A well-marked-up document cuts out a lot of back-and-forth. This guide walks through the two main tools - highlighting and comment bubbles - and shows what good markup looks like in practice.
How to mark up
The annotated example in the centre shows how each type of markup looks in practice. The numbered legend on the right explains what each one means.
Highlight anything conditional in a consistent colour - yellow works well - and attach a Word comment explaining when it applies. "Include if purchase price exceeds £1m" is enough. The builder handles the logic.
Put square brackets around anything that changes between uses: [Buyer Full Legal Name], [Completion Date]. The label inside becomes the question the end user answers.
If a section repeats - each guarantor, each property, each warranty - mark where it starts and ends with a comment noting what drives the repetition.
Put square brackets around any word, name, date, or phrase that changes between uses. The label inside becomes the variable in the questionnaire. Be specific: [Buyer Full Legal Name] is more useful than [Name].
Any content that only appears in certain circumstances - from a single word through to an entire section. Highlight it and add a comment stating the condition plainly: "Include if purchase price exceeds £1m" or "Omit if sole seller".
If a section should repeat for each item in a list - each seller, each property, each warranty - mark where it starts and ends and state what drives the repetition. The block becomes a loop in the automation.
Word comment bubbles are the quickest way to leave instructions that don't attach to specific text - drafting style notes, terminology preferences, formatting decisions, anything the builder needs to know that isn't obvious from the document itself.
Before you send
If the buyer's name is [Buyer Name] in clause 1, use the same label in clause 7. The automation inserts the same answer wherever it sees the same label.
You don't need logic syntax. "Show if the seller is a company" is enough. The builder will translate it into the platform's condition format.
If your document has a definitions section, note which defined terms are variables. The automation can keep the definition and all usages in sync automatically.
A short email or document preamble explaining the template's purpose, its intended users, and any unusual decisions is always helpful alongside the marked-up file.
A partially marked-up document is easier to work with than nothing. Send what you have and we'll pick up the rest on a short call.
Tracked changes inside the document body can obscure what the final text should be. Accept all changes and remove any comments that are not markup instructions before sharing.
Ready to start
Got a document you want to automate? Get in touch whether it's marked up yet or not - a short call is usually enough to get a clear picture of the scope.
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