How to dynamically update CLM Document Generation form dropdowns

If you are looking for a way to dynamically add new values to a CLM Document Generation Form dropdown list for your users to select from, look no further !  Docusign’s Dynamic Attribute Dropdowns feature could be your answer.

Dynamic Attribute Dropdowns are dropdown attribute fields which contain dynamically generated valid values from a specified object (users, documents, and folders) instead of a static list of values.

Example Use Case

A ‘Parties’ folder contains a number of subfolders by Party names with which my company does business. As time goes by, the number of Parties will grow (added automatically through a Workflow step or manually). A Dynamic Attribute Dropdown field references the path to that Parties parent folder and in turn, a Document Generation Form references the Dynamic Attribute Dropdown field. Any new Party entered on the form will be automatically added to the dropdown list so that the next user generating a  contract for that same Party will not need to manually type it in. Even if someone manually created a new folder within the Parties parent folder, it will appear in the dropdown.

How to create and make use of a Dynamic Dropdown Attribute field

• Step 1: Create a Dynamic Dropdown Attribute field that references the path to the Parties folder which contains subfolders by Party names using this syntax:   folder|/rootfolder/parentfolder 
• Step 2: In the Document Generation Form, add a dropdown field using the ‘Link to Docusign CLM attribute field’ option. In the field properties, under Field Value, select the Dynamic Dropdown Attribute field you created.
• Step 3: Add a checkbox that if checked triggers a ‘New Party Name’  text field (using a condition) in case it is not already listed in the dropdown. 

Video: Watch a Walk-Through

Follow along in this quick video to learn how to implement the steps.

Best practices

• You must be a Docusign CLM administrator to create attribute groups and Document Generation forms.
• Elements in the syntax are pipe-delimited with no spaces between elements and the pipe.
• CSV files are read as text files when they are the data source for Dynamic Dropdown attribute groups. If the data contains special characters, such as quotes or commas, they will display in the dropdown.

Additional resources

• For further information about the syntax to use for Dynamic dropdown attribute fields in Docusign CLM, check out this article
• If you’d like a live, step-by-step walk-through of tips like this, you can find upcoming interactive sessions and a library of past recordings in the Docusign University Campus Pass Hub. 

Join the Conversation

How have you or your team used CLM Dynamic dropdown attribute fields ? We’d love to hear from you. Please also feel free to ask any questions in the comments.