Configuring Contract Tools
Generally, you configure Contract Tools by creating Registry values in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive with key path Software\Paper Software\Contract Tools. The only exception is Contract Tools’ LoadBehavior Registry value; see Configuring LoadBehavior to learn more.
| To learn about | Go to |
|---|---|
| Changing how Word loads Contract Tools | Configuring LoadBehavior |
| Configuring a Contract Tools activation key | Activating Contract Tools |
| Making Contract Tools connect to a license server | Connecting to Contract Tools License Server |
| Preventing automatic updates | Updating Contract Tools |
| Disabling saving analysis settings with documents that Contract Tools analyzes | Saving Analysis Settings |
| How to modify Registry values | Modifying Registry Values |
| Making Contract Tools turned off by default | Configuring Contract Tools to Be Turned Off When Documents Open |
Configuring LoadBehavior
You can change how Word loads Contract Tools by modifying its LoadBehavior Registry value; see Registry entries for VSTO Add‑ins to learn more. Here is where you can find Contract Tools’ LoadBehavior Registry value:
If you install Contract Tools for all users of a computer (a per-machine installation), the LoadBehavior Registry value is stored in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE hive.
On 64‑bit operating systems with a 64‑bit version of Office, and 32‑bit operating systems with a 32‑bit version of Office, the key path is SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Word\Addins\Paper Software.Contract Tools.
On 64‑bit operating systems with a 32‑bit version of Office, the key path is SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Office\Word\Addins\Paper Software.Contract Tools.
If you install Contract Tools for a single user of a computer (a per-user installation), the LoadBehavior Registry value is stored in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive with key path Software\Microsoft\Office\Word\Addins\Paper Software.Contract Tools.
As an alternative to modifying Contract Tools’ LoadBehavior Registry value, you can configure user preferences so that Contract Tools is turned off by default; see Configuring Contract Tools to Be Turned Off When Documents Open to learn how.
Activating Contract Tools
You can configure an activation key by creating this Registry value:
| Name | Type | Data |
|---|---|---|
| Activation key | REG_SZ | Contract Tools’ activation key |
Note: When you configure an activation key using a Registry value, the activation key is hidden from your users.
Because Contract Tools sends and receives information over the internet to become activated using an activation key, you may need to change Contract Tools’ proxy settings if your users connect to the internet through a proxy. To do this, create this Registry value:
| Name | Type | Data |
|---|---|---|
| Proxy URL | REG_SZ | For example, http://username:password@127.0.0.1:8080/ |
See Configuring Proxies and Firewalls for more information about configuring proxies when using an activation key.
As an alternative to using Registry values, your users can activate Contract Tools by using the controls in the Contract Tools pane. Here are instructions you can offer to your users:
Open a document or create a new document in Word. The Contract Tools pane appears next to your document.
Enter Contract Tools’ activation key in the Contract Tools pane.
Click Proxy Settings, select “Use this proxy”, and then enter the proxy URL.
Click Activate.
Note: What happens when there are no activations available on an activation key depends on whether the Contract Tools pane or a Registry value is used to specify the activation key. If the Contract Tools pane is used, a user can optionally deactivate Contract Tools on all computers. If a Registry value is used, Contract Tools doesn’t offer a way to deactivate on all computers. If you’re using an activation key to administer Contract Tools for numerous users, it’s a good idea to specify the activation key using a Registry value so that your users can’t deactivate Contract Tools on all computers when there are no activations available.
To learn how to find the number of activations available on an activation key, see Monitoring Activations. To learn how to deactivate Contract Tools, see Deactivating Contract Tools.
Connecting to Contract Tools License Server
You can configure Contract Tools to connect to Contract Tools License Server by creating these Registry values:
| Name | Type | Data |
|---|---|---|
| License server IP address | REG_SZ | The address of the computer running Contract Tools License Server |
| License server port | REG_DWORD | Contract Tools License Server’s port |
Note: You can set the data of the “License server IP address” Registry value to a domain name instead of an IP address.
For the “License server port” Registry value:
If you’re administering Contract Tools License Server using your organization’s computing resources, use the port you set when you configured Contract Tools License Server; see Configuring Contract Tools License Server to learn more.
If you’re using a hosted license server, use 443 (communication with a hosted license server uses HTTPS, and port 443 is the standard port for HTTPS communication).
