Everything about working with your contract templates in Settings > Documents & Templates.
Editing your own templates
Mostly yes. Almost all Gigwell templates are Google Docs that you own and can edit directly — change the wording, move things around, add merge variables. The one exception is HTML templates, which aren't editable on your side.
Edit a Google Doc template
Make sure you're signed into the Google account linked to your Gigwell account. Nothing about a template is editable without it.
Go to Settings > Documents & Templates.
Pick the section you need — Contracts, Payments for invoices, or Itineraries.
Open the template. It opens as a Google Doc.
Make your changes and save. Google Docs saves as you type.
Go back to the booking, open the relevant tab, and regenerate the document so it picks up the change.
How to tell which kind you have
If clicking the template opens a Google Doc, it's yours to edit. If it doesn't open in Google Docs, it's an HTML template — those are built differently and we maintain them. Message us from the messenger with the template name and what you'd like changed, and we'll handle it.
Good to know
Duplicate before you customise. Copy a standard template and edit the copy, so the original stays intact as a fallback.
Templates contain invisible white-text variables for signatures, dates and repeating tables. Deleting one breaks the document, so edit around existing content rather than selecting large blocks and retyping.
Template changes never apply retroactively. Any document already generated keeps the old version — delete the stale draft from Manage Documents & Signers on the Contract tab and generate a fresh one.
Templates are agency-wide. Editing one changes it for everyone on your team and for every future booking that uses it.
If you'd rather not work in the Google Doc at all, you don't have to. Send us the template name and the change you want in plain English and we'll make it for you.
Renaming a copied template
Templates in Gigwell are Google Docs. That means the file name is controlled by Google, not by Gigwell — so if the name field won't let you type, it's almost always a Google sign-in issue rather than a permissions problem in Gigwell.
Sign in to the linked Google account
Check which Google account you're currently signed into in your browser.
Make sure it's the Google account linked to your Gigwell account — the one that owns your templates. If you're signed into a personal account, or into several accounts at once, switch to the linked one.
Go to Settings > Documents & Templates and open the template copy.
Rename the document from there. The name you give the Google Doc is the name that appears in your Gigwell template list.
If you're signed into multiple Google accounts, opening the template in a private or incognito window and signing in with just the linked account is the quickest way to rule out an account mix-up.
If what you actually want is a different title on the invoice
The template file name and the title your buyer sees on an invoice are two separate things. If your goal is for the client to see a particular title on their invoice, you don't need to rename the template at all — change the title on the invoice draft before you issue it. That's per-invoice, so you can use one template and still title each invoice however you like.
If that doesn't work
If you're definitely on the linked Google account and the name still won't change, message us from the messenger with the template name and we'll sort it out.
Good to know
Anything you do to a template — renaming, editing, adding variables — needs the linked Google account. It's worth confirming that before troubleshooting anything else about a template.
HTML templates are the exception to all of this. They aren't Google Docs and aren't editable on your side, so renaming one is something we'll need to do for you.
Renaming a template doesn't affect documents already generated from it.
Restoring an edited standard template
Yes. If someone has overwritten one of the standard Gigwell templates — a Deal Card, a standard contract — we can put a fresh copy back for you. There's no reset button on your side, so this one's ours to do.
What to do
Leave the damaged template alone. Don't clear it out and don't try to rebuild it from memory — an emptied Google Doc renders as a blank page, and the original wording is easier for us to restore than to reconstruct.
Start a chat from the messenger.
Tell us the name of the template that was changed, and which document type it is — Deal Card, contract, invoice.
We'll add fresh copies of the originals to your templates.
Once the fresh copies are in place, they'll appear in your template dropdown. If you don't see them straight away, refresh the page.
In the meantime
If you have bookings that need to go out before the template is restored, pick a different template on the booking's Contract tab. Any other contract template in your list will generate normally, and you can switch back once the original is restored.
Good to know
Keep the damaged template until the replacement is confirmed working. Deleting a template affects any drafts or historical documents still bound to it.
Before your team starts customising, it's worth making a copy of a standard template and editing the copy, leaving the original untouched as a fallback. That's the habit that prevents this entirely.
Templates are Google Docs, and Google keeps its own version history. If the edit was recent, you may be able to open the template's version history in Google Docs and restore an earlier version yourself — worth a look before anything else.
