How can task automations be set up and managed?

What's in it for you

Keeping deadlines in a calendar by hand is error-prone, and a missed termination date costs both money and nerves. With task automations you define the rule once — "on lease contracts, create a task for the facility team 30 days before the termination date" — and ContractHero applies that rule to every matching contract, including all the ones uploaded in future.

Conditions can be narrowed to specific contract fields (department, status, team, or your own fields from the contract field builder), so the right people only receive the tasks that actually concern them.

How it works

1. Open the overview

Go to Settings → Automation („Einstellungen → Automatisierung"). You'll see every existing task automation with its name, status, the number of conditions, and due-date information.

If the section isn't visible, you don't have the necessary permissions — ask an admin on your account.

2. Create a new automation

Click "+ Create task automation" („+ Aufgabenautomatisierung erstellen") in the top right. A page opens with two sections: conditions and task details.

Start by giving the automation a name. This is separate from the name of the task it will create, which makes the list far easier to sort and search. For example: the automation is called "Annual review of customer contracts" while the task it creates is simply "Contract review".

3. Set the conditions

In the upper section, "Set conditions for automation" („Bedingungen für Automatisierung festlegen"), you define which contracts the automation applies to. Any custom field created as a list field is available here.

4. Configure the task details

In the task details section („Aufgabendetails") you specify exactly what task gets created:

• Name — the name of the task that gets created ("Review termination" or "Data protection check", for example). Not to be confused with the automation's own name from step 2.
• Due date — pick a period (say 2 days) before a contract date: start date, end date, termination date, or a date field you created yourself.
• Recurrence (optional) — have the task repeat automatically, annually for instance.
• Reminder (optional) — set a reminder ahead of the due date so there's enough time to review and act (one month before, say).
• Assignees — assign the task to one or more people. Leave it empty and the task appears as unassigned, ready to be picked up from the overview later.

5. Save

Click Save („Speichern") for a new automation, or Update („Aktualisieren") for an existing one. The automation appears in the overview and applies to matching contracts from that point on, as they're uploaded.

6. Pause an automation instead of deleting it

Every automation can be set to active or inactive. An inactive automation keeps all of its conditions and task details but stops creating tasks.

That is the right move when you don't need an automation for a while — during a large clean-up, say, or while a contract category is being reworked. You don't have to delete it and rebuild it later.

7. Duplicate an existing automation

If you need something close to an automation you already have, don't start from scratch. Every automation in the overview offers a Duplicate action („Duplizieren"). Clicking it creates a copy with the same conditions and task details — you adjust only what differs (a different contract category, a different assignee) and save the new version. That saves clicking the whole base structure together again for every setup.

Common questions

Are tasks also created for contracts already uploaded?
Only if you switch on "Apply this automation to existing contracts?" („Diese Automatisierung auf bestehende Verträge anwenden?") when you create or edit the automation. Without it, the automation only covers contracts uploaded after it was created.

What is the difference between the automation's name and the task's name?
The automation name is what you see in your overview under Settings → Automation, and it exists to help you sort and find things. The task name is what your colleagues see later in the task list on the contract.

The two can differ, and often should. The automation can describe the organisational purpose ("Annual review of customer contracts") while the task itself stays short and clear ("Contract review").

Why does my existing automation have the same name as its task?
The automation name used to be tied to the task name. Existing automations therefore took their previous task name as the automation name. You can rename the automation at any time without changing anything about the task it creates.

Can I switch an automation off temporarily?
Yes. Set it to inactive. It is kept in full and stops creating new tasks until you set it back to active. Tasks it already created are untouched.

What happens if a contract doesn't have the date I selected?
If a contract has no termination date, for example, a task is still created for it — but flagged to show the date is missing.

Can I change the conditions later?
Yes. Click the automation in the overview, adjust the conditions and click Update. Tasks already created stay as they are; the change only affects new contracts.

How many conditions can I combine?
There's no fixed limit. All conditions are combined with AND logic, so the more you add, the narrower the filter gets. Check that enough contracts still meet all of them.

What exactly does "Duplicate" copy — does it carry the history over?
Duplicate copies the configuration (conditions plus task details), not the tasks already generated. The new automation starts when you save it and creates tasks for matching contracts uploaded from then on. To include existing contracts as well, switch on "Apply this automation to existing contracts?" when saving.

Are there automations for contract data rather than tasks?
Yes. Under Settings → Automations → Data there are data automations, which set or clear contract fields automatically instead of creating tasks. They are a paid add-on — talk to your Customer Success Manager if that sounds useful.

Good to know

• The available condition fields come from your contract field builder. Create a new list field there and it becomes available as an automation condition automatically.
• Automations can only be created and managed by admins, or by people explicitly granted access to the automation area.
• Tasks created by an automation show up on the dashboard and in the task overview of everyone with access to the contract in question.
• Pausing beats deleting almost every time. Deleting an automation leaves the tasks it already created in place, but the configuration is gone and has to be rebuilt later. If you only need a break, set it to inactive.
• Descriptive automation names pay off. Once you have more than a handful, the list is only as useful as its names. Work the category or the occasion into the name instead of calling everything "Review".
• Duplicating saves setup time. For similar automations — "review termination 30 days before" across several contract categories — clone an existing one and change only the conditions, instead of setting every field again for each new rule.

Related articles

• What tools are available for task management? — manual tasks per contract
• Calendar view: All deadlines and tasks at a glance — tasks and deadlines visualised

Updated on: 10/30/2026