Clio Draft: Create Word Document Templates

You can create reusable Word document templates using one of two methods: converting existing documents using AI in Clio Draft or manually building a template from scratch.

The AI Template Builder helps you start drafting faster by speeding up your Clio Draft setup time from hours to minutes. It takes your existing legal documents and instantly turns them into templates ready for automation.

Convert documents to templates with AI in Clio Draft

You can build your template library by converting existing documents from various sources. The AI Template Builder works with:

• Legal documents uploaded directly to Clio Draft
• Legal documents saved in Clio Manage
• Document templates saved in Clio Manage
• Preloaded templates (Standard templates preloaded into new accounts based on practice area)

Convert a document

1. From your Clio Draft Word Templates Library, click Create templates from documents on the upper right, and then click Select document.
2. Select documents and templates from Clio Manage, or Upload documents from your computer.
   • Supported file type: .DOCX only
   • Maximum file size: 5MB per file
   • Maximum number of files: 5
3. If selecting from Clio Manage, choose documents from Matter documents or Document templates, and then click Add files.
4. Under Review uploads, confirm your selection. To remove a document, click the trash icon.
5. Click Convert to templates.

View and edit converted templates

You can view the template you created with AI in Clio Draft in your Word Templates library. 

1. After converting the documents, click View in Word.

   Important: You will need the Clio Draft Microsoft Word add-in to view and edit the template. Learn how to Install the Template Builder Add-in.
2. Use the Clio Draft Microsoft Word add-in to edit your Word template. For detailed instructions, see Clio Draft: Customise Word Templates.
3. Save the template in Microsoft Word. Once the template is up to date, its status will automatically update to 'Ready'.

Create templates manually (start from scratch)

If you need complete control over field creation and placement from the beginning, you can start a template from scratch using the Template Builder add-in.

Set up a template

1. Open the Word document you want to turn into a template.
2. In the Home ribbon, click Clio Draft Template Builder to open the add-in.
3. Sign in to the add-in using your Clio Draft login credentials.
4. Enter a name for the template and then click Continue.
5. Click Start from scratch.

Insert merge fields

Once the template is open in the add-in, you can begin inserting fields to make it smart.

1. In your Word document, click and drag your cursor over the text you want to replace with a field.
2. In the add-in, find the desired field and click the plus (+) icon. Clio Draft will replace the text with the inserted merge field. 
3. You can insert merge fields individually or in bulk. For detailed instructions, see Clio Draft: Manage Cards and Fields in the Template Builder.
4. Repeat this process for all necessary merge fields.
5. In the add-in, click Save template when you are finished.
   • The template will be saved to the Word templates subtab in your Clio Draft Library.