By default, Contract Tools connects to Contract Tools License Server (and starts using a license) when Word loads Contract Tools (see Configuring LoadBehavior to learn how to configure when Word loads Contract Tools). To make Contract Tools connect to the server only when Contract Tools is turned on in a document window, create this Registry value:
| Name | Type | Data |
|---|---|---|
| Connect to license server only when enabled | REG_SZ | True |
See Configuring Contract Tools to Be Turned Off When Documents Open to learn how to configure default user preferences so that Contract Tools is turned off when documents open.
As an alternative to using Registry values, your users can connect Contract Tools to Contract Tools License Server by using the controls in the Contract Tools pane. Here are instructions you can offer to your users:
Open a document or create a new document in Word. The Contract Tools pane appears next to your document.
Choose “Connect to License Server” from the pop‑up menu at the top of the Contract Tools pane.
Enter Contract Tools License Server’s address and port, and then click Connect.
See Disconnecting from Contract Tools License Server to learn about disconnecting Contract Tools from Contract Tools License Server.
Updating Contract Tools
By default, Contract Tools checks for updates when it starts, and then gives users the option to install updates. To disable updating, create this Registry value:
| Name | Type | Data |
|---|---|---|
| Disable updating | REG_SZ | True |
If you disable updating, you should sign up to receive email notifications when updates to Contract Tools are released so that you can deploy the latest version of Contract Tools. Visit https://papersoftware.com/contract-tools-admin to sign up.
Note: It’s not a good idea to forward email notifications of Contract Tools updates to others. If you do this, another recipient may unsubscribe you from email notifications of Contract Tools updates.
Saving Analysis Settings
In Word 2010 and later, Contract Tools can save analysis settings as custom XML data. To disable saving analysis settings, create this Registry value:
| Name | Type | Data |
|---|---|---|
| Disable saving analysis settings | REG_SZ | True |
Modifying Registry Values
You can use a variety of techniques to modify Contract Tools Registry values using Group Policy.
Use the Group Policy administrative template defined by PaperSoftwareContractTools.admx and PaperSoftwareContractTools.adml (available at https://papersoftware.com/support).
Use a script. For example, you can disable automatic updating of Contract Tools with this PowerShell script:
$keyPath='HKCU:\Software\Paper Software\Contract Tools'if(!(Test-Path$keyPath)){New-Item$keyPath-Force}New-ItemProperty$keyPath'Disable updating'-ValueTrue-Forceor this batch script:
setkeyPath=HKCU\Software\Paper Software\Contract Tools reg add"%keyPath%"/v"Disable updating"/d True /fUse the Group Policy Management Console; search the internet for “Group Policy Management Console” to learn more.
Configuring Contract Tools to Be Turned Off When Documents Open
By default, Contract Tools turns on automatically when documents open. If your users work with contracts only occasionally, they may prefer to turn on Contract Tools manually. Whether Contract Tools turns on automatically is a user preference, and you can configure default user preferences by modifying PaperSoftwareContractTools.dll.config in Contract Tools’ installation folder (see Installation Folder to learn more) before Word loads Contract Tools for the first time. For example, when Contract Tools is installed for all users on a 64‑bit operating system, you can configure Contract Tools to be turned off when documents open with this PowerShell script:
$preferenceName = 'EnableAutomatically'
$newDefault = 'False'
$installationFolder = "${Env:ProgramFiles(x86)}\Paper Software\Contract Tools"
$absolutePath = "$installationFolder\PaperSoftwareContractTools.dll.config"
$xml = New-Object Xml.XmlDocument
$xml.Load($absolutePath)
$xml.SelectSingleNode("//setting[@name='$preferenceName']").value = $newDefault
$xml.Save($absolutePath)
To learn more about user preferences, see Contract Tools User Preferences.
By default, Contract Tools connects to Contract Tools License Server (and starts using a license) when Word loads Contract Tools, even if Contract Tools is configured to be turned off when documents open (see Configuring LoadBehavior to learn how to configure when Word loads Contract Tools). You can configure Contract Tools to connect to Contract Tools License Server only when Contract Tools is turned on in a document window; see Connecting to Contract Tools License Server to learn how.
Your users can turn Contract Tools on or off by clicking the On / Off button in the Contract Tools ribbon tab; see The Contract Tools Ribbon Tab to learn more.