SmartCon FAQ Index

For SmartCon troubleshooting please see this link
For SmartCon Administration please see this link

New SmartCon has been released and will replace previous versions of SmartCon

What is the new SmartCon?
The new SmartCon is the best of both worlds. We have used the simple and easy approach from SmartCon Online, and added track changes and comments from Word.

I am using SmartCon Online, what do I need to do?
You can finalise the contracts you have started, but all new contracts have to be created in the new SmartCon.

I am using SmartCon in Word, what do I need to do?
By 1 May 2024, you need to import the contracts you want to keep, and then move to the new SmartCon.

When does support for SmartCon in Word stop?
We will support SmartCon in Word until 1 May 2024. By that time, you need to have moved to the new SmartCon.  

What about my contract in SmartCon Online or SmartCon in Word?
You can import the contracts you need, however for company templates, we recommend starting a completely new one in the new SmartCon.
DISCLAIMER: Older documents with fixed line numbers that have 2 columns cannot be exported to the new SmartCon.

Getting started:

1. Get started with SmartCon
2. What is the cost for SmartCon
3. What are the minimum requirements for SmartCon

How to use SmartCon:

4. How to create a contract
5. How to get line numbers in a contract
6. How to insert clauses in a contract
7. How to insert pictures or tables
8. How to strikeout or delete text
9. How to change your tracking display in Word
10. How to reverse deleted text
11. How to take over the revisions in a document
12. How to share a SmartCon contract
13. How to exchange a contract with another SmartCon company
14. How to see the difference between 2 versions of the same contract
15. How to create a company template or company clause
16. How to print a copy of your contract

Send contract as PDF:

17. How to send a contract as a PDF
18. PDF options
19. What is clause reduction

SmartCon add-in:

20. About the SmartCon add-in and how to get it
21. Features of the Add-in 

SmartCon Storage:

Getting started

1. Get started with SmartCon

To start using SmartCon, you must first sign-up with your company details (if your company is not known to us).
Once your company is registered, you will then be able to purchase the SmartCon package that suits your company. This can be done from My Account under SmartCon.
If your company is not registered yet, you can sign-up here.
Watch a video about SmartCon

When you have purchased SmartCon (or setup new users) a "Get started" invitation will be send from Microsoft by email.
Going through the steps in this email will register your login for SmartCon, and after a synchronisation period of up to 30 minutes, you should be ready to create your first contract.

This short video is for all new users of SmartCon (not SmartCon Online).
It contains only the most important features required to create a contract:
https://youtu.be/hCdP0h8OaaE

2. What does SmartCon cost?

The cost for SmartCon and the different pricing options can be found here:
https://www.bimco.org/contracts-and-clauses/create-a-contract/smartcon/smartcon-information-and-available-contracts 
Note: that there are different prices for BIMCO members and non-members 

3. What are the minimum requirements for SmartCon

See the minimum requirements: 
https://www.bimco.org/contracts-and-clauses/create-a-contract/smartcon/smartcon-access-requirements

How to use SmartCon

4. How to create a contract

First login to www.bimco.org, go to My Account and then SmartCon. From there you have three options.

1. Download the Add-in and start your contract directly from Word. More on this under Add-in.
2. Download your contract from the website, under "SmartCon basic management" select "NEW CONTRACT".
3. Access via a browser with SmartCon Online. For more information about SmartCon Online see the SmartCon Online FAQ

Once you have created a new contract you can download it and need to save it locally on your computer.
Note: Don't save the contract in any format except DOCX file. If saved as a DOC or anything file format, the contract will be corrupted and you will need to start again.  

5. How to get line numbers in a contract

We have switched off line numbers, so they don’t confuse anyone. However should you wish to add line numbers in your contract, you can use Word's own feature to add them.
Place your cursor in the clauses section. Then go to “Layout”, select “Line Numbers” and then “Continuous”. You should now have line numbers in your contract.
Note: These are dynamic line numbers.

Update: We have made some of the older forms with fixed line numbers. If you still prefer the fixed line numbers, look for the contract version with "fixed line numbers" after the name.
For SmartCon documents with fixed line numbers, if you don’t want to strikethrough the line numbers during text deletion, you can delete text line by line with line numbers untouched. 

