Custom Terms are the legal terms behind a Custom Agreement. You write them once, pair them with a Cover Page, and update them as your legal position changes without disturbing agreements that are already signed.
NOTE: Custom Agreements are currently in open beta release.
Where to find Custom Terms
Go to the Templates page and open the Custom templates tab. Your existing terms are listed in the Custom Terms table, along with the current version of each and the number of completed agreements that use it.
Creating Custom Terms
Click Add Custom Terms next to the Custom Terms table. This opens the New Custom Terms page, where you can either write your terms directly in Common Paper or upload a file you have already drafted.
Writing terms in Common Paper
Give your terms a Name. This name is public-facing and appears in every agreement that uses these terms, so use something a counterparty will recognize.
Write the terms themselves in the Terms editor. The toolbar covers headings, bold, italic, strikethrough, bulleted and numbered lists, block quotes, links, and tables. If you'd rather work in markdown, click Switch to markdown below the editor.
Click Save when you're done. Your terms are saved as version 1.
Uploading a terms file
If your terms are already final and you don't need to edit them inside Common Paper, click Upload a set of terms at the top of the New Custom Terms page. This brings in terms you've already drafted elsewhere as a file rather than editable rich text.
Editing and versions
To change existing terms, open the ⋮ menu on the row and choose Edit terms.
Every save creates a new version, and that version becomes the one new agreements are built from. Agreements that are already in flight or already signed stay pinned to the version they were created from, so updating your terms never changes an agreement someone has already agreed to.
NOTE: Cover Pages always use the current version of the terms they reference. Publishing a new version therefore applies to every Cover Page built on these terms, and to every agreement created from those Cover Pages from that point on, without anyone editing those Cover Pages. See Cover Pages for how the two halves fit together.
Check the Completed Agreements count before making a significant change. It tells you how many signed agreements rely on these terms.
Choose View terms from the same menu to read the current version without opening the editor.
Duplicating terms
Duplicate creates a copy of your terms as a new, separate set starting at version 1. This is the right move when you want a variant for a different region, product line, or counterparty type. Editing the copy has no effect on the original.
Archiving terms
Archive terms removes a set of terms from the list so nobody creates new agreements from it. Archiving does not affect agreements that already use those terms.
Terms that a Cover Page currently references cannot be archived. Point that Cover Page at different terms first, or archive the Cover Page.
To see what you have archived, click Show archived Custom Terms below the table. From there, Restore brings a set back into the list.
Using Custom Terms in an agreement
Custom Terms don't produce an agreement on their own. You pair them with a Cover Page, which supplies the fields your team fills out when creating an agreement. See Cover Pages for how to build one and connect it to your terms.