Fixing a template after someone edited it
Gigwell templates contain merge variables written in white text so they don't show up on the finished document. Because they're invisible against a white page, they're very easy to delete by accident — and when they go, the document stops working. Signature and date fields disappear, or the document renders blank.
Reveal the hidden variables
Go to Settings > Documents & Templates and open the template.
Select all the text in the Google Doc (Ctrl+A, or Cmd+A on a Mac). The selection highlight makes white text visible.
Look for
${...}variables you couldn't see before — signature and date placeholders in the signature block, and${copyTable}in templates that repeat a table per date or per entry.If they're still there, the hidden variables aren't your problem and something else is going on.
If they're missing, that's the cause.
Restoring what's missing
If a hidden variable has been deleted, message us from the messenger with the template name and we'll restore it. Rebuilding these by hand is fiddly — the variables have to be exactly right and formatted as white text — so it's faster to let us put them back.
If you'd rather not wait, open the template's version history in Google Docs and restore a version from before the edit. Because templates are Google Docs, Google's own version history is available to you.
Good to know
${copyTable}is what makes a table repeat — one block per date on an itinerary, one row per entry. If a multi-date document suddenly renders only one entry, a missing${copyTable}is a likely cause.When you're editing a template, avoid selecting whole blocks and retyping them. Edit around the existing content instead, so the invisible variables stay put.
Before making changes to a working template, duplicate it and edit the copy. If something breaks, the original is still there.
After any template fix, regenerate the document. Existing drafts keep the broken version — delete them from Manage Documents & Signers on the Contract tab first.
Updating a contract after changing its template
Contracts are generated documents — once a contract exists, it's a snapshot. Editing the template afterwards doesn't rewrite contracts that have already been created. To see your change, you regenerate the contract.
How to pull your template change into the contract
Open the booking and go to the Contract tab.
Click Create Contract. In the older interface this button is called Create Drafts.
Open the new draft and confirm your change is there.
You can also force a regeneration by making a trivial change on the booking and clicking Save Booking — any booking save regenerates the draft.
If that doesn't work
The most frequent reason a template edit seems to have no effect is that the contract is built from a different template than the one you edited — often a similarly named copy.
On the booking's Contract tab, read the name of the template currently selected.
Open your template list under Settings > Documents & Templates and read the name of the template you edited.
Compare them word for word, including any "copy of" or version wording at the end.
If they're different, either select the correct template on the Contract tab or reapply your edit to the template the booking is actually using, then regenerate.
If the names match and the change still isn't appearing after regenerating, message us from the messenger and we'll check the template with you.
Good to know
Template edits are never applied retroactively. This is deliberate — an already-issued contract shouldn't silently change under a client who has read it.
If a contract is already out for signature, you'll need to Retract Contract on the Contract tab before you can regenerate and reissue it.
Save the Google Doc before regenerating. An unsaved edit in the doc won't be picked up.
Adding signature fields to a custom template
If you built your own contract template and the generated document comes out with nowhere to sign, the signature block is missing. In Gigwell's templates the signature block is built as a table in the Google Doc, and it needs to be present in your template for the e-signature fields to appear.
Copy the signature block from a standard template
Open one of the standard Gigwell contract templates from Settings > Documents & Templates.
Scroll to the signature block at the end of the document. It's a table containing the signature fields.
Select the whole table — not just the text inside it — and copy it.
Open your custom template and paste the table where you want people to sign.
Save the Google Doc.
Go back to the booking's Contract tab and click Create Contract (older interface: Create Drafts) to regenerate, then check the draft for the signature fields.
An easier route
Rather than building from a blank document, duplicate a template that already has signature fields and rewrite the body around it. The signature block stays intact and you only have to write the parts that are actually yours.
If that doesn't work
If you'd rather not work in the Google Doc, message us from the messenger and we'll add the signature block to your template for you.
Good to know
The block has to be a table. Typing signature variables as loose text won't produce signing fields — the table structure is what positions them.
You don't need a fully bespoke template to get a document that reads like yours. Copying the variables you need out of a standard Gigwell template into your own document and sending it to us for review gets you most of the way, with much less setup.
After any template change, regenerate the contract — existing contracts don't pick up template edits on their own.
Video: Documents & Templates
If you have any questions or need additional help, please reach out to support@gigwell.com or use the chat widget on your screen.