Clause hierarchies

A clause hierarchy is a file type that contains a set of clauses in a fixed structure. Clause hierarchies can come in handy when you want one clause with its different levels of subclauses to be available in your clause library as one set. Users can then insert the hierarchy with one single click instead of having to find each individual clause and inserting each one separately.

Except for the special locking & unlocking mechanisms described below, a clause hierarchy acts like any regular set of clauses when it comes to numbering, cross-references, layout, and so on.

Clause hierarchies can even be nested within other clause hierarchies, any level deep. They can therefore constitute an interesting alternative to using subdocuments, e.g. because subdocuments inherently start on a new page and restart their numbering by default (except if Restart numbering is turned off in the page styling).

Creating a clause hierarchy

A clause hierarchy can be created by selecting a clause in the Assemble Document mode that has at least one clause as its “child” – i.e. at least one subclause. Click the button in the Document Toolbar and select Hierarchy of clauses > Save hierarchy as separate library clause. Choose the location where you want to save the hierarchy and give it an appropriate file name.

The end result is that you created a library clause (or, rather, a hierarchy of clauses) and that your current selection will be replaced by a reference to that library clause.

Within Browse files, you can see that hierarchies have a special icon, to indicate that they're actually a stack of clauses bundled together.

How to use a clause hierarchy

Clause hierarchies can be inserted in a document in the same way normal clauses are, i.e. by going to the Search pane or Browse pane and inserting it by clicking . When selecting the hierarchy in the browse pane, a user can also choose to only add one clause that is part of the hierarchy.

After inserting the hierarchy in a document, it will be easily recognisable as a clause hierarchy by the frame surrounding the hierarchy and the lock symbol.

Example of how a clause hierarchy looks when it is first inserted into a document.

Selecting a clause hierarchy

The frame around the hierarchy can be clicked to select the clause hierarchy. When selected, the clause hierarchy can be moved in its entirety using the arrow buttons in the document toolbar. Make sure you have actually selected the entire hierarchy and not just the parent clause inside the hierarchy.

This is how the hierarchy looks when it is selected.

In this case, only the parent clause inside the hierarchy has been selected and not the hierarchy itself.

Lock / unlock

Clause hierarchies – when first inserted – are locked. The fact that the hierarchy is “locked” means the structure of the hierarchy cannot be changed. That means the relative positions of the clauses part of the hierarchy cannot be changed. While changes can still be made to the content and other properties of any library clause, ad hoc clauses cannot be changed. This is due to the fact that the ad hoc clause is tied to the hierarchy itself, while a library clause exists independent of the hierarchy.

To show that it is locked, a clause hierarchy will contain a lock symbol on the frame surrounding it. To unlock the clause hierarchy, click the lock symbol itself: .

After unlocking, ad hoc clauses can be edited and the structure of the clauses inside the hierarchy can be freely changed.

Similar to documents in a binder, clause hierarchies the structure of which has been edited (after unlocking) will no longer be ‘tied’ to the original clause hierarchy and will therefore not include any changes made to the original copy.

For technical details on how the unlocking internally works, see the discussion forum.

Editing clause hierarchies

You can edit an existing clause hierarchy as follows:

• First unlock the hierarchy by clicking on the lock-icon.

• Make relevant changes to the structure (e.g., by adding/removing clauses, changing their order or indentation etc.).

• Select the top-clause again.

• Click on the button in the Document Toolbar and select Hierarchy of clauses > Save updated clause hierarchy
• You will notice that the hierarchy gets its lock-icon again after the save.

Note that Clause9 will not automatically update existing instances of the clause hierarchies in currently opened documents. You will therefore have to close & reopen documents and Q&As that make use of the clause hierarchy that was updated.