User rights

Here you can find detailed information on what the rights in the User rights management menu in Clause9 and ClauseBuddy mean and what they provide access to.

General rights

  1. Backup/export: At any point in time, you can perform an export of all available material from any folder in Clause9. This feature is offered to avoid feelings of lock-in with us as a vendor. Giving this functionality right allows the user to perform that export. (See screenshot 1 below)

  2. Bulk editing of files: The option of this submenu allows you to copy attributes from one file, in order to later on paste that export. (See screenshot 1 below)

  3. Clause versioning: As the name suggests, this allows the user to create different (linked) versions of clauses, e.g. a version of April 2023 and a version of May 2024 after some change in legislation. For a full overview of how it works and what it can do, click here.

  4. Show administrator messages on welcome screen: These are the messages you see on you Clause9 home screen.

  5. Simplified (Q&A only) interface: This right turns off some advanced functionalities that could confuse casual users (e.g., no selection of the kind of folder; users only see a "create documents" screen in Clause9 that allows them to fill out questionnaires, instead of the possibility to create "concepts","definitions", etc.) This is a good option if you want to give people access to Clause9 Q&As outside of ClauseBuddy.

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Creating and editing files

  1. Create adhoc clauses: Ad-hoc clauses are stored in one specific document, as opposed to your organisation's clause library (where the idea is that you share clauses as much as possible between documents). When you create a new clause in Clause9, you have the option to create a library clause, which can be reused across different documents and in ClauseBuddy, or an ad-hoc clause, which only exists in the document itself. (See screenshot 2)

  2. Create new memo: Memo files allow you to centralize your comments/documentation, to foster reuse across different clauses and Q&As. They are intended for multi-paragraph comments, or even multiple pages of in-depth documentation about a certain subject - even accompanied by subtitles and tables if that's what the user prefers. Usually, memos are attached to cards or questions in a Q&A if these relate to a legally complex question that perhaps the average junior lawyer would have trouble answering. More information can be found here. (See screenshot 3)

  3. Create proxies: A proxy is a shortcut to another file or folder in the system. Like a shortcut on your desktop (which doesn't contain the file itself), it simply refers to where the actual file lives. This is useful if you want to include a clause in separate libraries but don't want to start managing two separate clauses.

  4. Edit ad-hoc clauses: This gives the user the ability to change existing ad-hoc clauses.

  5. Edit memos: This gives the user the ability to change existing memos.

  6. Edit proxies: This gives the user the ability to change existing proxies.

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Editing file content

  1. Edit descriptions: This allows the user to edit descriptions to files.

  2. Edit file/legal comment: This allows the user to edit comments. Technically there's no difference between a comment and a description. In practice however, a description is a rather short and more practical description of a clause, while a comment is a more involved and often also more theoretical text.

  3. Edit reporting body: This functionality right allows the user to add a "reporting version" to a Clause9 clause. This is an alternative, shorter version of a clause that can be generated alongside the document and its clauses to create a "drafting report". More info can be found here.

Documents

  1. Advanced clauses search: This relates to the ability to perform a filtered clause search in your clause library. (See screenshot 4)

  2. Batch editing documents: This is an advanced editing mode (not very frequently used, found in the upper right "..." corner of the Assemble Document mode. Essentially, this mode allows you to copy various features of one automated document to another document — in particular the terminology, datafields and styling. This can then help to align those automated documents with each other.

  3. Blocks mode: The blocks mode allows you to get a distilled version of a document inside of Assemble Document, that focuses on the relationship between each clause and its neighbouring clauses. This can sometimes be useful when editing very advanced documents with sub-sub-sub-sub-clauses that nest in each other, and where the regular layout would make it difficult to discern how clauses are exactly nested.

  4. Convert clauses: Allows users to convert a library clause to an ad-hoc clause in the Assemble Document menu.

  5. Edit markup: Users (including anonymous users who access a Q&A through a hyperlink) can provide comments, highlights, strikethroughs, etc. with individual paragraphs or clauses in Clause9 to clarify how a document needs to be amended after exporting it from Clause9. This right grants users access to that button. (See screenshot 5)

  6. Focus on specific clause during drafting: This activates the focus mode in Assemble Document, which allows a template author to focus on one particular clause and to see how exactly it "morphs" when confronted with different datafields. For a complete overview of what focus mode does, click here.

  7. Highlight datafields: This gives users the option to highlight all the parts in the text where a variable datafield has been filled out. For basic documents, this makes it easier for the end user who reviews the Clause9-generated document to see where the variable bits were and to check those for accuracy (instead of reading through the entire document).