Here is a video about line numbers in SmartCon

6. How to insert clauses in a contract

You can add your own paragraphs and clause anywhere you want in a contract. The easiest way to do it, is to either use enter or return to make a hard return. Or to use SHIFT+ENTER to only drop to a new line. After one of the above paste in your copied text. We recommend doing it with a right click and then choose the option "Keep text Only (T)", but if you are sure that your copied text doesn't have a lot formatting, you can use CTRL + V directly.

7. How to insert pictures or tables

In SmartCon you can insert both pictures and tables. Both are normal Word features that can be found under “Insert”. You can also use the newer "Draw" feature in Word (also known as Ink). But it is presented as a picture, and needs to follow our rules for pictures.

Note: Pictures can only be inline with text, and not overlapping or be in front of text. And the total email with your file when getting the PDF cannot be over 4 MB, if it is then you will need get it from your "Document History" instead. 

8. How to strikeout or delete text

You can strikeout text by selecting the text and press backspace or delete. You can’t delete text that includes a content control (the boxes with green text), instead you need to delete the markers in front of and behind the content control.
If your text seems to be deleted instead of marked as strikeout, it is because you have set your tracking to “Simple Markup”. To change this, go to “Review” and then change to “All Markup” under tracking to see your contract with full track changes.
If your text still doesn't appear with track changes, click "Show Markup" and then "Balloons". From here set the option to "Show All Revisions Inline".

Here is a video on track changes in Word

Note: For SmartCon documents with fixed line number, if you don’t want to strikethrough the line numbers during text deletion, you can delete text line by line with line numbers untouched. 

9. How to change your tracking display in Word

If you want to change the way your tracking is shown. You can do that under the Review option, by selecting the small arrow (change traking options) in the bottom right corner of the “tracking” option.

Then select “Advanced options” and you should be able to change how your inserts and deletions are displayed in Word.
Note: that this is a change within Word on your computer, the Word document might look different for other users, and will look the usual way in the PDFs.

10. How to restore deleted text

Back to index

If you have deleted parts of the original text or another user have added some text, you can restore it back to original text if you have the SmartCon Add-in installed. Mark the text you want to restore and right click it to choose whether to "Reverse selection now" or "Add to reverse list".

• Option 1: Reverse selection now: will reverse your text immediately and re-open the document.
  Here is a video on how to use this option.

• Option 2: Add to reverse list: will add a marker in the list revisions/changes, and you can now go to the next part you want to reverse or reverse what you have in the list.

Clicking on one of your markers will show you what will be changed when you do reverse the changes. Double clicking a marker will remove it from the list and it will no longer be reversed with the rest of your changes.

Once ready to reverse there are 2 ways of doing it, 
1. When working with versions, click the 3 dots next to "Output file", give it a new name (can be same but with ex. v2) choose the location on your computer and press "Reverse selected changes".
You will now get a new version with all your changes in one go.
2. If you prefer only having one document to work in, thick the box "Reverse to current document" and then press "Reverse selected changes".
This close the document while reversing your changes and then open it again once ready. (If you want to use this second option, you will need version 2.1. or newer of the add-in).

If you have done a lot of formatting changes and you want to reverse it back to the original contract.
Then select the "Reverse document changes" option and go to "Settings" and select to "Include Format Revisions". 

11. How to take over the revisions in a document

Open the SmartCon add-in and select the option: "Set document changes author".
Please enter the display name of the author that should be listed as the author of all revisions in the document. Please note that for Word to allow deleting inserted text using backspace or delete, the author name must match the exact display-name of the signed in Office account. This can be reviewed in the top right corner of Word or under file/account/user information.Imf you choose this option and "Change authors". All revisions in the document will show as if you did them.
Note that this option would also make it easier to delete added text as a user can always delete they own text.

You can also use this feature if you have received a document through the "Exchange" option from another SmartCon company. This way the document will now look like you have done the changes and you can use if for other cases. Or in the event that you have been multiple users working on document, and you want to present the Word file in a nicer way to your counterpart. You can then change the author, either to reflect a specific user or reflect the name of your company if you want the revisions neutral.

This video will show how the set document changes author works.

12. How to share a SmartCon contract

With SmartCon we have made it very easy to share a contract with another SmartCon user from another company.

