Choosing the right upload route — creating contracts with mandatory fields cleanly

Choosing the right upload route — creating contracts cleanly


The screenshots in this article show the German interface. The English label is given first, with the German label in square brackets.


ContractHero offers three ways to create a new contract: Create contract [Vertrag erstellen], via upload [via Upload] and via template [via Vorlage]. Which route you take depends on whether your account controls permissions via particular fields, and on whether your own permissions to upload may be restricted.


Your benefit


In accounts with a fine-grained permission structure (e.g. fields such as Location [Standort], Legal entity [Mandant], Cost centre [Kostenstelle] or Business unit [Geschäftsbereich]), the field determines who is allowed to see and edit the contract. If you fill in the field directly when creating the contract, it is immediately visible to you and to the right colleagues — you do not have to maintain or reorganise anything afterwards.


The three upload routes at a glance


At the bottom left, click "+ New contract" [+ Neuer Vertrag]. Three options appear in the dropdown:


Route

When to use it

Create contract [Vertrag erstellen]

When your account has mandatory fields whose values you know. You fill in the master data first and upload the PDF afterwards.

via upload [via Upload]

When you have no permission-relevant mandatory fields and want the AI to read all values from the PDF. The fastest route for importing existing records and standard contracts.

via template [via Vorlage]

When you want to generate a new contract from an existing contract template (standard contracts, NDAs, etc.). See Related articles on contract templates.


How it works: Create contract (with restrictions in the permission concept)


If your account has permission-relevant mandatory fields (typically location, legal entity, cost centre, business unit or a comparable structured field), use this route to avoid an error message.


1. "+ New contract" [+ Neuer Vertrag] → "Create contract" [Vertrag erstellen]


Open "+ New contract" [+ Neuer Vertrag] at the bottom left and select "Create contract" [Vertrag erstellen]. Only this route lets you set the field that controls the permission yourself, before the PDF is uploaded and analysed.





2. Fill in the category and the fields


Select the Category [Kategorie] (e.g. employment contract, NDA, supplier contract).





Fill in the relevant fields for your account.


Note: Which fields are mandatory depends on the configuration in your account's contract field builder [Vertragsfeldbaukasten]. If in doubt, ask your ContractHero admin.


3. Upload the PDF and check it


Drag the PDF into the upload area or select it via "Select file" [Datei auswählen].





The AI contract analysis fills in the remaining fields automatically from the PDF (contract start date, contracting party, amounts, etc. — see Related articles on contract analysis). No information is overwritten by the AI.


Check the AI suggestions (the purple star icon marks the AI values) and verify them with a click.


When do I use "via upload" [via Upload]?


The fast route when:


  • Your account has no permission-relevant mandatory fields.
  • You want to upload one or more PDFs and have the AI recognise all values automatically.
  • You are migrating existing contracts and do not want to set details manually for each contract.


When do I use "via template" [via Vorlage]?


When you want to generate a new contract from a predefined contract template — for example a standard NDA, a typical supplier contract or a recurring lease. ContractHero fills in the placeholders automatically from the values you enter (see Related articles on contract templates).


Typical (mandatory) fields and their permission logic


Depending on the account configuration, common mandatory fields are:


  • Location / Branch [Standort / Niederlassung] — whoever is responsible for a location only sees the contracts for that location.
  • Legal entity / Company [Mandant / Gesellschaft] — in multi-entity setups, this field controls which subsidiary the contract "lives" in.
  • Cost centre / Business unit [Kostenstelle / Geschäftsbereich] — finance teams only see the contracts for their own cost centre.
  • Team — with team-based permission logic, the Team field determines visibility.


If you would like to understand the permission configuration in detail, you will find the background in the article "Permission concepts compared: Standard and APC (incl. Dynamic)" (see Related articles).


Frequently asked questions


Which route is the fastest?
"via upload" [via Upload] — you drag the PDF in and the AI does the rest. But: this is only advisable if your permissions are NOT applied via fields.


Which route is the safest for sensitive contracts?
"Create contract" [Vertrag erstellen] — because you set mandatory fields such as location, legal entity or cost centre directly, and the contract is immediately visible to the right group of people.


What happens if I choose "via upload" [via Upload] and my account has mandatory fields?
You cannot upload the contract; an error message appears.


Can I change the field value later?
Yes. In the contract editing view you can adjust the field at any time — the permission-based visibility updates automatically the next time the page is reloaded.


Are several PDFs accepted at once?
With "via upload" [via Upload] you can drag in several PDFs at the same time — each PDF creates a separate contract. With "Create contract" [Vertrag erstellen] you work on one contract at a time, because the field information may differ.


What is the maximum PDF size?
Currently 256 MB per PDF. For scanned contracts with a high resolution we recommend compressing them beforehand.


How do I know whether my account has mandatory fields?
When creating a contract, you will see the mandatory fields marked with a red star or a note. If in doubt, contact your ContractHero admin.


Which role do I need in order to upload contracts?
You need write permissions for the category in question (or owner status). Anyone who only has read permissions can see the contract but cannot create or edit it.


Good to know


  • Setting the field information straight away saves clean-up work later. If the contract is only assigned after the upload, it may sit "in the wrong area" for a while — which makes audits and searches unreliable.
  • Checking the AI suggestions is still mandatory. Even with "Create contract" [Vertrag erstellen] the AI pre-fills fields — the purple sparkle marks values that have not been verified. A quick visual check prevents reporting errors later on.
  • Migrations during onboarding may call for a different decision. If you are migrating 500 existing contracts, "via upload" [via Upload] plus bulk verification is faster — and you assign the mandatory fields via bulk editing (see Related articles).
  • The mandatory-field configuration is an admin topic. Your ContractHero admin defines which fields are mandatory and which permission logic applies to them, in the field builder and in the role setup.
  • If in doubt: Create contract. If you are not sure whether mandatory fields control your permissions, "Create contract" [Vertrag erstellen] is always the safe route. It slows the upload down by a few seconds, but it avoids permission inconsistencies.



  • How does contract analysis work?
  • How do I add contracts to ContractHero?
  • Field builder – how do I create and manage fields?
  • Contract templates: create standard contracts with one click
  • Update contracts via bulk editing

Updated on: 08/26/2026

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