Universal variables are placeholders that fill themselves in per booking. Write a document once, and every proposal gets the right names, dates, and venue without you retyping them.

## Using them

In the document editor, open the **Universal Variables** palette and insert the tag you want. It's replaced with the real value when the client opens the document.

## The tags

They're grouped into four categories.

**Event**

- Event Name
- Event Occasion
- Event Start Date & Time
- Event End Date & Time
- Event Location
- Event Duration
- Event Proposal ID
- Event Proposal Requisites
- Event Dashboard Link

**Me**

- My First Name
- My Last Name
- My Profile Display Name
- My Default Requisites

**Client**

- Client First Name
- Client Last Name

**System**

- Current Date
- Platform Legal Name
- Platform Support Email
- Platform Website

## Why bother

Two reasons.

**You stop making mistakes.** The most common error in a hand-edited contract is the previous client's name left in one paragraph. It's embarrassing, and it makes the document look like a form rather than an agreement.

**You stop editing documents.** Set a template up properly once and you attach it to every proposal without touching it again.

## Where they earn their keep

A cancellation policy referring to *Event Start Date & Time* rather than a typed date is correct on every booking, forever. A venue access document using *Event Location* always names the right venue.

## Checking your work

Use the template preview before sending, and read the first real one the client receives. A tag that didn't get inserted properly shows as literal text, which is obvious once you look and invisible if you don't.

## Your own contracts

Merge tags work in documents you import or write from scratch, not just our templates. If you're bringing your own contract across, replacing the fill-in-the-blank fields with tags is the single most useful thing you can do to it. See [Uploading Your Own Document](/hc/djs/articles/1786139747-uploading-your-own-document).