Glossary

This glossary provides clear definitions of key terms used across Smarter Drafter Pro. Whether you're building automations or filling in forms, understanding the terminology will help you get the most out of Smarter Drafter Pro. Use this page as a reference whenever you need to clarify a feature or refresh your understanding of terminology.

Admin

A user with higher permission to edit the account settings that fillers and builders can't access.

API

An Application Programming Interface that allows different software applications to communicate with each other. An organisation's API may be able to send information to Smarter Drafter to save rekeying known data.

Author

The document owner who is responsible for providing the base precedent with automation instructions. The author is also required to manage the ongoing maintenance of their automated precedent suite/s to ensure any legislative or process changes are updated. The author is usually responsible for the content and management of their practice area clause bank.

Automation

A form and template that can be generated to produce a customised version of the foundation precedent.

Builder

A user who has system access to both build and fill in forms. A builder develops the forms and creates the corresponding automated templates.

Building Blocks

The combination of content blocks and section blocks.

Calculation

A field that can use or manipulate data entered and then produce an alternate outcome. A calculation can be applied to any type of data and can perform many functions including mathematical calculations and extraction of data components to text.

Child Form

A form that depends on a higher-level parent form so that it can share some, most or all of the parent form build.

Clause Bank

A repository of the organisation's approved custom clause content, used to insert additional text into the generated Word document to complete the automation. The clause bank usually contains unique content that isn't commonly used and therefore isn't handled within the form questionnaire.

Clause Library

The interface in the Word add-in for browsing, inserting, and managing your firm's approved clauses. Clauses are organised by Clause Type with Guidance Notes explaining when to apply them, a Review tab for clauses awaiting approval, and a history log showing when each clause was created, approved or modified, and by whom.

Clone

To make an independent copy of a field, section, form, section block, content block or submission.

Co-Builder

A set of AI agents that helps builders automate their precedents. Co-Builder works as a coordinated team of specialised AI agents, each aligned to a phase of the build workflow — planning structure, building fields and logic, and coding the template — with the builder reviewing at each stage. The AI assists with the build only; generated documents are always produced by Smarter Drafter's deterministic automation engine.

Conditional Rules

Rules that can have single, multiple or nested conditions to set criteria that control how the Word template interprets the data provided by the filler when completing a form, to then produce the custom automation.

Contact

An entry in the contact address book. A contact can be manually entered into Smarter Drafter, imported from an integrated system or downloaded from a file.

Contact Mapping

A feature to connect fields in forms to data entered for a contact in the address book so that fields can be pre-filled with known data.

Content Block

A mini template that is connected to a section block and can be inserted in multiple templates but maintained in a single existence.

Content Controls

Word uses content controls to process the data entered into Smarter Drafter questionnaires. Content controls interpret the data entered by the filler and return the custom result into the Word document.

Custom Data Source

A dataset configured by your organisation and connected to Smarter Drafter, making its data available to pre-fill mapped fields during form filling.

Data Driven Automation

Generating documents automatically from structured data sent by another system — via the API or Power Automate — rather than a person filling in a form. If the data already exists, the document generates without rekeying or manual effort.

Data Mapping

The process of assigning field aliases and record types to a form's fields via the Mapping tab, so answers are tracked and shared across the matter. The Mapping tab lists every mappable field with inline alias editing, search, and a live count of unmapped fields.

Data Sharing

The ability to capture data entered during form filling and reuse it in subsequent documents. As forms are completed on a matter, the data sharing tools track the answers provided and will then automatically recall the known data and populate answers into future forms automatically.

Deep Links

A URL that launches a specific Smarter Drafter form directly from another application, workflow engine, or task list. Deep links can prefill known data such as Matter IDs or external references, so the form starts with context already in place.

Draft

The initial status of a new form. A form will remain in draft until it has been formally published. If a form has been published, a builder can amend the form by creating a draft version. The builder can work on the new draft while fillers continue using the current published version to generate documents. When the builder publishes the new draft, fillers will then generate documents using the updated published version.

