Configuring settings with Group Policy (Draftable Legal)

This article is for system administrators who are interested in using Group Policy to deploy & configure Draftable Legal across an organization as part of an enterprise deployment.

Video Resource: For a comprehensive understanding of Draftable group policy, we offer our specially crafted explainer video, accessible via this link.

What is Group Policy?

Group Policy is a feature in Microsoft Windows that provides centralized management and configuration of operating systems, applications, and users’ settings in an Active Directory environment. This is particularly useful in enterprise settings, where maintaining uniform configurations across multiple machines is critical.

Prefer working with the registry directly? If you would rather configure Draftable Legal by editing the Windows Registry instead of using Group Policy, see our Draftable Legal registry configurations article. It covers all available registry keys, values, and paths in detail.

Obtaining the administrative templates

Group Policy is supported by Draftable irrespective of installation mechanism. The only difference between installation mechanism is where the administrative templates are installed to (and may need to be copied from into the administrative store). The administrative templates are found in the GroupPolicy folder under the product installation path.

For the Default MSI Installer the path will also contain a version number and the latest administrative templates will be in the folder with the latest version. Example path for Default Installer:

%LocalAppData%\DraftableDesktop\app-2.4.5500\GroupPolicy

For Machine-Wide MSI installations, the location of the Group Policy templates will typically default to:

C:\Program Files\Draftable Desktop

An easy way of determining the location of the Group Policy folder location is to right click the Draftable Legal application shortcut on the desktop, open properties and select ‘open file location’.”

Alternatively, you can always access the latest Group Policy templates from our knowledgebase article here.

Installing the administrative templates

To install the templates, copy all files/folders in the GroupPolicy folder to the following location on the system(s) from which Group Policy will be managed:

C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions

You could perform the following alternate methods of installing administrative templates, by either:

• If your organization maintains a Central Store, copy the administrative templates to the Central Store’s network path.
• Import custom and third party partner ADMX templates using Microsoft Intune.

You will also need to copy the .adml files from the GroupPolicy folder in Draftable Desktop and paste these into the en-US folder within the PolicyDefinitions folder in C Drive:

C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions\en-US

Editing the policies in the Group Policy editor

Once the administrative templates are installed, the Draftable Pro policies can be found in Group Policy editor under:

• Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Draftable
• User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Draftable

Some settings may only be listed under one of the two scopes if they’re not supported on the other.

Policy settings

Version compatibility: Each policy listed below includes the version it was first introduced in. Use the ADMX/ADML templates that match your installed version of Draftable Legal. Policies marked Pre-25.1.0 have been available since before version 25.1.0 and are supported in all currently documented versions. For a full history of changes between versions, see the Group Policy Changelog.

Breaking changes across versions: If you are upgrading from an older version of Draftable Legal, be aware of the following changes that require action:

• 25.2.0: The iManage HTTP Listener policies were renamed to generic names (“Enable local HTTP Listener” and “HTTP Listener Communication Port”) to support broader DMS communication scenarios. Update your GPO settings when upgrading from pre-25.2.0.
• 25.5.0: The “Custom Status Tags” policy was moved to a new location in the ADMX templates. Existing policies must be reconfigured after upgrading.
• 25.10.100: The “iManage On Premises Server URL” policy was removed and replaced by “iManage endpoints (CSV)”, which supports multiple iManage endpoints as semicolon-separated HTTPS URLs. See Configuring Multiple iManage Tenancies for details.
• 26.4.0: The “Show Bulk Compare Option” policy was removed. Bulk Compare is now always available and no longer requires a Group Policy toggle.
• 26.6.200: The “Enable SharePoint Heavy Usage Mode” policy was removed from the ADMX template. The registry value is still honoured by the application, so no action is required unless you manage this setting exclusively through Group Policy.

The policies are organized into four ADMX template files:

• Draftable.admx — Base category definition (parent container only, no policies)
• DraftableDesktop.admx — General desktop application policies (applies to both Draftable Desktop and Draftable Legal)
• DraftableDesktopLegal.admx — Legal edition-specific policies (DMS integrations, redline profiles, output options)
• DraftableInstaller.admx — Installation-related policies

Priority of Group Policy settings

Unless otherwise noted, the order of precedence from highest priority to lowest priority is:

• User Policy (set in User Configuration)
• Computer Policy (set in Computer Configuration)
• User Setting (set by the user through the UI or by the user manually editing the registry)

If no policy setting exists, the user setting is used.

Draftable Desktop policies

These policies are defined in DraftableDesktop.admx and apply to both Draftable Desktop and Draftable Legal editions.