You need to be the Poweruser in a contract security group (more on that further down under "Administrator" and "What is the difference between a Poweruser, a User and a Guest in a CSG").

Login to bimco.org and go to My Account and SmartCon. Under “SmartCon CSG membership management” select the security group and select “ADD GUEST”.

If you enter an email from another user and set an end date (we don’t recommend more than a month, but you can set it to what you want), the system will tell you whether it is SmartCon login email you have entered. Once added, the guest can open and edit the documents of that security group, within a synchronization period of up to 20 min., however the guest will only see the documents you send/share with them.

13. How to exchange a contract with another SmartCon company

If your company are the owner of a contract (the one that created it from the website or add-in). You can transfer the ownership of a contract to another SmartCon company by using our "Exchange" feature. Under the Basic Management select "EXCHANGE", type in the login email of a user from the other company, and upload the contract file.

Once done this user (and only this user), will be able to approve the transfer from the "EXCHANGE" option, by adding the contract to a security group from their company. This copy and any saved as versions in the future will now belong under the new company. Where any previous version before the upload will still belong under the original owner of the contract.

14. How to see the difference between 2 versions of the same contract

When sharing a document with colleagues or other SmartCon companies, you will get more versions of the same document. The compare function will make it easier to see the difference between 2 versions of the contract.

• First open the earliest version of the contract.
• Then select the “Compare to other SmartCon document” option from the Add-in.
• Now click the dots and find your second SmartCon file. 
• Lastly give the compare a name and location.

You should now get a PDF that will only show you the difference between the 2 versions. Note that the compared PDF will not compare to the original document, only the difference between the 2 files.

15. How to create a company template or company clause

Company templates
If you always start by changing the same text in your contract, you can setup a company template. This way all users within the company can start with the same pre-amended contract.
In order to create a company template, first open a new blank version of the contract you want to use. The make all the standard amendments that should be part of the template.

Afterwards login to bimco.org and go to My Account and then SmartCon. From under the SmartCon Basic Management, select Company templates and upload your contract(s).
The contract(s) should afterwards be available from the website or the add-in under the option to create new contract.

Company clauses
If you have your own clauses within your company, that you would like to make available to all users, here is how.
After login go to My Account and then SmartCon. Under SmartCon Basic Management select "Clauses".
Here is a list with all our stand alone clauses that you can also add to a contract. But if you scroll to the bottom, you will find an option to "Add New".
Type/paste in your header and clause text, and press create clause.
Now all users should be able to find it under the clause option on the website and through the SmartCon add-in.

16. How to print a copy of your contract

In the Word format the function to print has been disabled, however to get a contract printed. You can send a contract as a PDF, and the PDF copies can be printed out on paper via your own printer. See how to send a contract as a PDF.

Send contract as PDF

Here is a video on how to send a contract as a PDF

17. How to send a contract as a PDF

When you are ready to send a contract for someone to view outside of the CSG (see under Contract Security Group). You can send a PDF copy. This can be done in places.

1. Through the add-in for Word which can be download from My Account under SmartCon.
2. Through the website, can be done same place as mentioned above.

You can use one of the two following options:

• Working Copy - the free of charge copy to be used for everything else besides the signature copy.
• Final - when you have done the deal and you are ready for the signature. This is the copy without the watermark and the one you will be charged for later.

If you don't receive your PDF in an email within 10 min. please download it from your Document History, either from the add-in or the website under My Account and SmartCon.

Note: If you get the error “The following errors are preventing your document from being finalized: You document has fewer sections,” it could have been caused by accidentally deleting section breaks in the document. Please send this document to smartcon@bimco.org or start a new contract.

18. PDF options

When you create a PDF you will get some options on how to present the PDF.

These are options available in both the working copy and final:

• Placement of revision bars; is the vertical line on the left hand side, that will be displayed for all lines with an amendment.
• Inserted text effect; is how you want to display your added text. The options are underline or bold and text added in the fill in boxes will always appear in bold black text.
• Add your own PDF at the end of the contract; This is simply an option to add your own PDF at the back end of the contract (max file size is 8 MB).
  However if the combined PDF exceeds 4 MB we won't be able to send it via email, and you will need to get it from the "Document History" option. This option can be found in the add-in or through bimco.org under My Account and SmartCon, from the SmartCon Basic Management.

