Creating Contracts

LaunchBay's electronic document signing functionality lets you turn PDFs and other documents into signable contracts that clients can complete directly in their portals.

Before you can attach contracts to portal tasks in your LaunchBay projects, you must create the contracts you'll be using. This article will provide a complete walkthrough of how to do so.

How to Create Contracts in LaunchBay

To create contracts that clients can sign electronically, navigate to the "Contracts" page of your LaunchBay admin dashboard. This page is where you can create and manage the contracts available to be filled out and/or signed within tasks.

Step 1: Upload a PDF or Image File

From the "Contracts" page of your account, click the "Create Contract" button. Next, drag the PDF or image file for the contract you'd like to make electronically signable into the window and click "Upload."

Once your contract is uploaded, you can click the title at the top of the editor to rename it if needed.

Step 2: Configure Your Fields

After uploading your contract, click "Edit Fields" to bring up the field editor. In the editor, you can add new fields, edit existing fields, and specify which fields clients are responsible for completing and which ones you or your team members are.

The sections below provide an overview of the options and customizations available when configuring fields in your contracts.

Add New Fields

You must set at least one fillable field in the contracts you create. The field editor includes six fields you can add to a contract and assign to clients or team members: Signature, Initials, Checkbox, Text Field, Date Field, and Select Box.

Click and drag any field type from the panel and drop it directly onto your contract wherever you need it.

Text Field: Formats & Custom Labels

The Text Field option allows you to collect specific information from signers. Text fields are open-ended, so we suggest adding a custom label to clarify what you're requesting.

To create a custom label, click on a text field and in the "Label" field, enter the text you want to appear to clients and team members when they complete the contract.

Text Fields

Text fields support conditional formats to specify the type of input a field should accept. Available formats include: Numbers, Letters, Email, Phone, Age, Zip Code, and more. To set a format, click the text field and select your preferred option from the "Format" dropdown in the Edit Field Settings.

Select Box Field

The Select Box field type lets you add a dropdown to your contract that signers can use to choose one option from a predefined list. To configure it, click the Select Box field and add your Options in the field settings panel.

Add or Change Placeholder Recipients

Placeholder recipients allow you to specify whether a client or team member is responsible for completing the fields in a contract. The first field you add to a contract will only have the default "Client" placeholder, but adding additional types of recipients is straightforward.

To add a new placeholder, expand the plus sign + in the Roles section in the left-hand menu. This will open a panel to name your role, select the type, and role color.

Once you've created your roles, click the role you want to build fields for — each field option will display the role's color so you can easily track which role you're building for.

Adjust Your Signing Order

With Custom Signing Order, you can control the order in which contracts are signed—whether you're using a saved template or creating a one-off contract. This allows your team to decide who signs first, second, or last, depending on your internal approval process or client workflow.

To enable signing order, add more than two signer fields to your contract. Then, click the Signing Order toggle—this will enable signing order and drag handles for you to set your preferred order.

Step 3: Save Your Contract & Attach It To Tasks

After configuring all the necessary fields, click "Save" button in the top right corner. Once you do so, the contract will be available in your library and can be attached to tasks in your LaunchBay projects and templates.

Unique Contract per Project? Use Single Use Contracts!

If a standard contract template doesn’t work across all projects, a single-use contract gives you an easy way to add a unique document to one task. It belongs to that task only, isn’t saved to your contract library, and doesn’t appear anywhere else.

Instead of attaching a contract to a task in a project template, leave the Contract field blank when setting up the task. Then, once the project is live, add the contract to the task:

1. Open the task and click Contracts.
2. Under Add a contract, choose Upload a PDF.
3. Upload your PDF, name it in the editor’s header, and drag on the signature and form fields. Adjust the signing order if needed.
4. Click Use Contract to attach it to the task.
5. Assign who fills out each part, then click Done.

Employees can create and edit their own single-use contracts. Admins and managers can edit any single-use contract on the team.

Updating Contracts

Below are two options for updating contract templates you create.

Replace the file used in a contract to retain fields

When your terms, pricing, or other information in a contract changes, you can update the contract in place. Click "Replace Contract File," upload your new PDF, and your existing fields will be kept. Reposition or reconfigure any fields as needed to match the new document layout.

Create a new, different version of a contract by duplicating

If you want a new version of a contract but need to keep the original as-is, duplicate it instead of rebuilding it from scratch. For example, you might want to add or update fields, adjust signer roles, or use an updated PDF while keeping the fields you've already set up.

1. Open the contract from the Contracts page.
2. Click "Copy to New Contract."
3. Make your changes to the fields and roles. To use an updated document, click "Replace Contract File" and upload your new PDF.