Smart fields
What this page is — where your organisation writes its own AI extraction prompts: each a name and a plain-language instruction, optionally limited to one document family.
What it is for — so the three or four facts you need from every contract are answered the same way on every document, with a quote from the text to prove each one.
The problem it solves — the facts you need from every contract are extracted differently by each person, with no evidence attached.
Route: /org/settings?tab=papers → Smart fields · Permissions: Papers module limits, defaults, integrations and signature-provider toggles. for
organisation definitions; Manage the project's smart-field overrides (requires open smart-fields lock). for project definitions while the
smart-fields lock is open.
1. What it is
A smart field is a question, not a value:
| Part | Example |
|---|---|
| Name | Notice period (days) |
| Prompt | "Extract the termination notice period, in days." |
| Applies to family | Agreement — or blank for every family |
| Active | On |
The definitions are used by the Smart fields AI capability, which returns one value per matching active definition, with a confidence score and the exact quote that supports it.
Nothing is extracted when a document is uploaded or finalized unless the Smart fields capability runs — pressed by someone, or set to auto-run on a document type's AI Config tab.
| Smart fields | Fields | Extract key terms | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direction | Read out of finished text | Asked of the author | Read out of text |
| Shape | Your questions | Your form | Fixed by the product |
| Evidence | A quote per value | — | — |
2. Why you would use it
- Standing questions, answered everywhere. Define Notice period (days) once; every agreement answers it.
- Every value is provable. The supporting quote lets a reviewer confirm in seconds.
- Silence is recorded, not guessed. A document that does not say returns an empty value with zero confidence.
- Family filters keep runs clean. An invoice is never asked for a termination notice period.
3. Step by step
- + Smart Field.
- Name it and write the Prompt — one specific thing per definition.
- Pick Applies to family, or leave blank for all.
- Choose Applies to — organisation, or a project with an open smart-fields lock.
- Save. Use the toggle to pause a definition without deleting it.
- On the types that should use them, add Smart fields to auto-run, or run it by hand.
4. Field reference
| Field | Rules | Refusal |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Required | name and prompt are required · name cannot be empty |
| Prompt | Required. Name one thing | prompt cannot be empty |
| Applies to family | Blank = all, or one of the eleven families | applies_family must be one of: transactional, agreement, … |
| Applies to | Organisation, or a project | — |
| Active | Toggle | Inactive definitions are skipped |
Which definitions a document uses
| Situation | Used |
|---|---|
| Project smart-fields lock closed | The organisation's active definitions matching the family |
| Lock open and the project has at least one matching definition | Only the project's — they replace the organisation set |
| Lock open, project has none | The organisation's |
Confidential documents
A manual run works on a confidential document, forced onto a local model where one is configured. An
automatic run is blocked unless the platform setting papers.ai_confidential_cloud is allow.
5. Worked example
A legal operations lead defines three fields for agreements:
| Name | Prompt | Family |
|---|---|---|
| Notice period (days) | Extract the termination notice period, in days. | Agreement |
| Renewal type | State whether the term auto-renews or is fixed. | Agreement |
| Liability cap | State the liability cap as an amount with currency, or "uncapped". | Agreement |
They add Smart fields to the MSA type's On finalize auto-run. The next finalized MSA returns
Notice period (days) = 30, confidence 0.96, evidence "…either party may terminate on thirty (30) days'
written notice.", and Renewal type empty — the MSA is silent on renewal.
Later the Contoso Retail project unlocks smart fields and adds one definition, Store count. Contoso's agreements now return only Store count; the lead copies the three organisation definitions into the project so they return all four.
6. The admin contract
| Must be true | Where | What breaks without it |
|---|---|---|
| The Smart fields capability runs | AI Config, or a manual run | Nothing is extracted |
papers_smart_field is active and enabled | Orbit AI Flow, /org/ai-utilities | Runs fail |
| Definitions match the document's family | This screen | The run returns nothing |
| Project replacement sets are complete | Project hub | Projects silently lose organisation definitions |
7. Downstream
| When you… | Then |
|---|---|
| Add or edit a definition | The next run uses it; cached results reflect the old set until re-run |
| Pause a definition | It is skipped from the next run |
| Delete a definition | Future runs skip it; past results keep their values |
8. Don't confuse this with…
| Smart fields capability | Runs these definitions against a document |
| Fields | The author's form on a type |
| The type's Extraction schema | A JSON box that is not currently used. Use smart fields |
9. Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause |
|---|---|
| Nothing was extracted on upload | Smart fields only run when the capability runs (§1) |
| A definition was skipped | It is inactive, or its family does not match |
| A project lost the organisation's definitions | It has its own, which replace the set |
| Values are paragraphs | The prompt names several things |
| Nothing runs on confidential documents automatically | Default-deny for cloud AI |