For the Finals we have 2 more options available.

• Tracked changes color; This is an option to get all text in black only. Please note that the inserted text will be underlined or bold, and deleted text will have a line through. But you won’t have the red and blue colors.
• External reference; is where you can add a ship/vessel name or client name or number, so you know what the final relates to when you get your invoices. This option can be set to mandatory by your company administrator. This is done from the SmartCon option at bimco.org, under Admin Management and then Settings.

Note: The invoice breakdown for usage invoices can be found from My Account under Invoices and then click the invoice number. 

19. What is clause reduction

Clause reduction is an option to reduce some of the most standard BIMCO clauses to only include the header of the clause in the PDF. The clauses ticked will only show with the header.

SmartCon Add-in

Here is a video about the SmartCon Add-in

20. About the SmartCon add-in and how to get it

The add-in can be downloaded at www.bimco.org  from My Account, under SmartCon or from the SmartCon access requirements.
After installation, open Word and go to “Add-ins” and select “Reload SmartCon add-in" to open and use of the features of the add-in.

Since the add-in is one of the core features from SmartCon, you will also need to update the add-in occasionally. Just like when you downloaded it, you will also be able to update it to get the latest features. The add-in should have the “Update” available in the top if there is a new version, and you can download it as mentioned above.

Note: That apart from the reverse document changes feature, you don’t need the Add-in to use SmartCon, however the Add-in is what makes SmartCon fast and easy to use, as you can do all the needed directly from within Word. 

21. Features of the Add-in

The following features are available from a SmartCon document (some features like Create new contract, are also available from a blank Word document):

• Create new contract; from this option choose your security group and select the contract to start a completely new contract.
  Note: Needs to be stored locally on your computer and saved as a DOCX file. If saved as anything else the file will be corrupted and you will need to start a new contract.

• SmartCon Storage;
• • Document History; Gives you an overview of the documents produced as a PDF. From here you can download the contract as a Word file or PDF. (Word file requires that the admin of the company haven't disabled the feature).
    • Send contract as PDF; is the option to get a PDF file of you contract send to your email. These PDF files can be viewed by everyone and can be printed out as a paper copy. If you don't receive your PDF in an email within 10 min. please download it from your Document History, either from the add-in or the website under My Account and SmartCon.

    Finals; is the done contract you will charged for.
    Working copies; are for review and feedback and are always free of charge.

• • Reverse document changes; If you have deleted parts of the original text or another user have added some text, you can reverse it back to original text if you have the SmartCon Add-in installed. Mark the text you want to reverse and right click it to choose whether to "Reverse selection now" or "Add to reverse list".
    
    Option 1: Reverse selection now: will reverse your text immediately and re-open the document.
    Here is a video on how to use this option
    
    Option 2: Add to reverse list: will add a marker in the list revisions/changes, and you can now go to the next part you want to reverse or reverse what you have in the list.

    Clicking on one of your markers will show you what will be changed when you do reverse the changes. Double clicking a marker will remove it from the list and it will no longer be reversed with the rest of your changes.

    Once ready to reverse there are 2 ways of doing it, 
    1. When working with versions, click the 3 dots next to "Output file", give it a new name (can be same but with ex. v2) choose the location on your computer and press "Reverse selected changes".
    You will now get a new version with all your changes in one go.
    2. If you prefer only having one document to work in, thick the box "Reverse to current document" and then press "Reverse selected changes".
    This close the document while reversing your changes and then open it again once ready. (If you want to use this second option, you will need version 2.1. or newer of the add-in).
    
    If you have done a lot of formatting changes and you want to reverse it back to the original contract.
    Then select the "Reverse document changes" option and go to "Settings" and select to "Include Format Revisions".