Licensing and activation

Policy	Type	Description	Available From Version
Configure product key	Text (max 29)	Add the product key to be used for automatic license activation.	Pre-25.1.0
Accept terms and conditions on behalf of users	Boolean	Automatically accepts the terms and conditions on first-time application start, so users are not prompted.	Pre-25.1.0

Application behaviour

Policy	Type	Description	Options	Available From Version
Launch Draftable automatically when Windows starts	Enum	Controls whether Draftable launches at Windows startup.	Start (default), NotStart, Silent (start minimized)	Pre-25.1.0
Setup automatic updates on behalf of users (non-MSI installer)	Boolean	By default, Draftable auto-updates. If disabled, the app can only be updated manually from the settings window.	—	Pre-25.1.0
Disable the Welcome Balloon Notification	Boolean	Prevents the Welcome Balloon Notification from appearing at application startup.	—	Pre-25.1.0
Set how files are handled after comparison	Boolean	Controls whether files are cleared from the input panel after a comparison is completed.	—	Pre-25.1.0
Open comparisons in a new tab	Boolean	Controls whether each comparison opens in a new in-app tab or reuses the current tab. If not configured, users can choose in Settings. Default is new tab.	—	25.10.0
Header and footer detection	Boolean	Enables detection of headers and footers in documents during comparison.	—	Pre-25.1.0
Compare Footnote Numbering	Boolean	Enables comparison of footnote numbering differences between documents.	—	25.1.0

Conversion engines

Policy	Type	Description	Options	Available From Version
DOCX Conversion Engine	Enum	Specify which engine converts Word documents to PDF.	Default (Draftable recommended, may change between versions), Office (Microsoft Office), Internal (Draftable Engine)	Pre-25.1.0
Configure Word Application usage Policy	Enum	Sets Microsoft Word to use a single instance when converting documents to PDF.	MultipleInstance (default), SingleInstance	Pre-25.1.0
PDF to DOCX Conversion Engine	Enum	Specify which engine converts PDF documents to Word.	Default (Apryse recommended), Apryse, Office (Microsoft Office), Internal (Draftable Engine)	25.9.0
Preserve Word comments when converting to PDF	Boolean	By default, Word comments are preserved when converting to PDF in Side By Side comparison. Disable this to exclude Word comments.	—	26.1.0

Compare window and UI

Policy	Type	Description	Options	Available From Version
Compare Window Summary Information Policy	Enum	Controls visibility of the summary panel in the Compare Window.	ShowExpanded (default), ShowCollapsed, Hidden	25.2.0
Free text font family	Text (max 62)	Sets a custom font family for free text comparisons. Default font is Arial.	—	Pre-25.1.0

1-Click compare

Policy	Type	Description	Available From Version
1-Click definition	Text	Sets the default 1-Click compare behaviour. Copy the export item from the 1-Click settings to configure this.	Pre-25.1.0
Enable to show 1-Click export options	Boolean	Shows the “copy to clipboard” export option for configuring the 1-Click definition policy.	Pre-25.1.0
Hide 1-Click tab for users	Boolean	Hides the 1-Click tab in Settings. Does not remove 1-Click from integrations such as Windows Context Menu.	Pre-25.1.0

Error handling and support

Policy	Type	Description	Options	Available From Version
Configure custom error message	Text	Sets a custom error message shown when a comparison fails.	—	Pre-25.1.0
Configure custom contact support email body	Text	Sets a custom email message for the Outlook email with logs that appears after an application error.	—	Pre-25.1.0
Configure custom email subject for exports	Text	Sets the default email subject when users export via the Email option.	—	Pre-25.1.0
Configure custom email body for exports	Text	Sets the default email body when users export via the Email option. If users include export outputs, those are appended.	—	25.10.0
Users can share error logs	Boolean	Controls whether the error dialog shows a button to draft an email with logs attached. Enabled by default.	—	Pre-25.1.0
Configure submission of exception reports	Enum	Controls automatic exception reporting.	AlwaysSend, NeverSend	Pre-25.1.0

Telemetry

Policy	Type	Description	Available From Version
Send usage statistics	Boolean	When enabled, usage statistics are sent to Draftable servers for diagnostic purposes.	Pre-25.1.0
Configure an organisation identifier	Text	Specifies an organization identifier (GUID) included in all telemetry events for reporting and analysis. No user-level PII is collected. See the dedicated article for details.	25.9.0

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Draftable Legal policies

These policies are defined in DraftableDesktopLegal.admx and apply only to the Draftable Legal edition.

