Contracts
Contracts is where you send agreements out for signature and track who's actually signed. Unlike quotes and proposals, a contract isn't about pricing — it's the formal side of a deal.
Requires attention
The panel at the top lists contracts worth a nudge — for example one "sent 16 days ago and not opened yet". Draft reminder writes the reminder email for you and opens the Send dialog; nothing goes out until you press Send. When one contract has been waiting a long time, a banner under the panel offers Send reminder straight away.
The summary cards double as filters
The five cards — Total contracts, Draft, Awaiting signature, Needs review, Signed (30d) — are clickable. Click one to filter the list to exactly that slice; click it again (or Total contracts) to clear the filter. The bar underneath shows how your contracts split between draft, awaiting signature and signed.
Needs review counts contracts where the client has proposed changes you haven't reviewed yet (see below).
The list
Each row shows the contract's name and client, its status, value, when it was last updated, and the next step:
- Draft → Edit & send
Finish the contract and send it out.
- Sent → Send reminder
Re-sends the signature request.
- Sent, with proposed changes → Review changes
Takes you straight to the pending changes.
- Signed → View signed copy
Opens the final signed document — the actual executed copy, not the editor.
A master services agreement shows an MSA tag. Search by title or client, and choose how many rows to show. Contracts that were declined or withdrawn, and ones you've archived, have their own filters below the list.
If a contract has no client attached, the row shows an Attach client pill — pick one from Clients without leaving the list.
Client-proposed changes ("Needs review")
Clients aren't limited to signing or not signing — they can propose edits to the contract's clauses from their page. When they do, the contract shows Review changes instead of the usual reminder. Open it to accept or reject each change before it goes back to the client.
Tabulox AI can help both ways: it can explain in plain words what a client changed, and it can propose your own edits as tracked changes for you to accept or reject.
Creating a contract
Click New contract. A contract is built from a title and a set of clauses rather than prices.
- Title
What the contract is called — it shows on the document itself.
- Clauses
Add clauses from your clause library (Add clause), or add a blank section and write one (Add section). Sections can be reordered, and sub-clauses are numbered for you.
- Client
Optional at first — Attach client picks one now, or do it later from inside the contract.
Start from a template (top right) applies a complete starter structure. Preview shows the document exactly as the client will see it.
How a contract looks
Contracts use the same designs as proposals, in a calmer contract layout: a title page with the parties, date and reference (and a link to the accepted proposal, if there is one), the clauses with automatic numbering, and a signature page that records the signature once it's signed.
A contract uses its own design if you've picked one in Theme, otherwise its proposal's design and colours, otherwise a clean default. The design is fixed when you send it, so a signed contract never changes. Its PDF prints edge to edge with a "Page n of N" footer.
Master services agreements
A contract can sit under a master services agreement (MSA). On a contract's page, Governing MSA links it to the MSA it falls under — handy for statements of work and change orders that don't repeat the main terms. A contract can also be linked to the quote or proposal it came from, or stand on its own (an NDA, for example).
Closing a contract out
Not every contract gets signed. A contract's ⋯ menu has what applies to it right now:
- Delete draft — for a draft that was never sent (the person who made it, or an admin).
- Withdraw — take back a sent contract. The client's link then says it was withdrawn.
- Mark as declined — record that the client said no, with a reason. Clients can also decline from their own page. Declining is noted on the deal, but doesn't mark the deal lost.
- Archive — tidy a declined, withdrawn or expired contract out of the list. Restore brings it back.
A withdrawn or declined contract can no longer be signed, even from an old link.
Building a clause library once pays off every time you create a contract — you're assembling from a menu instead of writing boilerplate from scratch. A contract can also carry a late fee clause: once the client signs, those terms become the client's late fee terms and apply to the invoices you send them (see Invoices).