Fields

What this page is — the tab that defines the questions every document of a type asks its author: each field's label, machine name, datatype, grouping, defaults, merge source, requiredness and visibility.

What it is for — so the template's wording has values to draw on, and the author is asked for exactly what the document needs.

The problem it solves — authors are asked for the wrong things, or not asked at all, and the template renders blanks where values belong.

Route: /org/papers/designer/<type> → Fields · Permission: Create/edit/retire project types and template versions..

Figure 1 — Each row is one field. The order here is the order the author sees.

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1. What it is

A field has two names, and confusing them is the most common way to break a type:

	Label	Name (machine)
Who sees it	The author, on the form	The template, as {{contract_value}}
Example	Contract Value	contract_value
Rules	Free text	Lowercase letters, digits, underscores; unique
Change it freely?	Yes	No — every template token using it silently goes blank

Row order is form order. Fields with the same Group render together as one card on the document form; ungrouped fields land in Details.

Datatype	The author gets	Rendered in the document as
Text	Single-line box	As typed
Long Text	Large box with a dictation mic	As typed
Number	Numeric box	Formatted number
Currency	Amount	Formatted amount
Date	Date picker	Formatted date
Yes/No	Checkbox	Yes / No
Select	Dropdown of your options	The option's label
Party	Participant box	The party
Line Items	Editable rows table	A Table block in the template

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2. Why you would use it

• Blanks become questions. A template with typed blanks produces a different document every time; a field with a datatype produces the same one.
• Merge sources remove re-typing. A field mapped to contact.company arrives filled when a document is created from a CRM record.
• Conditional visibility keeps long forms short. A non-solicitation period only appears when non-solicitation is ticked.
• Datatypes feed everything downstream. AI auto-fill types its suggestions from them, currency fields feed value-based approval and the signatory matrix, and dates feed obligations and expiry.

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3. How a field spreads

Surface	Uses
The document form	Label, datatype, group, default, required, conditions
The template	{{name}} tokens, Dynamic Field and Table blocks
Auto-fill from source	Label, datatype and select options, to type its suggestions
Decision rules and the approval guardrail	Numeric values, to pick an approval workflow
Merge sources	Pre-fill at creation

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4. Step by step

1. Add field — appended as new_field, new_field_2, …
2. Expand the row. Set Label, then Name, then Datatype.
3. Add a Group, a Default value or a Merge source as needed.
4. Tick Required on submit for anything the approval or the final PDF cannot do without.
5. For Select fields, add options; for Line Items, add columns.
6. Optionally tick Conditional visibility and build the condition.
7. Save draft, then Publish.

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5. Field reference

Setting	Rules	Notes
Label	Free text	Write it as a question a non-lawyer can answer
Name	Lowercase letters, digits, underscores; unique within the type	Duplicates show "Duplicate field names: … — names must be unique." and Save draft is blocked
Datatype	One of the nine in §1	Changing it clears type-specific settings — options and columns
Group	Free text	Same group = same card on the form
Merge source	namespace.key	See below. Shows as an auto: … tag on the form, and stays overridable
Default value	Matches the datatype	Used when no merge source applies
Required on submit	Checkbox	Drafts may stay incomplete. See the caveat below
Options (Select)	Value / label pairs	monthly / Monthly
Columns (Line Items)	Machine name, label, per-column datatype	Rendered by a Table block
Conditional visibility	A condition on other fields	Operators eq, neq, in, not_in, gt, gte, lt, lte, empty, not_empty, combined in ALL / ANY groups

The template only recognises lowercase names

Template tokens match {{ + lowercase letters, digits and underscores + }}. A name like ContractValue or contract-value never binds, and a token naming no field renders as nothing — no error, just a blank in the finished document.

Merge source namespaces

Namespace	Fills from
org.*	Your organisation
contact.*	The linked CRM contact
order.*	The linked order
deal.*	The linked deal — only when the document is created from a deal
product.*	The linked product
employee.*	The linked employee

A merge source fills a field only when the document is created from a linked record — by a generation trigger, for instance. Created by hand from New Document, there is no record to read.

Required on submit — the caveat

The check runs only on a lifecycle transition whose action is literally submit. On a type whose first transition has any other action, required fields are never enforced. Hidden conditional fields are never counted.

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6. Worked example

A legal operations lead builds the fields for a Consulting Agreement.

Label	Name	Datatype	Group	Other
Client name	client_name	Party	Parties	Merge source contact.company
Consultant	consultant_name	Party	Parties	Required
Effective date	effective_date	Date	Term	Required
Fee basis	fee_basis	Select	Fees	Options day_rate / Day rate, fixed / Fixed fee
Day rate	day_rate	Currency	Fees	Visible when fee_basis eq day_rate
Includes non-solicitation?	includes_non_solicit	Yes/No	Terms	—
Non-solicit period (months)	non_solicit_months	Number	Terms	Visible when includes_non_solicit eq Yes; default 6

The template reads "The Consultant shall be paid {{day_rate}} per day" inside a Conditional block on the same condition, so fixed-fee agreements never mention a day rate.

They rename Client name's label to Client the next day — safe. They also rename its name to client, save, and the preview shows a blank where the client belonged: the template still says {{client_name}}. They change it back.

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7. The admin contract

Must be true	Where	What breaks without it
Every template token names an existing field	Template builder	Blanks in the rendered document
Names are lowercase and unique	This tab	Tokens never bind; Save draft refuses
The draft's outgoing transition action is submit	Lifecycle	Required fields are never enforced
Linked records exist for merge sources	Generation triggers, CRM, orders	auto: fields arrive empty
The type is published	Header	New fields apply to nothing

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8. Downstream

When you…	Then
Publish new fields	New documents get them; existing documents keep their version's fields
Rename a name	Every token and condition using the old name stops working
Change a datatype	Options or columns are cleared
Make a field required	Enforced on the next submit of new documents (with the caveat above)

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9. Don't confuse this with…

Smart fields	Values AI extracts from a finished document. These are questions asked of the author
Filling in the fields	The author's side of the same fields
Template builder	Where a field's value is placed
Zones	Regions of a scanned page that zonal extraction reads into these fields

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10. Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause
A blank where a value belongs	The token names no field, the name has a capital or hyphen, or the field is empty
Save draft does nothing	Duplicate field names — read the red banner
Options disappeared	The datatype was changed, which clears them
An auto: field is empty	The document was not created from a linked record
Authors can submit with a required field empty	The transition is not named submit
An existing document lacks the new field	It keeps the version it was created from

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Related

• Template builder
• Filling in the fields
• Lifecycle and transitions