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Smart Templates turn standard Microsoft Word documents into intelligent, fillable templates.

Instead of manually editing placeholders or clauses, you set up a guided Q&A that controls how content is filled in and adjusted throughout the document.

You simply highlight text in Word and define how it should behave. ClauseBuddy then handles the logic behind the scenes, ensuring that once a question is answered, the relevant content is updated everywhere it appears.

Smart Templates help you automate complex documents so users don’t need to manually edit every placeholder or clause. The result is faster, more accurate document generation with minimal effort.

Use Smart Templates when you want to:

When not to use them:

Start by opening your document in Microsoft Word. Highlight all placeholders in cyan. These highlights indicate where user input will later be required.

You can remove square brackets, blobs, or other manual placeholder markers commonly used in traditional legal templates - they are no longer needed.

Example
A clause from a manual template can be converted into a Smart Template simply by highlighting the variable text in cyan.

Would be converted into:

Cyan highlights that end with a colon (:) are treated as conditions. Conditions control whether specific text is shown or hidden based on the user’s answers.

There are two ways to apply conditions:

Use a condition to control a specific part of a sentence.

For example, the phrase “and the employees of its associated entities” should only appear when the supplier is part of a group of companies. A condition such as “part of group” can be used to guard the visibility of this text.

You can also apply a condition to an entire paragraph by placing the condition at the beginning of the paragraph. In this case, the rest of the paragraph does not need to be highlighted.

In the following example, the entire paragraph will be dropped if no exclusivity applies:

Next, upload your Word document to ClauseBuddy.

If you are working on a smaller screen, switch Word to Web Layout View instead of the default Print Layout. You can do this from the View tab in Word’s ribbon or via the status bar at the bottom of the window.

This allows Word to wrap text within the available space, giving you more room to work comfortably in ClauseBuddy.

ClauseBuddy lets you create any number of questions, organised into sections (called cards). You can define how questions interact - for example, only asking follow-up questions when a main question is answered positively.

The fastest way to create questions is to click Add questions from document in the template editor toolbar.

ClauseBuddy will automatically extract all cyan-highlighted text from your Word document and convert it into questions. You can then adjust the question type if needed (for example, changing a text question into a Yes/No question).

For some questions, you may want to offer predefined answers. For example, in an arbitration clause, you could predefine common venues such as Amsterdam, Paris, or New York.

You can add predefined answers by selecting a question and choosing how many predefined options you want to include.

Each question has a range of configuration options, accessible by selecting the question and reviewing the panel on the right-hand side.

Several settings help guide end users through the questionnaire:

Using long question text directly in conditions can be tedious and error-prone. If the wording of the question changes, the condition must also be updated.

To avoid this, assign a short identifier (for example, shipping-insurance) to the question and use that identifier in cyan-highlighted conditions instead.

To reduce questionnaire fatigue, you can hide or show questions based on previous answers.

For example, if a contractual party can be both a natural person and a legal entity, then a question about the day of birth should be hidden when the contractual party was described as a legal entity. A question about the company registry number should instead be shown.

At any time, you can click Test to interactively try out your Smart Template. This allows you to verify that all questions, conditions, and logic behave as expected before sharing the template.

Once you’re done, choose a filename and storage folder and save your template.

If you have a paid subscription, you can also share your Smart Template with colleagues, clients, or counterparties. Click Share in the Settings panel or select the template from the templates overview.

Recipients only need the shared link to complete the questionnaire and generate their document - no ClauseBuddy account required.

When automating documents in ClauseBuddy, there are many options to take into account. To prevent the options from becoming overwhelming, we’ve created a handy one-pager that serves as a guide to help you construct and amend all the content in your Smart Templates.

Keep this one-pager nearby - it's your trusty (and totally legitimate) cheat sheet!

Download it here: