When a quote is ready to become a real, signable agreement, Eano gives you a full contract editor — and then lets your client sign it without ever leaving the platform. No exporting to a separate signing tool, no chasing PDFs through email, no copy-pasting the same boilerplate into every new job. You write the contract once, drop in fields that fill themselves with the right project details, and send it off to sign.
This article walks through the whole path: opening the editor, inserting dynamic fields so your contracts fill themselves in, saving a default you can reuse, keeping that default up to date from Resources, reviewing before you send, and signing right inside Eano.
Why This Matters
Two things slow contractors down at signing time. The first is retyping — the same terms, the same payment language, the same company details, manually pasted into every contract, with the client’s name and project address swapped in by hand (and occasionally wrong). The second is the back-and-forth of an outside signing tool: send to one service, wait, download, file it somewhere. Eano collapses both. Dynamic fields handle the retyping and the swap-ins automatically, and in-app signing keeps the whole thing — draft to signature to filed contract — in one place where everyone can find it.
Opening the Contract Editor
Open an opportunity in Eano Pro.
Look in the top-right corner — the Preview and Finalize Quote buttons sit there on every tab.
Click Finalize Quote, clear any pre-send items the quick check flags, then click Preview and Send Quote.
Scroll down to the Contract section at the bottom and click Expand the contract details.
Click Edit Contract.
That switches the contract into the editor, with the formatting toolbar across the top and your save buttons along the bottom. What you see here is what your client will see. The editor, the client’s view, and the final PDF all render consistently, so there are no surprises between drafting and delivery.
If Edit Contract opens your client’s details instead of the editor, your first client signer is missing a phone number or an email. Fill in both, save, and click Edit Contract again.
Just want to update your standard wording, without opening a quote at all? Go to Resources → Contract Templates instead. There’s more on that below.
Inserting Dynamic Fields
Dynamic fields are the heart of a reusable contract. Instead of typing “123 Main Street” or your client’s name into the body, you drop in a placeholder, and Eano fills it with the real value for that project. Write the contract once with placeholders, and every future contract built from it fills itself in.
To insert one while editing:
Place your cursor where the value should appear.
Type @ to open the variable list, or click Insert Variable in the editor toolbar (both open the same menu).
Pick the field you want.
The values you can drop in include:
Client details — the client’s name and email, and the signer text for multi-party contracts.
Project details — the project address, city, and state.
Your business details — your company name, license, and email.
Pricing — the total contract price.
Dates — the day, month, and year, in a range of formats.
Insurance — your insurance company’s name and phone, when you’ve got them on file.
Each of these fills automatically from the project or opportunity, so the contract is always consistent with what’s in Eano — no mismatched names or stale addresses.
Saving a Default Contract to Reuse
Once you’ve shaped a contract the way you like it, with your terms, your language, and your dynamic fields in all the right places, you don’t have to rebuild it next time. The bar along the bottom of the editor gives you a few ways to finish up:
Save keeps your changes on this quote only.
Save as Default keeps them on this quote and makes this version your default contract, so every new quote starts from it with the dynamic fields ready to fill in. It’s a team-wide change, which is why hovering over it shows “Save and apply for your whole team.”
Reset throws out this quote’s custom wording and brings back your current default.
Cancel leaves the editor without saving anything.
Set it up thoughtfully once, and signing becomes mostly review-and-send from there on.
Editing Your Default Contract from Resources
Your default contract also has a home of its own, so you can tighten up a clause or your payment terms whenever you notice it, not only when you’re mid-quote.
In the left navigation, go to Resources → Contract Templates.
Click Default Contract. Each contract shows when it was last updated.
Edit the wording right in the page. The same editor tools are here: type @ or click Insert Variable for dynamic fields, and Insert Signature for signature and initial boxes if your account has them.
Click Save Changes. Cancel or the All contract templates link takes you back without saving, and Eano checks with you first if you have unsaved changes.
This is the very same contract that Save as Default writes to. Think of them as two doors into the same room: change it through either one, and the other sees the update.
A few things to know:
New quotes pick it up right away. Any quote whose contract you haven’t saved changes to shows your updated wording the next time you open it.
Quotes you’ve already customized keep their own version. If you clicked Save on a quote’s contract, that quote holds on to its wording. To bring in your updated default, open its contract, click Edit Contract, and then click Reset.
Signed contracts never change. Updating your default only affects contracts that haven’t been signed yet.
There’s one contract, not a library. There’s no button for adding a new template. Most accounts have exactly one, the Default Contract. Multi-Team accounts also get one for each department, named after it (like “Montana’s Default Contract”), and jobs assigned to that department start from it.
Not everyone sees it. Owners, Admins, and Superusers can open Contract Templates. If it’s missing from your Resources menu, ask an Owner or Admin on your team.
Using Your Own Contract Language
You are not stuck with Eano’s wording. The contract editor is a full editor, so the most common approach is the simplest one: select the default language, delete it, and paste your own contract in from Word, Google Docs, or wherever you keep it. Then drop dynamic fields into your text with @ so the client name, address, and total fill themselves in on every future job. Save as Default, and your contract becomes the one Eano reaches for from then on.
The one thing to know up front: there’s no way to upload a contract file and have Eano send that PDF for signature. In-app signing works on the contract as it exists in the editor, so your language has to live there as text. In practice that’s a one-time copy-paste, and you get something better than a static PDF at the end of it — a contract that fills in its own details.
If your agreement genuinely can’t move into the editor — a document your attorney controls, or something a client’s own counsel drafted — you can still sign it the traditional way outside Eano and keep the job running here. Store the signed PDF in the project’s All Files so it lives with everything else, and see Starting a Project with an Offline Contract for how to bring that job in with its payment schedule intact.
Placing Signature and Initial Boxes Anywhere in Your Contract
By default, every contract ends with a signature section: a box for each client signer and one for you. That covers most jobs. But plenty of contracts need more than a signature at the bottom: initials next to the cancellation notice, initials beside a change-order clause, or a signature right under a warranty waiver. Think of it as the sticky “sign here” flags a closing attorney puts on a stack of paperwork, except you only place them once.
Custom signature and initial placement is an upgrade beyond the Pro plan. If you don’t see Insert Signature in your contract editor toolbar, reach out to us and we’ll help you get it turned on.
To place a box:
Open your contract, either from Finalize Quote → Preview and Send Quote on an opportunity or from Resources → Contract Templates.
Click where the box should go. Pressing Enter first to start a fresh line usually looks cleanest.
Click Insert Signature in the editor toolbar.
Choose who signs and what kind of box it is. Under Contractor, you’ll see Contractor’s Signature and Contractor’s Initial. Each client signer gets their own pair too, a Signature and an Initial. On a quote, those are labeled with your signers’ names. In a template, where there’s no client yet, they read Owner and Owner 2, and each one fills in with the right person when you use the template on a job.
Save your work. In a template, click Save Changes. On a quote, click Save as Default if you want the boxes on every future contract.
Once a box is in place:
Two boxes on the same line sit side by side, which makes a matching “Owner / Contractor” pair of initials easy.
Click a box to select it, then drag its bottom-right corner to make it wider or narrower.
Press Backspace while a box is selected to remove it.
When the contract goes out, each box turns into a real signing field for the person it belongs to. Your client is asked to sign or initial their boxes, and you’re asked to fill in yours, whichever way the signing order runs. The standard signature section at the end of the contract stays put, so your custom boxes add to it instead of replacing it.
Reviewing Before You Sign
Before sending the contract out for signature, give it a once-over:
Read through the formatting and the terms.
Confirm the dynamic fields filled in correctly — the right client, the right address, the right total.
Make sure it’s genuinely ready to be signed.
Because the editor, the client view, and the PDF stay consistent, what you approve here is exactly what your client receives.
Signing Inside Eano
When the contract’s ready, you sign and send right from Eano — your client signs in their portal, no separate signing service required.
First, decide the signing order — who signs first, you or the client. This changes how the send works:
Client signs first. You send it over, your client signs, and it comes back to you to countersign. The send button reads Send Final Quote to Client.
You sign first (a pre-signed contract). You sign up front, then it goes to the client for their signature. If you’re the signer, the button reads Sign & Send to Client; the signing page opens right inside Eano so you can sign on the spot, no switching tools or digging through email. If someone else on your side is the designated signer, it goes to them instead (Send Final Quote to Signer Email).
Once everyone has signed:
The completed contract is saved to the project.
All parties can access it from that same place — no hunting through inboxes for the final copy.
A Few Things Worth Knowing
What you see is what your client gets. The editor, the client’s view, and the PDF all render the same, so reviewing in the editor is reviewing the real thing.
Dynamic fields beat manual typing — every time. A field like the project address or client name pulls straight from the opportunity, so it can’t drift out of sync the way a hand-typed value can. Lean on them.
Your default is a starting point, not a cage. Saving a default speeds up every future contract, but you can still edit any individual contract freely before sending, and reset to your default whenever you want a clean slate.
Signing order is yours to choose per contract. Some teams always pre-sign; others always let the client go first. Set it to match how you work.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I add a field that fills in automatically? While editing the contract, put your cursor where you want the value, then type @ or click Insert Variable and choose the field — client name, project address, total price, date, and so on. It fills from the project automatically.
Can I reuse the same contract for every job? Yes. Build it once with dynamic fields, then click Save as Default. New contracts start from that version with the fields ready to fill in for each new project.
Can I keep more than one contract template? Your account has one contract, the Default Contract, which you shape with Save as Default or under Resources → Contract Templates and then tailor per job as needed. Multi-Team accounts get a separate default for each department, so each team can run its own agreement. There’s no way to keep a library of different contracts side by side (say, one for remodels and another for new builds). If that would make a real difference for your business, let us know.
Where do I edit my standard contract without opening a quote? Go to Resources → Contract Templates, click Default Contract, make your changes, and click Save Changes. It’s the same contract that Save as Default updates.
I updated my default contract, but a quote still shows the old wording. Why? That quote has its own saved version, from an earlier click on Save. Open its contract, click Edit Contract, then click Reset to bring in your current default.
Can I have my client initial specific clauses? Yes, if your account has custom signature placement. Put your cursor next to the clause, click Insert Signature, and choose that signer’s Initial. You can add as many boxes as the contract needs, for you and for each client signer. It’s an upgrade beyond the Pro plan, so if you don’t see the button, reach out and we’ll get you set up.
Does my client need a separate app or account to sign? No. Signing happens inside Eano — your client signs in their portal, and you can sign right in the app too. No external signing service to set up.
Who signs first? That’s up to you, set by the signing order. Either the client signs first and you countersign, or you pre-sign and send it to the client. Pick whichever fits the job.
Where does the signed contract go? It’s saved to the project once everyone has signed, and all parties can access it from there — no emailing copies around.
I’m not ready for a binding contract yet — can I get a soft approval first? Yes. On the Pro plan and above, you can send a non-binding initial proposal for your client to approve before you send the signable contract. See Sending an Initial Proposal Before the Final Contract.
Can I upload my own contract as a PDF or Word file and send that for signing? No. In-app signing works on the contract in the editor, so your language needs to be in there as text. Paste it in from your own document, add dynamic fields with @, and click Save as Default — after that first paste, it’s reusable on every job. If the document truly has to stay as-is, sign it offline and store the signed copy in the project’s All Files.
How do I find contracts that are waiting on my signature? Your dashboard keeps a running Contracts to Sign list of every contract where you’re the next signer, with a Sign Now button on each one, and a red badge on Dashboard in the left navigation while any are waiting. See Contracts Waiting for Your Signature.