Help centre / Desk / Packs
Fill in one of your precedents from a matter
Your precedents stay your own Word documents. Mark where the client’s name, the property or a key date goes, and Desk fills them in from the matter whenever someone makes a copy.
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Mark the fields in your Word document
Go to Documents › Precedents
Wherever Desk should fill something in, type the field’s name in double braces, like {{Client name}}. Press Import a Word file and open Fields to type in braces to see every one, grouped by client, matter, fee earner, other party, key dates and your firm.
Press Copy beside a field and paste it into Word, so the spelling is exactly right.
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Import the precedent
In Import a Word file, choose the Word document, pick its Work type and press Import it. It takes the file’s name unless you give it a Title, and sits beside the precedents written in Desk.
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Make a copy on a matter
Go to Matters
Open the matter and press From a precedent at the top, then choose the Precedent. Each field shows what the matter fills it with. Type in anything the matter doesn’t know yet, or change what it suggests, and press Make the document.
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Finish it
The filled-in copy is in the matter’s Documents. Open it in Word to finish it off, or send it for signing like any other document.
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Keep the wording current
Go to Documents › Precedents
When the wording changes, open the menu on the precedent, press Replace the Word file, choose the new version and press Put it in. Copies already made on matters stay as they were.
If something goes wrong
The matter says there are no precedents for this work type yet. Each precedent belongs to a work type. Add one for this matter’s work type under Documents, then Precedents, or change the work type of one you already have.
Your Word precedents aren’t in the list. The Precedents pack is off. Ask your Desk admin to switch it on.
Still stuck? Write to [email protected] and we'll get back to you.