Behaviour settings
What this page is — the master switches for every document of a type: approval, signature, counterparties, versioning, amendment, line items and tax, numbering, the approval guardrail, and how the rendered document is protected.
What it is for — so the rules for a whole class of document are set once on the class, and "why does this one have no number?" is answered before the first document exists.
The problem it solves — rules applied document by document drift apart, and gaps like a missing number only show once a document is already sealed.
Route: /org/papers/designer/<type> → Behavior · Permission:
Create/edit/retire project types and template versions..
1. What it is
Behaviour is saved on the type, not on a version — through the header's Save draft button, but without needing to publish. That has a consequence the other tabs do not share:
| Kind of switch | When it is read | A change affects |
|---|---|---|
| Gates — approval, signature, counterparty, versioning, amendment, download, guardrail | At the moment of the action | Every existing document of the type, immediately |
| Creation defaults — confidentiality, default validity | When a document is created | New documents only |
| Render settings — line items, tax mode, draft watermark, Bates prefix | At render or finalize | Every document rendered or finalized from then on |
Apply family defaults merges the family's recommended values over the current ones, leaving keys the family has no opinion on untouched. On Custom it turns every switch off.
2. Why you would use it
- Nothing is left to memory. A board-resolution type marked Confidential is confidential every time.
- A single switch fixes a class of problem. Turning on Allows counterparty unblocks every document of the type that could not be sent.
- The guardrail cannot be routed around. High-value documents always take the chain you choose, whatever the decision rules say — and a blank amount is treated as high, not as a loophole.
- Numbering is decided before it matters. Unnumbered documents stay unnumbered forever.
3. How it spreads
| Switch | Enforced at | Surface |
|---|---|---|
| Requires approval | Finalize | Finalize and numbering |
| Requires signature | The move to executed / active | Lifecycle |
| Allows counterparty | Adding a party | Parties |
| Allows versioning | Checkpoint now | Versions |
| Allows amendment | Amend ▾ | Amend, renew, supersede |
| Allow download | Share links | Shared links |
| Numbering sequence | Finalize | Numbering |
| Default validity | Creation | Obligations — Expiring documents |
4. Step by step
- Apply family defaults for a sensible start.
- Adjust each switch.
- Pick a Numbering sequence.
- Optionally add an Approval guardrail.
- Save draft. Gates apply at once; there is nothing to publish for this tab.
5. Field reference
Workflow
| Switch | Default | Blocks | Refusal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Requires approval | Off | Finalize, until approved | this document type requires approval before finalizing — route it through an approval-gated transition (Lifecycle tab) and get it approved first |
| Requires signature | Off | The move to executed / active until every signer has signed. Not finalize — signatures are collected on the sealed PDF | — |
| Allows counterparty | Off | Adding any external party | this document type does not allow counterparties — enable 'Allows counterparty' on the type first |
| Allows versioning | On | Version checkpoints, when off | this document type has versioning disabled — enable 'Allows versioning' on the type to keep a version history |
| Allows amendment | Off | Amendment, renewal and addendum from Amend ▾ | this document type does not allow amendments — enable 'Allows amendment' on the type first |
Renew on the Obligations page does not check Allows amendment, so withhold Manage obligations and reminders. from anyone who must not renew such documents.
Content
| Setting | Values | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Line items | On / off | Pair with a Line Items field and a Table block |
| Tax mode | No tax · Tax exclusive (added on top) · Tax inclusive (contained in prices) | Computed per line by the platform tax engine from each line's tax category |
| Numbering sequence | A sequence, or No automatic numbering | Without one, documents seal without a number, permanently. Set it before the first document is finalized |
Approval guardrail
A value floor: documents whose guarded field is at or above the threshold always take the chosen workflow.
