PaperTrail Adds Native MS Word Editing to Its Contract Tool
South African legal departments heading into year-end contract season have a new reason to keep Microsoft Word open. PaperTrail, the content management platform built by Egis Software, is drawing attention to its Contract Management module, which lets lawyers draft in Word while every version, comment and sign-off remains locked inside a single controlled space. The module relies on the Web Open Platform Interface protocol, or WOPI, to join everyday Office editing with PaperTrail's contract workflow. The release lands at a useful moment: October is when a large share of local businesses begin wrapping up supplier agreements, service contracts and renewals so everything is signed ahead of the December lull.
For most legal and admin teams, the wording of an agreement is seldom the hard part. The real drag comes from everything that surrounds it: pulling a file down to edit, bouncing versions over email, failing to check a document back in, and losing sight of which copy carries the newest comments. PaperTrail's take on contract management software is to strip those steps out altogether, not to pile on more tools that staff have to learn.
Word, without leaving the platform
Inside PaperTrail Contract Management, legal staff keep using the software they already rely on, MS Word included, while it ties seamlessly back into the PaperTrail platform. Comments can be followed and reviewed live in Word, all without stepping outside the PaperTrail Contract Management environment.
None of this would work without the WOPI protocol. Leaning on WOPI, PaperTrail Contract Management delivers a contract workflow that is smoother, safer and more collaborative, freeing teams to focus on legal and commercial matters rather than manual admin. One obvious payoff is that nobody has to check documents in and out by hand. A user simply opens a contract, does the work and carries on, while the platform quietly keeps the record straight.
The benefit is sharpest when the same agreement is needed by several people at once. A legal reviewer, a manager signing off on commercial terms and an administrator readying the file for signature can all draw on the live version, instead of untangling separate copies scattered across desktops and attachments. Fewer copies in circulation also cuts the odds of a stale draft being signed in error, a danger that grows when everyone is racing to close deals before the year ends.
For teams that have run contracts off shared drives and email attachments for years, this reshapes the daily routine. Whatever file is being edited is the file in the system, and its change history travels alongside it.
Initiator, reviewer, signatory
PaperTrail organises contract work around three parts to play: the initiator who kicks off the agreement, the reviewer who vets it and the signatory who signs it off. Agreements can start from ad-hoc or default templates, letting organisations hold standard terms steady across departments while still leaving room for one-off deals.
Working together is not confined to employees either. External counter parties can join the process too, so negotiation plays out inside the same controlled workflow rather than scattered across different inboxes. Paired with WOPI-driven Word editing, a contract can travel from first draft to final text without ever being exported or rebuilt en route.
Signing built into the workflow
After the terms are settled, agreements are legally signed through the built-in PaperTrail Sign, using whichever of the four electronic signature types the organisation favours. PaperTrail Sign caters for Advanced Electronic Signatures, biometric signatures, ordinary electronic signatures and digital signatures. Access can be governed via OTP gateways and role management, supporting documents can be attached for signatories, and every signature is stored automatically alongside a clear audit trail.
Since signing happens in the very platform used for drafting and review, there is no need to upload the signed contract afresh or file it somewhere else. It already sits where the team will go looking for it.
Renewals, access and reporting
Being full contract management lifecycle software, PaperTrail reaches well beyond drafting and signing. Its contract module brings together workflow, collaboration, approval, signing, renewals, addendums, controlled access, and reporting and analytics, every piece kept in a secure repository. Legal and admin teams receive alerts so no key renewal or expiry date slips past them, which proves especially handy at year-end when a flood of agreements rolls over together.
Pricing stays flexible, with models shaped to match an organisation's contract volumes and ways of working. That lets a small legal team and a large procurement function run on one and the same platform under terms that reflect how heavily each one uses it.
Part of a wider document platform
PaperTrail Contract Management is just one module inside a wider electronic content management system that Egis Software has built and supported since 1998. That same platform handles document storage and retrieval, routing and workflow, eForms, group email handling, bulk capture and optical character recognition, alongside purpose-built solutions such as CreditorsHub for accounts payable, PeopleHub for human resources, LeaseHub for property leasing and TravelHub for the travel industry.
PaperTrail can be rolled out on premise or in the cloud, and the hosted route trims upfront IT spending. Egis Software supplies business analysis, implementation, training and first, second and third level support under service level agreements, backed by a help desk running 24/7 cover for critical systems. Custom development and third-party system integration can be arranged on request, and PaperTrail Sign additionally provides an API for tying into back-end systems.
A local option for South African legal teams
For anyone weighing up contract management software in South Africa, PaperTrail presents a home-grown platform with its head office in Johannesburg and further branches in Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth. Among the organisations whose feedback features on the PaperTrail website are Old Mutual, the South African Reserve Bank, CBI-Electric, Fair Cape Dairies and IHS Property Management.
With the last quarter of 2026 now under way, legal and procurement teams gearing up for their year-end contract load can book a demonstration of PaperTrail Contract Management and watch WOPI-based Word editing, the initiator, reviewer and signatory workflow, and built-in signing at work.
To find out more about PaperTrail and its contract management module, visit https://www.papertrail.co.za/.
About PaperTrail
PaperTrail is an electronic content management system produced by Egis Software, the trading name of Mailcomp (Pty) Ltd. Egis Software was established in 1998 by Alon Feldman and Troy Ferraris and operates from 138 Athol Street, Highlands North, Johannesburg. It runs branches in Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and New Zealand, along with strategic partners in Mauritius, Botswana, Ghana and the United Kingdom. Its line-up spans document management, PaperTrail Sign, PaperTrail Contract Management, CreditorsHub, PeopleHub, LeaseHub and TravelHub, and it can run on premise or be hosted in the cloud.
Media Contact
PaperTrail
Email: support@egis-software.com
Phone: +27 11 880 4411
Website: https://www.papertrail.co.za