Generate a Contract from a Template

You need a new contract that uses your organization’s standard language, with the party names, dates, and deal terms filled in correctly. You do not want to copy an old document, hunt for the right clauses, or risk shipping outdated wording.

A template does that work for you. You fill out a short form, and Pactly generates a fully formatted draft from the template, with every value dropped into the right place. You never touch the underlying Word document or its tags. This article walks through that end-user flow.

You generate a contract by filling out a generation form, not by picking a template directly. Each generation form is tied to a template and collects exactly the values that template needs.

So the one prerequisite is that at least one generation form already exists for your organization. If none does, the option to draft from a template is greyed out, with the note “You need to have at least one generation form set up to use this feature.” Setting up templates and their forms is an admin task, covered in Mappings: Forms, Properties, and Template Tokens.

The result is a Template Contract in Draft status, sitting in your contracts repository, ready to review, negotiate, and eventually send for approval or signature. For what each status means and where Draft sits in the lifecycle, see Contract Status Reference.

You see one form. Behind it, Pactly assembles the document from the template:

• Fills in variables. Each value you entered is dropped into its place in the document, such as {{partyName}}, {{effectiveDate}}, or {{contractValue}}.
• Applies conditional clauses. Clauses that only belong in certain deals are kept or dropped based on your answers, so the draft only contains the language that applies.
• Translates selections into text. A dropdown choice, such as a currency or a service type, is rendered as the correct wording the contract should use.

You do not control any of this from the form. The template author defined it once, and every contract generated from that form follows the same rules.

The draft is a normal contract record. From here you can:

• Review and edit the document, then record negotiation rounds as the agreement goes back and forth.
• Track its status and timeline from the contract record.
• Move it toward approval or signature when it is ready.

If the generated draft shows a small black dot in a bullet, [●], where a value should be, that placeholder marks a spot the template expected to fill but could not. It usually means a form field was left blank, or the template field was never connected to that form question. Generation never fails on a missing value; it inserts the placeholder and continues.

If you see a [●], or a clause you expected is missing, check that you completed every relevant field. If the value is genuinely absent from the form, the template’s form mapping needs attention from whoever maintains it. See Mappings: Forms, Properties, and Template Tokens.

• Templates Overview
• Mappings: Forms, Properties, and Template Tokens
• Filling Out a Form
• Create a Contract
• Contract Status Reference