Orbit Papers
What this page is — the map of the module your organisation uses to draft, approve, negotiate, sign, issue and keep its documents, and the handful of ideas that make the rest of the documentation make sense.
What it is for — so every document your organisation issues starts from an approved template, reaches the right approvers, and can be found and proven years later.
The problem it solves — without it, agreements live in inboxes and drives, and nobody can say which version was signed or when the renewal notice is due.
Route: /org/papers/documents · Permission: View this project's documents. and
Show the Documents sidebar entry.
1. What it is
Papers is where documents your organisation issues and relies on are made and kept: contracts, NDAs, offer letters, certificates, policies. They are distinct from files you merely store.
| Orbit Papers | A shared drive | Digital Assets | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Every document starts from | An approved type with a template and fields | A copy of the last one | An upload |
| Knows its state | Yes — the type's lifecycle | No | No |
| Approval, signature, counterparty | Built in, recorded | — | |
| Number, seal, verification code | At finalize | Typed by hand | — |
| Remembers dates it commits you to | Obligations register | No | No |
| Retention and legal hold | Records management | No | No |
2. Why you would use it
- Nobody redrafts from last year's copy. Authors answer questions and the template writes the agreement, so clauses legal approved stay approved.
- The right people approve, every time, provably. Routes are defined once per type, and each decision lands in the document's own audit trail.
- "Which version was signed?" always has an answer. Versions are immutable, the sealed PDF carries a fingerprint, and anyone can check it on the verification page.
- Deadlines stop hiding in PDFs. Renewal windows and payment dates become obligations with reminders, instead of sentences nobody rereads.
- Retention is enforced, not hoped for. Record series, legal holds and disposition queues keep what you must keep and surface what you may destroy.
3. How the module fits together
Not every document takes every path. A certificate may go from draft to finalize to issue in minutes. A supply contract may go round a counterparty four times first. The type decides which steps apply.
The one idea that explains most behaviour
A document is an instance of a type, and parts of the type behave differently over time:
| Part of the type | Where it lives | What changes when you edit it |
|---|---|---|
| Template, fields, lifecycle | The type version a document was created from | Only documents created after you publish |
| Behaviour switches (requires approval / signature, allows counterparty, numbering sequence…) | The type itself | Every document of that type, immediately |
| AI configuration | The type | Future auto-runs on every document |
That split explains both "I changed the template and the old document didn't change" and "I switched on Requires signature and existing documents got blocked".
States belong to each type
There is no product-wide list of states. One type goes Draft → Review → Approved → Finalized, another Draft → Submitted → Executed. When this documentation names a state, it is naming an example. Read your own type's lifecycle for the rule.
4. Field reference — the vocabulary
| Term | Means | Read more |
|---|---|---|
| Type | The blueprint: template, fields, behaviour, lifecycle, AI config | Type Designer |
| Type version | A published snapshot of a type's template, fields and lifecycle | Lifecycle and transitions |
| Document | One instance: its field values, parties, versions and history | Create a document |
| State | Where the document is in its type's lifecycle | Documents list and board |
| Version | An immutable snapshot — draft, finalized, counterparty round, amended | Comparing versions |
| Artifact | A sealed PDF (finalized or signed), with hash and verification code | Finalize and numbering |
| Party | A person or organisation on the document: counterparty, signer, CC | Parties and attachments |
| Obligation | A dated commitment extracted from a document | Obligation register |
| Record series | The retention class a document is filed under | File plans and series |
| Org-wide document | A document with no project, visible across projects | §7 |
5. What is in the module
| Area | Route | Use it to |
|---|---|---|
| Documents | /org/papers/documents | Create, fill, approve, finalize, send |
| Approvals | /org/papers/approvals | Decide what waits on you — inbox |
| Type Designer | /org/papers/designer | Build types |
| Repository | /org/papers/repository | Find documents by folder, keyword or meaning |
| Capture Inbox | /org/papers/capture | Turn incoming files into documents |
| Obligations | /org/papers/obligations | Deadlines and renewals |
| Records | /org/papers/records | Retention, holds, disposition, vital records |
| Analytics / Reports | /org/papers/analytics, /org/papers/reports | Cycle time, and your own reports |
| Settings | Organisation and project settings | Numbering, branding, locks, portals — overview |
6. Worked example
Gatiro's legal team moves its customer contracts into Papers.
- Type. Legal builds Master Services Agreement:
- Fields: customer, value, term, governing law.
- Template: library clauses, with the liability cap locked.
- Lifecycle: draft → internal review → negotiation → out for signature → executed.
- Behaviour: requires approval, requires signature, allows counterparty, numbering sequence
MSA-{YYYY}-{SEQ}. - AI: risk analysis auto-runs on each counterparty round.
- Draft. A sales manager creates MSA — Harbor Health and answers 14 questions. The preview shows the finished agreement as they type.
- Approval. Submitting routes it through Finance and Legal, because the value is above the guardrail threshold.
- Negotiate. Harbor's counsel suggests two edits in the portal. One touches the locked liability clause, so accepting it sends the document back to Legal.
- Finalize and sign. The agreement is numbered MSA-2026-031, sealed and signed by both sides.
The
all_signedtransition moves it to executed. - Afterwards. Extract key terms adds the renewal-notice obligation. Filing puts it in the Commercial contracts — 7 years series. Two years later its renewal reminder arrives, and verification still proves the PDF is unaltered.
7. The admin contract
| What must be configured | Otherwise |
|---|---|
| The Papers package on the organisation's plan | No Papers entries in the sidebar at all |
| Menu and view permissions per area (60 in total) | Some screens appear, others do not — permissions |
| Project membership | Project documents stay invisible. Org-wide documents and Cross-project compliance read; unlocks "All projects" mode in the Repository. are the exceptions |
| At least one published type | Nothing can be created |
| Numbering sequences on the types that need numbers | Documents finalize unnumbered — getting started |
| Outbound email | Invitations, reminders and distributions cannot be delivered |
8. Downstream
- Papers events (
paper.created,paper.finalized,paper.fully_executedand 12 more) can be delivered to your systems by webhook — API and automation. - Other modules can generate Papers documents: a won deal, a submitted form.
- The assistant and the public API expose the same operations under the same rules.
9. Don't confuse this with…
| Digital Assets | Media storage, with no lifecycle |
| The Service Desk knowledge base | Articles to read, not instruments to sign |
| Orbit AI Flow | Where AI utilities are administered. Papers is where you run them on a document |
| Marketing forms | Collect submissions. Papers can turn one into a document — intake forms |
10. Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause |
|---|---|
| No Papers in the sidebar | The plan lacks Papers, or your role lacks the menu permissions |
| New Document missing | You lack Create documents from a type. |
| The type list is empty | No type has a published version |
| An unfamiliar state name | States come from that document's type |
| A behaviour change hit old documents | Behaviour lives on the type, not the version (§3) |
| A template change did not reach old documents | Templates are versioned; only new documents use the new version |