Learn how to review documents on Work Author, including how to add a reviewing team, edit key clauses, and add comments.

Contents

• Introduction
• Submitting a document for review
  • Adding external reviewers
• Starting a review 
• Managing document reviewers
  • Adding a new external reviewer
  • Remove an existing external reviewer
  • Changing the lead reviewer
  • Reviewing roles and permissions
• Making a suggestion
  • Responding to a suggestion 
• Adding a comment
• Completing a review
  • Automatic review completion

Introduction

After you answer all questions in a document with reviewing enabled, you'll be prompted to send it for review. When a document is in review, people from your organisation and external stakeholders can check the document, suggest changes, and agree on clause edits. 

Submitting a document for review

As the document owner, only you can send the document for review. You'll need to choose an internal review team that's already set up in the system.

1. In the submit document window, click the "Select reviewing team" field
2. Start typing to find your team
   
   
3. Click on the appropriate team to select it

Adding external reviewers

External co-authors are automatically added as reviewers. To add additional external reviewers:

1. Click "Add now"
   
   
   
2. Search for an existing external user, or create a new one
   
   
3. Click "Add external user"

You can also add more external reviewers later when you have submitted the document for review. When you’ve added the right reviewing team and any external reviewers, click “Submit for Review”. 

External reviewers will receive an email notification about the document. The internal reviewing team typically receives notification too. If the review is set to autocomplete, your administrator may have turned off internal emails. Check with them if you're unsure.

Starting a review 

To start the review, one reviewer from your internal team must click "Start review" to begin the internal review. An external reviewer must also click "Start review" to begin the external review.

The first person to start the review automatically becomes the Lead Reviewer. The Lead Reviewer is responsible for finalising the review once all suggestions have been addressed. This role can be reassigned at any point during the review process (see Managing document reviewers for details).

Managing document reviewers

You can manage reviewers in the Document Review Access window. To access this:

1. Hover your mouse over the three dots at the top right of your document.
2. Click the Access option. 

Adding a new external reviewer

1. Click "Add now"
2. Search for an existing external user or create a new one
3. Click "Add external user"

Remove an existing external reviewer

1. Find the reviewer you want to remove
2. Click the three dots to the right of their name
   
   
   
3. Select "Remove from review"
   

Changing the lead reviewer

If the new lead reviewer is already participating in the review:

1. Click the three dots next to their name
2. Select "Make lead reviewer"

If the new lead reviewer is part of the team but hasn't started reviewing:

1. Click the three dots next to the current lead reviewer's name
2. Select "Change lead reviewer"
   
   
3. In the "Search reviewing team" field, start typing to find the person
4. Click "Save"

The new lead reviewer will receive an email notification of this change.

Reviewing roles and permissions

Document owners automatically see a read-only view of the document in review, including all suggestions and comments. As an owner, you cannot interact with these review elements unless you're also a member of the reviewing team. In that case, you'll have the same access as other reviewers, allowing you to participate fully in the review process.

Making a suggestion

Reviewers can suggest changes to standard clauses throughout the document. When you hover over an editable clause, it will highlight in yellow to indicate you can modify it. Note that you cannot edit clauses containing answers or clauses that have been locked in the system.

To make a suggestion:

1. Click on a highlighted clause to open the suggestion panel on the right side of your screen
2. Click “Add” in the text editor box. The current clause will appear for you to edit.
   
   
3. Make your suggested changes.
4. Add an optional explanatory note in the "Add a note" field if you want to explain your reasoning
5. Click "Submit" to share your suggestion.

   
   

Your suggestion and any notes will immediately become visible to all reviewers, who will receive a notification about your changes.

Responding to a suggestion 

To review a suggestion, click on the clause containing it. You'll have three options:

• Accept: Approves the suggestion as-is. The clause will turn green and be added to the document.
• Revise: Allows you to modify the suggestion. The clause will be highlighted, and the other party will be notified to review your changes.
• Reject: Declines the suggestion. The clause will turn red, and the original wording will remain in the document.

All actions you take are automatically recorded in the activity log beneath each suggestion.

Adding a comment

To leave a comment without suggesting changes, simply click on any clause and type your comment in the "Add a comment" field below the Activity section in the right panel.

Completing a review

As a Lead Reviewer, you must click "Complete Review" to finalise your team's work:

• You can only complete the review after responding to ALL suggestions
• Once completed, your team cannot make any further suggestions or changes

This process is independent for each team—if one side completes their review first, they'll simply see a message indicating that the other team's review is still pending.

Once both sides have completed their reviews everyone will gain access to a PDF preview of the final document with all approved changes.

Automatic review completion

When autocomplete is enabled, if external reviewers finish their review without suggesting any changes, the internal review process will be automatically started and completed. Your internal team won't need to take any action, allowing for faster document processing.