  8. Manage mapping between concepts: Sometimes, you may need to change a concept in a clause to fit the document it is being used in. You can map a concept to another concept in use in a document to clarify that the first concept should be treated as if it were the second one. That way you avoid situations where two terms are being used for the same topic (e.g.: "#contract" and "#agreement"). This is a rather advanced feature of Clause9, described here.

  9. Manage shrinking levels: This is a niche functionality that allows users to create "short" and "long" versions of the same clause, by choosing to omit certain bits of text that (from a legal perspective) are less relevant — e.g. instead of saying "any and all" you could say "any". All the necessary information can be found here.

  10. Remove clauses from a document: This grants a user the ability to remove a clause from a document in Assemble document mode.

  11. Reporting in clauses: This functionality allows users to turn on or off the reporting version of the document.

  12. Show quick-list: This shows the button to turn off or on the quick-list, an overview of all the clauses in a document where you can click through to the right clause. Useful for navigating quickly through large documents. (See screenshot 6)

  13. Unlock subdocuments/clause hierarchies: You can unlock a document form a binder by clicking on the lock symbol. After that, clauses can ge (re)moved freely and the link between document and binder will dissapear. More info here.

  14. Use miscellaneous sub-pane: This gives the user additional options e.g. using the mirror function where you can see another view of the active document. More info here.

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Q&A

  1. Edit markup: This is the same functionality as the edit markup in documents, but this time in a Q&A. (See screenshot 5 above)

  2. Show quick-list: This is the same functionality as the show quick-list in documents, but this time in a Q&A. (See screenshot 6 above)

Profile

  1. Edit basic account data: This allows the user to edit basic account data in the account menu. This basic data are e.g. first and/or last name, password, emailaddress, etc. More info here.

Finetune styling of document

  1. Finetune base paragraph style in document: This activates the "Base" style button in the Styling menu in Assemble Document. This allows you to make detailed adjustments to the foundational/base paragraph style for the document. More info here.

  2. Finetune body paragraphs style in document: This activates the "Bullets" style button, which is the most important element that is typically configured for body (non-heading) clauses.

  3. Finetune definition style in document: This activates the "Definition" style button in the Styling menu in Assemble Document. This allows you to change how defined terms look in the document such as capitalisation, display in bold, etc. More info here.

  4. Finetune enumeration style in document: This activates the "Enumeration" style button in the Styling menu in Assemble Document. Enumeration styling gives you the option to edit the style in which they are displayed in the document. More info here.

  5. Finetune headings style in document: This activates the "Headings" style button in the Styling menu in Assemble Document. More info here.

  6. Finetune locale layout style in document: This activates the "Locale" style button in the Styling menu in Assemble Document.The locale layout style allows you to customize how things as numbers or currencies are depicted in the document. More info here. (See screenshot 7)

  7. Finetune page settings style in document: This activates the "Page" style button in the Styling menu in Assemble Document.This allows you to edit the page styling of the document e.g. how and where the page numbering should be displayed. More info here. (See screenshot 7)

  8. Finetune references layout style in document: This activates the "References" style button in the Styling menu in Assemble Document.This allows you to customize the styling of references. More info here. (See screenshot 7)

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  1. Add multiple documents: This right enables the "Also give acces to other templates" option in the magic link creation menu. With this, you can add additional documents to which the user will get acces to, instead of the default of only one document. (See screenshot 8)

  2. Allow users to send back answers: This right enables the "allow sending answers" option in the magic link creation menu. When enabled, you will be invited to specify a folder in which the answers of the anonymous user will be stored when he/she would click on the button “send answers” after having (partially) completed the questionnaire. (See screenshot 8)

  3. Allow users to store answers: This right enables the "allow storing answers" option in the magic link creation menu. When enabled, the end-user can store his/her answers — e.g., to continue working them on some other day. (See screenshot 8)

  4. Create magic links: This right allows someone to create magic links for one or more Q&As. These magic links allow you to send a hyperlink for a Q&A to someone who is not a user of Clause9, but needs to fill out the Q&A. More info here.

  5. Disable export to .docx: This right gives a user wishing to create a magic link the option to turn on or off the ability to export the document to Word. (See screenshot 8)

  6. Disable export to .pdf: This right gives a user wishing to create a magic link the option to turn on or off the ability to export the document to PDF. (See screenshot 8)

  7. Disable export to clipboard: This right gives a user wishing to create a magic link the option to turn on or off the ability to export the document to the clipboard. (See screenshot 8)

  8. Disable export to email: This right gives a user wishing to create a magic link the option to turn on or off the ability to export the document to an email featuring the document as an attachment (pdf or word). (See screenshot 8)

  9. Disable interactive document preview: This right gives a user wishing to create a magic link the option to turn on or off the ability to toggle the interactive document preview. (See screenshot 8)

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