Creating a Contract in Salesforce is typically automated through CPQ or through an integration that fires when a Quote is signed. The manual create flow still matters for one-off Contracts and for testing the renewal motion after configuration changes.
- Open the Account
Most healthy orgs create Contracts from the Account's Contracts related list rather than the global Contracts tab. Starting from the Account guarantees the AccountId is set correctly.
- Click New Contract
The New button on the Contracts related list opens the create form. If your profile lacks Create on Contract, the button is hidden; legal-ops and contracts-ops permission sets typically grant it.
- Pick a record type if prompted
Many orgs use record types to separate New Business, Renewal, Amendment, and Termination Contracts, each with its own page layout and required approval routing. Pick the one that matches the commercial motion.
- Fill the Status, Contract Start Date, and Contract Term
Status starts as Draft for any in-flight agreement. Contract Start Date is when the commitment begins (often after signature). Contract Term in months determines the End Date through formula calculation.
- Add Contract Line Items if applicable
Open the Contract Line Items related list and add the specific products, quantities, and prices included in the agreement. CPQ orgs skip this step; CPQ writes Subscriptions instead.
- Submit for approval
Trigger the approval process configured for your org. Approvers typically include Legal, Finance, and the relevant Sales VP. Approval comments capture the rationale for any exceptions.
- Activate after approval and signature
Set Status to Activated only after the signed document is in hand. Activated Contracts become read-only on most fields; reverse this only through the Edit Activated Contracts permission.
Required. The customer record the Contract belongs to.
Required. Drives the lifecycle behavior; Activated is the terminal in-force state.
- Contracts in Salesforce are not the legal document. The signed PDF lives in DocuSign or your CLM tool; the Salesforce record is the CRM-side projection. Editing Contract fields in Salesforce does not change the legal agreement.
- Activated Contracts are read-only on most fields. The Edit Activated Contracts permission allows changes but should be limited to a Contracts Ops role; otherwise reps will edit signed agreements casually.
- Auto-renewal does not fire native automation. The platform stores the Renewal Term field but does not create renewal Opportunities or notify owners automatically. Build a renewal Flow explicitly or rely on CPQ.
- Contract is different from Service Contract. The two objects coexist on most Accounts but serve different purposes: Contract for the commercial agreement, Service Contract for the support tier driving Case SLAs.