Email Automation

A form and template that produce a ready-to-send email. Builders author the email body in a Word template with full support for dynamic fields, conditional rules, calculations, repeats and images. To, CC and Subject accept free text and merge fields. On submission, the email is generated as a .eml draft with any assigned attachments, which the drafter opens in their email client, reviews, and sends.

Embedded Form

A form created in Smarter Drafter that is accessed and generated using a link on another website. This is done by using a script (or embed code) from the Smarter Drafter app to create a button on the website which makes the form appear to be part of the host website.

Envelope

A container for a form being sent for e-signature.

e-Signature

The digital signing of a document. Forms can be set up with default e-signature functionality within the automation or documents can be prepared and sent manually.

Expression

The written form of code/syntax used in logic, conditional rules and calculations.

Field

A question or statement within a form.

Field Alias

A universal name applied to a field, using your organisation's naming convention, that enables data sharing and autofill. When two fields share an alias, an answer captured in one prepopulates the other. A field alias can also carry a user-friendly label for display.

Field Properties

The custom settings on a field to define its purpose, set controls and criteria, and design the output.

Form

The questionnaire a builder creates for a filler to complete when running an automation so that the template can interpret their answers and develop a custom version of the precedent. The form will be set up with rules and logic to control the behaviour of the form and the ultimate output.

Form Alias

A universal name applied to a form for use in data sharing and integrations.

Form Library

The organisation's custom set of forms that fillers can review, filter and generate documents from.

Generate

The process of submitting a form and running the Word template to produce a custom automation of the precedent based on the filler's answers.

Generated Document (aka Submission)

A form that has been filled and submitted to produce a document. Generated documents are stored as a submission and can be accessed from the submissions list. If your organisation has integrated another PMS/DMS with Smarter Drafter, you may need to access your submissions there instead.

Group

A set of users with common usage and access requirements. This allows settings to be applied to the group, saving the time it would take to make the adjustments per user. When a new user is created, they can be added to the group and automatically inherit the same settings.

Intake Form

A link to a form that can be sent to an external recipient for completion without them requiring a Smarter Drafter licence. The progress of a submitted intake form is managed in the submissions list.

Logic

Rules to control behaviour in the form. Logic can be used in many ways and is a powerful tool to apply conditions and criteria to sections, fields, options and templates to determine what happens next.

Matter Details

Information about a matter that isn't connected to a specific person or entity. Matter details are retained on the matter and prepopulate into other forms that require the same information.

Matter Record

The data collected and stored as documents are generated. The matter record is developed from the answers the filler provides while completing the form and the data is retained which will then prepopulate when you run a form that requires the same information.

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

An open standard that lets AI platforms connect securely to Smarter Drafter. Through the Smarter Drafter MCP Server, an AI assistant (such as Claude) can find the right published form, gather answers, submit it, and return the output. The document itself is always generated by Smarter Drafter's automation engine using the firm's approved templates, and access is authenticated per user, so every action is scoped to what that user is authorised to access.

Office Fields

Data that is held on your Smarter Drafter account about each location/branch of your organisation. This data is available as fields to use when building templates.

Operator

A determining factor of a condition such as equals, does not equal, greater than etc.

Option List

A list of options that are offered to a form filler in radio button, drop-down select and checkbox fields.

Option Set

A saved list of options that a builder can design and save for future use in radio button, drop-down select and checkbox fields.

Organisation Fields

Data that is held on your Smarter Drafter account about the head office/registered office of your organisation. This data is available as fields to use when building templates.

Parent Form

A high-level form that can share its questionnaire with 'child' forms that require some or all of the same data.

Permission Sets

A specific group of access settings that can be applied to users with common requirements. This allows the same settings to be applied to users easily, saving the time it would take to apply them per user. If a change is required, it can be made to the permission set and the change will automatically be applied to all users who have that permission set.

