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What a Playbook Is

A Playbook is a reusable, ready-to-go setup for a deal type: the key dates, tasks, automations, and required documents a transaction of that type needs, applied in a single click. Set it up once, reuse it on every deal.

A Playbook is what DocJacket used to call a checklist. It's the same feature under a new name, not a second object that contains a checklist.

What's in a Playbook​

A Playbook covers everything a deal of that type needs:

  • Key dates and tasks — the deadlines and work for that deal type, with due-date offsets and assignments.
  • Required documents — which documents are required, including conditional "required if…" rules.
  • Automations — the rules and reminders that run for that deal type, by email, text message (SMS), or both. You author them in the Playbook builder: each task automation has a Deliver by choice, and every key date has its own Reminders panel (see below).

So instead of hand-adding tasks, key dates, and a document list to every new deal, the Playbook stamps all of it on at once.

Where to find them​

Open Templates → Playbooks — the card at the top of the page. The reusable pieces a Playbook draws on — Required Documents Lists, the Key Date Library, and Smart Fields — are in the same Templates area under Library.

Playbooks were previously called Checklists

If you're following older notes, Templates → Playbooks is where your checklists live. Your existing ones are all under the My Playbooks tab. Full guide: Playbooks.

Creating a Playbook​

  1. Go to Templates → Playbooks and click New Playbook.
  2. Add the key dates and tasks for the deal type, and attach the Required Documents List that applies.
  3. Save it — it's now reusable across deals.

See Playbooks for the full builder walkthrough.

Applying a Playbook to a deal​

Apply a Playbook to a transaction and DocJacket sets up the whole deal at once — its tasks, key dates, and required documents — in a single click. Two conveniences:

  • Auto-setup: a new deal can be set up automatically from a matching Playbook.
  • Save what you built: when you set a deal up by hand, DocJacket offers to save that work as a Playbook for next time — so the manual setup becomes one-click from then on. The reminders you configured on key dates and tasks are captured too, text messages included, and re-created on every deal you apply the Playbook to.

Automated texts are set up in the builder, the same way as emails. On a task, open its automation and use Deliver by to choose Email, SMS, or Email + SMS — an automated SMS on a task works just like an automated email. On a key date, open the Reminders panel and click Add reminder: choose when it goes out (Days before the key date — add one or several, e.g. 7 and 3 — On the key date, or When it's marked complete), who gets it (Recipients by role, plus any direct addresses under Also email), the Email template, Deliver by, and whether it should Require review before sending. Each reminder shows Waits for review or Sends automatically, and you can edit or remove it in place; removing one doesn't touch deals you've already created. If SMS isn't on your plan yet, or you haven't set up a business number, the picker says so (SMS isn't on your plan / No SMS number yet) and the save tells you why — email reminders are never affected. The text itself uses the reminder wording under Settings › SMS › Message wording; it is not a template you write per task the way an email is.

You can still build a text reminder on a live deal instead (open the task, expand My Reminders, and use Remind someone…; key dates have the same composer in their drawer) and then click Save as Template on the deal's Key Dates tab — the saved Playbook keeps those reminders, text messages included.

Text messages are shown before they're scheduled. If a Playbook includes SMS reminders, the apply confirmation lists every text it's about to set up — who it goes to and how many days before its date — and you can untick any of them. Unticking a text keeps its key date or task; it only skips the message. If your organization can't send SMS yet (no texting plan or no business number), DocJacket sets up everything else and skips the texts.

Not the same as AI "playbooks"​

If you use DocJacket's AI Access features, you may see the AI slash commands (e.g. /docjacket:morning-briefing) referred to as "playbooks." Those are a separate, developer/power-user thing — pre-written AI command recipes. Playbooks on this page are the reusable deal setups under Templates, and are what most people mean by "playbooks" in DocJacket.