Articles on: Contract Management - Basics

How do I swap out a wrong document on a contract?

You create a contract and only afterwards notice the wrong file is attached — pages scanned twice, an outdated version, simply the wrong PDF. The worry is nearly always the same: does this mean redoing everything, including the fields you carefully verified? It doesn't. In almost every case your data stays exactly where it is.


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


What's in it for you


In ContractHero, fields, tasks and links belong to the contract, not to the individual file. A document is the evidence, not the record. Fixing the wrong file therefore costs you a single upload rather than rebuilding a contract you have already filled in and verified.


On large contracts that matters: nobody wants to re-verify thirty fields because of a scanning error.


How it works


1. Open the contract


Open the contract from Contracts [Verträge] in the left-hand navigation.




2. Go to the Documents tab


In the right-hand column, go to the Documents [Dokumente] tab. It is selected by default when you open a contract. Click All documents [Alle Dokumente] above the preview to see every file attached to this contract.



3. Add the corrected file


Click the plus icon to the right of the list.



4. Pick the file


Drag and drop the file into the upload window, or pick it via the file browser.




5. Confirm with Import


The new file is attached immediately — your fields, tasks and links are untouched.



6. Mark the old file


So colleagues can tell which file is authoritative, we recommend one final step: open the old document, click the three-dot menu next to the file name and choose Rename [Umbenennen]. Mark it as OUTDATED – do not use, for example.


You can also delete the old file via Remove [Entfernen] in the same menu. Be careful: that step is permanent (see "Good to know").


Common questions


Can I overwrite a document directly?


No. There is no replace or overwrite function. The document's three-dot menu offers Rename, Print, Download and Remove — so the route is always "add the new file".


Do I have to verify my fields again afterwards?


No. Verification status belongs to the contract, not the file. You can see it at the top of the contract as a counter, for example 1 / 1 verified. Adding another file does not reset it.


Will the new file update my fields automatically?


No, by design. AI analysis only fills empty fields and never touches values that are already filled in. So if the wrong file already wrote wrong values into your fields, correct those fields manually or via bulk edit.


What if the entire contract record is wrong?


Then delete the contract and create it again. Deleted contracts go to the trash and can be restored there for 30 days by default. The retention period is configurable in your settings.


Good to know


  • Removed documents are gone for good. The trash holds deleted contracts only, not individual documents. When you delete a document, ContractHero explicitly warns that the file is removed permanently. Download it first if you are unsure.
  • Add first, tidy up second. Always add and check the corrected file before removing the old one.
  • AI only reads PDFs. You can store Word, Excel or image files on a contract, but they are not extracted automatically — regardless of whether they are attached as a document or an attachment.
  • You need write access. Read-only permissions allow neither adding nor removing files.
  • Everything is logged. Adding and deleting documents appear with user and timestamp in the Activity tab — useful when an audit asks why a file was swapped.



Updated on: 10/28/2026

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