Permissions

The settings applied to a user to allow or block access to various functions and settings in Smarter Drafter.

Power Automate Connector

Smarter Drafter's certified connector for Microsoft Power Automate. It lets teams build Smarter Drafter actions into Microsoft 365 workflows with no code, including creating a submission, retrieving submission details, returning a form's fields, and downloading the generated document.

Profile

The data entered for each user which can be used in questionnaires and generated into documents.

Published

The process of converting a draft form to final. Once a form has been published and then further changes are made, a new draft is created while the existing published version still remains. If a form is public, fillers will run the existing published version of the form and template when they generate a document until the new draft is published.

Questionnaire

The questions created in the sections and fields of a form.

Record Type

A category of record used to share data across forms on a matter. Record types are grouped as Roles or Matter Details. Fields are mapped to record types so answers are captured against a record and automatically reused wherever the same data is needed.

Repeats

A setting applied to form sections to allow fillers to provide multiple answers to the same question/s in that section.

Replacement Rule

A 'find and replace' tool that is automatically run during the submission of a form. Universal replacement rules can be created which will run across all forms in the organisation. Universal replacement rules can be turned off on a form to stop it running on that specific form. Alternatively, replacement rules can be created on an individual form which will only run on that form.

Role

A record type representing a person or entity involved in a matter, such as a client or other party. A single record can be assigned to multiple roles within the same form, with its data flowing into all relevant fields automatically.

Rule

A condition applied to control subsequent behaviour such as logic, conditional rules and replacement rules.

Rule Set

A group of one or more conditions in Logic that are evaluated together to control what happens next in a form. Multiple rule sets can be applied to the same element.

Section

A container within a form that holds fields.

Section Alias

A universal name applied to a section, identifying a related group of fields (for example, a person's details) so the set can be shared and reused across forms.

Section Block

A mini form containing a section or group of sections that can be imported for use in unlimited forms, allowing the section block to be reused but created and maintained in a single existence.

Snippet

A Word document that contains text and/or images that is required in multiple documents but created and maintained in a single existence. They are different to content blocks in that they are static and cannot be linked to a section block for dynamic automation.

Submission (aka Generated Document)

A form that has been generated and produced a custom document. Generated documents are stored as a submission and can be accessed from the submissions list.

Tagging/Coding

The process of applying automation to a template by using content controls via the Word add-in to insert fields, apply named ranges, set repeats etc.

Template

The tagged/coded Word document attached to a form that ultimately produces the custom automation based on the answers provided by the filler. The template uses the rules created in the form and compares these to the filler's answers, to then determine the output in that specific scenario.

Template Styles

Override settings to apply the organisation's preferred formatting and styling to a document generated from a form in the Smarter Drafter Essentials suite. If a form is prescribed by an agency and cannot be altered, Smarter Drafter will deactivate styling overrides on that form.

Test Submission

A testing tool for builders to quickly review the behaviour of their form during building or run the form and submission to check the generated output of the template.

Upload

The process of connecting a Word template to a Smarter Drafter form.

User Mapping

A feature to connect fields in forms to data entered in a user profile so that fields can be prefilled with known data.

Utility Embed Codes

A button on an organisation's website with a link to access Smarter Drafter forms, commonly used to allow website visitors to easily open a Smarter Drafter intake form and submit it directly via the organisation's website.

Webhooks

An automated notification sent from Smarter Drafter to another system when an event occurs, such as a form being submitted. Webhooks can pass submission data and generated documents to a nominated URL, so downstream systems update without manual handling.

Word Add-in

A custom extension in Word that appears as a side pane to access Smarter Drafter features. There are two Word add-ins: one for builders, with the required template development tools, and one for fillers, with the post-generation tools to access the Clause Library and finalise the custom automation. Builders will require both Word add-ins.

Wrapped Rule Set

A rule set nested within another rule set, used to build advanced logic combining AND/OR conditions in a single structure.