosen options, check or uncheck the box next to Apply Conditions / No Conditions as needed.

 

Legito Smart Document Management powers and is powered by Legito Smart Document Drafting. When a new Smart Document is created from an automated template in Document Editor, a Document Record is automatically created, containing key document information that has been automatically extracted using Legito Tags, and the following features also become available: 

Owner – generally begins as the user who created the document, and is the user currently responsible for the document;

Workflow Stages – Workflows monitor documents as they move from creation to finalization and signature; the review and approval status is automatically captured.

Sharing – it is possible to securely share documents with users in the same Workspace, including Guests.  The sharing button can be found on the bottom of Document Editor to the right of the Owner button;

Actions: Deadlines – you can select whether you want to receive calendar reminders on a document. Deadline Reminder settings, including frequency of reminders, can be configured under your Personal Settings; and

Conversation – found on the bottom right corner of Document Editor, this feature allows users to communicate in real time. 

These are only a few Legito Smart Document Management features found in Legito Document Editor.  A more comprehensive review can be found in the Smart Document Management area of the Legito KnowledgeBase. You may also actively learn about these features with our Educational Course, Extract Data From Documents.

Document Editor helps users draft documents quickly by leveraging conditions built into a template, but using Favorite Settings, can help users draft documents even faster.  A template can be designed (based on logical dependencies) to allow a user to draft different types of a single document.

For instance, a Contractor Agreement may be drafted to be:

• Contractor-Sided;
• Client-Sided; or
• Short and Friendly

A contractor-sided contract may include concepts like a penalty for late payment, assignment rights limited to the Contractor, or a strong indemnity clause. If your organization decides that this selection of clauses equals a contractor-sided agreement, a Favorite Setting for “Contractor-Sided” can be created by the Template Editor that could easily be selected from a dropdown list of Favorites Settings.

If a Favorite Setting has not been prepared by the person designing the template, any user may create their own Favorite.

First, it is recommended to utilize the Apply Conditions feature (see article below) to ensure that you have a complete overview of the document, guaranteeing that your Favorites are saved accurately. After selecting the respective clauses (e.g., late payment penalty, assignment, and indemnity), the user can scroll down to the bottom of Document Editor and select the “add to Favorite Settings” button to add the modified document as a Favorite setting. This process can be repeated for other Contractor Agreement types as well (i.e., Client-Sided, or Short and Friendly).

Now the next time a user wants to generate a Contractor Agreement, rather than individually selecting the respective clauses to draft the agreement to fit the desired scenario, the user can simply select the appropriate dropdown option from Favorite Settings, and that document type, with its respective conditional choices, will be automatically created.

It is important to note that Favorite Settings can only be selected at the outset of drafting.
Once work on a document has commenced and after it has been saved at least once, Favorite Settings are no longer available.
This is to ensure that any modifications made to a working draft of a document are not overwritten by selecting a Favorite Setting.

It is also worth noting that there are two ways that Favorite Settings can be saved:

• Created by a Workspace Admin or a user permissioned accordingly (to create templates) and made accessible to all appropriately permissioned users; or
• Created by users for their own use.

Availability of Favorites depends on user permissions though a user’s favorites are typically available only to that user.

Workspace Admins may create Favorites for users which has two main benefits:

• Users generating documents are able to save time by starting with a document which has preselected variables closer to their actual use case, thus significantly reducing drafting time; and
• Users are able to have an example of a best practice document, and may find inspiration in using those Favorite Settings as starting points.
  

Users creating personal Favorites (checking the box, “only for me”) may have various reasons for doing so. Not limited to agreements or contracts, this feature can be used for regular correspondence with a single client, where certain details of the document may remain static; it could even prove useful if a user is generating the same document for different clients- general documents that are mostly uniform but require slight revisions depending on the receiver’s industry or size.