| Setting | Rules |
|---|---|
| Field | A numeric field of the type |
| Threshold | Inclusive — the threshold itself triggers it |
| Workflow | The workflow to force |
| Incomplete | "Incomplete — a guardrail needs a field, a threshold and a workflow. Until all three are set it is not enforced." |
| Missing value on a document | Treated as breaching. A blank amount cannot bypass the guardrail |
| Where it applies | Transitions entering an approval-kind state, and transitions that already resolved to a workflow |
| Order | Runs last, after the transition default and decision rules |
| Audit | Each enforcement records approval_guardrail_enforced on the document |
Output and protection
| Setting | Values | What it really does |
|---|---|---|
| Watermark drafts | On / off | A DRAFT overlay on the live render only. Never on the sealed PDF. Hidden once the document is approved, sealed, or in final, executed, issued, active, filed, archived, revoked or converted |
| Allow download | On (default) / off | Off makes share links view-only. A confidential document is view-only regardless |
| Confidentiality | Internal (default) · Confidential · Public | Stamped on each new document. A confidential document's sealed PDF carries the branding watermark text, or CONFIDENTIAL; its automatic AI runs are blocked by default |
| Default validity (days) | 0 = never expires | Sets the document's expiry to its creation date plus this many days — not the finalize date |
| Voice attestation at signing | Off · Optional · Required | A spoken attestation whose transcript and audio hash bind to the signature record |
| Auto-translation language | A language, or blank | Target for the legal-translation auto-run. Needs a sealed copy to translate |
| Bates prefix | Text, or blank | Stamps BATES + prefix + page on every finalized page |
6. Worked example
A finance lead configures a Quotation type.
- Apply Transactional defaults → approval on, line items on, tax exclusive, validity 30 days.
- Numbering sequence →
QTN-{FY}-{SEQ:0000}. - Approval guardrail → field
grand_total, threshold500000, workflow Finance director. - Allow download → on; Confidentiality → Internal.
- Save draft.
A salesperson raises a quotation on 1 September: its expiry reads 1 October — creation plus 30 days —
even though it is not sent until the 10th. A second quotation with grand_total left blank goes to the
finance director: the guardrail treats missing values as breaching. A third, for exactly 500,000, also goes
to the director — the threshold is inclusive.
In November the lead switches Allows counterparty on so customers can accept in the portal. Every existing quotation can take a counterparty immediately; nothing needed republishing.
7. The admin contract
| Must be true | Where | What breaks without it |
|---|---|---|
| A numbering sequence exists | Numbering | Nothing to pick; documents seal unnumbered |
| An approval-gated transition exists, if Requires approval is on | Lifecycle | Finalize is refused forever |
| Approval workflows exist | Approval engine | The guardrail has nothing to force |
| Tax categories exist, if tax mode is on | Finance settings | No tax is computed |
| A branding watermark text is set, for confidential types | Branding | The generic CONFIDENTIAL is used |
8. Downstream
| When you… | Then |
|---|---|
| Turn a gate on or off | Every existing document of the type follows it at once |
| Change confidentiality or default validity | New documents only |
| Add a numbering sequence | Documents finalized from now on are numbered; earlier ones never are |
| Add a guardrail | Enforced on the next qualifying transition of any document |
9. Don't confuse this with…
| Lifecycle | The route. This decides whether approval and signature are required |
| Papers settings | Where sequences and branding are created. This picks one |
| Security tags | Hide documents from people. Confidentiality classifies them |
| Decision rules | Choose a workflow by value. The guardrail overrides them |
10. Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause |
|---|---|
| Documents seal with no number | No numbering sequence |
| A counterparty cannot be added | Allows counterparty is off — its default |
| Finalize is refused | Requires approval is on and the document is not approved |
| An expiry date is earlier than expected | Validity counts from creation, not finalize |
| The draft watermark is on the sealed PDF | It never is — that is the confidentiality watermark |
| A share link will not download | Allow download is off, or the document is confidential |
| A low-value document went to the director | Its guarded value was blank — treated as breaching |