Automation Setup

Lextree does three things on its own once you configure them: it fills in field values from data you’ve already entered, it records certain timeline states without anyone opening the record, and it offers to create the right event or workflow, or creates it for you, the moment a record calls for one. All three are configured from Settings, and all three follow the same rule as everything else in Lextree: automation adds to what your team does. It never blocks a save, and it creates nothing on its own unless you choose that for a trigger.

Deriving Field Values Automatically

A derived field computes its own value from other data instead of waiting for someone to type it in — a date offset from another date, a total or earliest/latest value across related records, or a value carried over from a parent record. Configure the source once, and Lextree keeps the derived field current every time that source changes.

Setting Up a Derivation

Open the field in Field Settings and use its auto-calculate section, which appears once the record type has related records to calculate from. Point it at the source — another date on the record, or a value from those related records. Only custom fields can be derived; system fields keep their built-in behavior. Once configured, the field shows a View [source] › link on the record page, so anyone looking at the value can jump straight to the record or list it’s derived from.

Where Derivations Can Break

A derived field is only as good as its source. If a rollup looks wrong, don’t edit the derived field directly — find and correct the record it pulls from, and the derived field follows.

Recording Timeline States Automatically

Some timeline states record themselves — an expiration date passes and Expired appears, with no one watching. You don’t write these rules field by field: in Timeline Settings, check Auto-generate timeline entries on an event, choose where its date comes from — a related record or the parent record — and add conditions so it only fires when it should. The editor previews the rule as a plain-language sentence before you save it, and the option only appears once a matching date field actually exists to drive it.

If the source turns out to be wrong, correct it there — or edit the timeline entry directly, the same as you would a manual one. For the difference between these derived entries and the ones your team adds by hand, see timeline entries.

Configuring Event Suggestion Triggers

Event templates can do more than pre-fill a form: attach a suggestion trigger, and Lextree offers the event automatically the moment a matching record shows up — a set number of days before a date field, or whenever a record is created or changed. Suggestion triggers on event templates are available on every plan. For the template fields themselves, see the Event Templates page.

Trigger Types and Timing

Choose when the suggestion should fire: when a record of the template’s type is created, when a chosen field changes or takes on a specific value, a set number of days before or after a date field, or on a recurring schedule. One rule applies regardless of trigger type: a template with reminder timings but no recipients isn’t offered at all — a reminder with nobody to notify has nothing to do.

Guard Conditions and Audience

Narrow which records qualify by adding conditions to the trigger — for example, only suggest a renewal event when a contract’s category matches a particular value. When a record matches, the suggestion arrives right after a save or in the notification bell. Imports and bulk updates never produce suggestions or automatic actions; imported records still qualify one at a time as their dates approach.

Suggest or Create Automatically

Each trigger has an action. Suggest this event asks a user first. Create this event automatically creates the event with no one in the loop, built from the template’s defaults. An automatic event needs an event date on the template, and recipients if the template has reminders. It isn’t offered for the record updated trigger, and the first time you switch a trigger to automatic, Lextree asks you to confirm. See Event Templates for the details.

A template that can’t act, for example because every default participant is deactivated, keeps being retried. Nothing in the app lists these failures, so if an automatic event you expected didn’t appear, check the template’s participants and recipients.

Configuring Workflow Suggestion Triggers

Suggestion triggers on workflow templates are available on Business and Enterprise plans. Workflows built from a template use the same trigger types as event templates — on creation, on a field condition, around a date, or on a schedule — so matching records propose the workflow the same way event suggestions do: for example, suggesting a contract-review workflow whenever a new vendor contract is created.

Set the trigger while editing the template in Settings → Workflow Templates. As with event templates, conditions narrow which records qualify. Each trigger either suggests the workflow, in which case nothing launches until a user sets it up and launches it, or launches it automatically. Launch this workflow automatically needs at least one default participant on the template, because an automatic launch has no launcher to join them, and it isn’t offered for record updated. The first switch to automatic asks you to confirm. An automatic launch is attributed to System and notifies the participants as any launch does.

For the suggestion panel and notification experience your team sees when one of these triggers fires, see what your team sees.