Audience: All Users
Overview
So, you know how to upload related documents onto your contract. Over time this becomes a great way of tracking the life-history of the contract.
In some cases you might accumulate a lot of documents within a single contract record.
This article describes the tools available within Contract Eagle to keep documents well organized and prevent them from being cluttered.
Sort Order - Start with the right document order
Sometimes you don't need folders – you just need the documents to appear in a useful order.
For each Contract Type, Power Users can configure Document Sorting under:
Configuration > Contract Types > Documents tab.
Documents can be sorted by:
Newest first – when users usually need the latest contract version or supporting document;
Oldest first – when you want to follow the contract history chronologically;
Document Description – when your organisation follows a consistent document naming convention.
Choosing the right default sorting method can make even a relatively large document list much easier to navigate.
Document Folders - Create a folder structure
When contracts regularly contain many different types of documents, Document Folders can provide another level of organisation.
Folders allow related documents to be grouped together within the contract.
For example, your organisation might use folders such as:
Main Agreement - Signed agreement and other core contractual documents;
Variations, Renewals & Amendments - Contract variations, amendments, extensions, and renewal documentation;
Supporting Documents - Specifications, schedules, certificates, pricing documents, or other supporting material;
Invoices - Invoices, payment records, and other billing-related documents;
Correspondence - Important correspondence that needs to be retained with the contract.
The best folder structure will depend on the type of contracts you manage. Keep it simple – folders should make documents easier to find, rather than create another layer users need to navigate.
Note: Think about the documents users will commonly need six months or several years from now. A folder structure based on document purpose is often easier to maintain than one based on individual users or teams.
Put documents in the right folder as part of the workflow
Document organisation doesn't always need to be a manual clean-up exercise.
Documents can be moved between folders using drag and drop, and Contract Eagle can also use default folders with Task Types and Date Types so documents associated with particular workflows are filed into the appropriate folder.
For example, if a renewal task regularly results in a new document being uploaded, you may want documents from that workflow to be filed into a Renewals folder.
Building document organisation into your normal contract processes helps keep the structure consistent as the contract grows.
Make documents easy to identify
Folders and sorting work best when document descriptions are meaningful.
Instead of descriptions such as:
Document.pdf
Scan001.pdf
Signed.pdf
consider descriptions that tell another user what the document actually is:
Original Agreement
Variation 4/2026 – Pricing Change
Insurance Certificate 2024
Renewal Agreement 2026
A user opening the contract should ideally be able to understand the document history without having to open every file.
Access documents quickly from Contract Search
You don't always need to open a contract and navigate to its Documents tab to find a file.
From the Contract Search screen, you can see the number of documents attached to each contract directly in the search results. Click the Documents icon to quickly view and access the contract’s documents without opening the Contract Record first.
This can be particularly useful when you already know the contract you need and simply want to get to its documentation quickly.
Keep the structure practical
There is no single document structure that works for every organisation or every Contract Type.
For contracts with only a few documents, a clear naming convention and appropriate Document Sorting may be all you need. For document-heavy contracts, adding Document Folders can provide a much clearer structure.
The goal is simple: when someone opens a contract months or years later, they should be able to quickly understand what documents are there, which ones matter, and where to find them.