What a Playbook Is
A Playbook is a reusable, ready-to-go setup for a deal type — think of it as a smart digital folder that bundles everything a transaction of that type needs into one process you apply in a single click. Set it up once, reuse it on every deal.
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, including text-message reminders on key dates and tasks.
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.
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
- Go to Templates → Playbooks and click New Playbook.
- Add the key dates and tasks for the deal type, and attach the Required Documents List that applies.
- 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.
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.