• • Get user text out of a contract; This is not one of the options on the right hand side in the SmartCon add-in, however you still need the add-in for it to work. If you have added some text that you would like to reuse without typing it again. Then select the text and right click it. Below your reverse changes options you should have another option called: "Extract revisions to clipboard". Select this option, and all your added text that you selected is now stored on your clipboard and can be paste in where you want it, and not just in SmartCon.
• Set document changes author; Allows you to take over all revisions in a document, so it show as if you (or whatever you set the name to) did everything.
• Compare to other SmartCon document; Allows you to compare to SmartCon contracts of the same type, and see only the difference between the 2 files.
• • Add a clause; is your BIMCO clause library available within Word. You can also add your own clauses. This is done under your SmartCon basic management option at bimco.org.
  • Embed rider clauses; Allows you to add your own rider clauses if they are in a Word file. These will be added with black text as an additional part to the contract and will be with track changes if you change something. You can later remove or replace the rider clauses and you can accept the changes in your rider clauses.
  • Text Functions; is an option to amend the formatting of the contract.
    1. Text alignment - allows you to align the selected text as the prefered option.
    (Left, Center, Right or Justify)
    2. Text decoration - allows you to make selected user added text italic or strikethrough.
    Note: this is for user text only, and the purpose of the strikethrough is if you want show some user added text as deleted, but should still show in the contract.
    3. Text indent - allows you to increase or descrease the indent of the selected text.
    4. Text size - allows you to increase or descrease the size of the selected text.
    Note: The minimum size is set to 6, and it will increase/decrease by 1 at a time.
    5. Line spacing - allows you to increase or descrease the line spacing of the selected text.
    6. Paste from clipboard - will paste in whatever you have copied to your clipboard. 
    Note: This paste option will keep the text only, and convert all paragraph changes to line changes as it works better in Word and your text will keep the formatting of the original contract.
    
    This video is how to align your text in a contract using the advanced function.
    
    If you have done a lot of formatting changes and you want to reverse it back to the original contract.
    Then select the "Reverse document changes" option and go to "Settings" and select to "Include Format Revisions".         
  • Genuine document check; Allows you to check whether a contract is an authentic SmartCon contract.
  • • Knowledge base; is help to understand some of the clauses in the BIMCO contracts.
    • Contact us; is an easy way of sending an email, as you don’t need to look it up on our website. We will get back to you as soon as possible within our working hours.
    • Upcoming course; lets you know of our different face-to-face courses we have available.
• FAQ; Links directly to this page, where you find answers to most of the questions for SmartCon.
• Diagnostics; Gives you a log file, that you can send to us if you have an issue with the Add-in.  

Storage and Hosted SmartCon

22. SmartCon Storage

This feature will be enabled by request for each company. SmartCon Storage offers a location (in our Azure Cloud storage) for any company to store their SmartCon contracts, so all users can access each other’s contracts.
If you want this feature enabled please send your request in an email to smartcon@bimco.org and we will enable it for your company.

How it works from a NEW contract:
When you create a completely new contract, you will have the option to store locally or in SmartCon storage. If you choose SmartCon storage, you need to give it name and select a storage folder.

How it works from another SmartCon Storage file:
When you want to start a new contract based on one of your saved contracts from SmartCon Storage. Then Select SmartCon Storage from the add-in and click “Browse / Admin”.

From here you will find 2 or 3 options (last option is for admins only).
- My Files is the tap you can see all the contracts that you have a version in your name.
- Browse Files is the tap where you can see all folders and documents from the other users within your company.

In order to reuse a file to start a new one, first find the file.
- If it is one of you own files select the file and press “Save as” and give it a new name.
- If it is another users file, either click the name of the file or double click anywhere on the line for that file. Now choose the option “Save version as new file” and give it a name.

IMPORTANT to note when using SmartCon Storage:
- The user will always make a local copy when editing a SmartCon file through the Storage option. This is needed as it doesn’t work directly in the Cloud. If more users works with the same contract they will save their individual version under a specific contract. The reason for this, is to prevent 2 users from working in the same document, at the same time, and continue to overwrite the file done by the other user.
Therefor, if you are working on the same contract, make sure that you always start from the latest amended version. This will become your version of this contract and have the latest amendments in it. When you then save it to storage and leave it, a colleague can then take your version and make it their own, and it will have your latest changes.

- AUTOSAVE; when you have a document open, you can always see the status if you go to the SmartCon Storage option through the add-in. If the autosave option is not ticked and the colour is orange, you will not save directly to Storage upon saving through Words saving features (CTRL + S and the save icon in the top left corner).
However if you enable “Autosave” the colour will turn green and every time you save through Words save options, it will automatically save to the SmartCon Storage file as well.

This video will explain how to save to SmartCon storage and make use of it.