iManage integration

Policy	Type	Description	Available From Version
Enable iManage integration on behalf of users	Boolean	By default, Legal license holders have iManage integration activated. Set to disabled to prevent users from setting up iManage.	Pre-25.1.0
iManage endpoints (CSV)	Text (max 4096)	Specifies one or more iManage server URLs, separated by semicolons. Only absolute HTTPS URLs are allowed. The first valid URL becomes the default. Replaces the legacy “iManage On Premises Server URL” setting. See Configuring Multiple iManage Tenancies for details.	25.10.100
iManage On Premises Client ID	Text (max 62)	The client ID for integrating an on-premises instance of iManage.	Pre-25.1.0
Enable iManage automatic log in	Boolean	Enables automatic iManage log in at Draftable application start. May show iManage log in screen depending on iManage configuration. Default is false.	Pre-25.1.0
iManage persistent session	Boolean	Controls the iManage persistent session process. Recommended disabled for SSO login; must be enabled for non-SSO. Default is true.	Pre-25.1.0
Use system browser to sign in to iManage	Boolean	Routes iManage OAuth sign-in through the user’s default web browser instead of the embedded browser. Required when an identity provider or Conditional Access policy blocks sign-in from third-party (embedded) browsers. When configured by policy, the in-app checkbox is locked.	26.6.0
Skip the iManage system-browser sign-in confirmation prompt	Boolean	Suppresses the confirmation prompt shown before Draftable opens the system browser to sign in to iManage, so the default browser opens immediately. Applies only when “Use system browser to sign in to iManage” is enabled.	26.6.200
iManage upload Track Changes output as new version	Boolean	Allows uploading Track Changes output as a new version to iManage.	Pre-25.1.0
iManage upload output as new related file	Boolean	Allows uploading output as a new related file in iManage.	25.5.0
Enable local HTTP Listener	Boolean	Enables the local HTTP listener that allows launching Draftable from iManage and other DMS sites. See the HTTP listener guide for details.	Pre-25.1.0
HTTP Listener Communication Port	Text (max 62)	Specifies the HTTP Listener communication port used for DMS integrations.	Pre-25.1.0
iManage On Premises Server URL	Text (max 62)	The server URL for integrating an on-premises instance of iManage.	Pre-25.1.0 (Deprecated in 25.10.100 — superseded by “iManage endpoints (CSV)”)

Renamed in 25.2.0: The HTTP Listener policies were previously named “Enable local iManage HTTP Listener” and “iManage HTTP Listener Communication Port”. They were renamed to generic names to support broader DMS communication scenarios. If upgrading from pre-25.2.0, update your GPO configuration to use the new policies.

Removed in 25.10.100: The “iManage On Premises Server URL” policy was removed and replaced by “iManage endpoints (CSV)”. If you were using the old single-URL policy, migrate to the new CSV format using semicolon-separated HTTPS URLs.

DMS integrations

Policy	Type	Description	Available From Version
Enable NetDocuments integration	Boolean	Controls whether the NetDocuments integration is enabled.	Pre-25.1.0
Enable Worldox integration	Boolean	Controls whether the Worldox integration is enabled.	Pre-25.1.0
Enable Epona integration	Boolean	Controls whether the Epona integration is enabled.	Pre-25.1.0
Enable SharePoint integration	Boolean	Controls whether the SharePoint integration is enabled.	Pre-25.1.0
Enable SharePoint Heavy Usage Mode	Boolean	Optimizes SharePoint integration for environments with high usage.	26.1.0 (Removed from GP template in 26.6.200 — registry value still honoured)
Hide minor SharePoint versions by default	Boolean	When enabled, the SharePoint version picker hides minor versions by default. Users can still toggle them on per-comparison. Default is disabled.	26.6.200
Enable OneDrive	Boolean	Controls whether the OneDrive integration is enabled. Enabled by default.	25.5.200
Enable automatic selection of the two latest versions	Boolean	When a single file with multiple versions is selected from a DMS, Draftable loads the two most recent versions for comparison.	Pre-25.1.0

Office add-ins

Policy	Type	Description	Available From Version
Enable VSTO Add-In (Word)	Boolean	When enabled, the Word VSTO Add-In is automatically installed when Draftable Legal launches. Existing installations are not affected.	Pre-25.1.0
Enable VSTO Add-In (Outlook)	Boolean	When enabled, the Outlook VSTO Add-In is automatically installed when Draftable Legal launches. Existing installations are not affected.	Pre-25.1.0

Comparison output types

Policy	Type	Description	Available From Version
Enable Side-By-Side Output Comparison	Boolean	Enables the Side by Side comparison output type in the comparison viewer and 1-Click. Default is true.	Pre-25.1.0
Enable Redline PDF Output	Boolean	Enables the Redline PDF comparison output type in the comparison viewer and 1-Click. Default is true.	Pre-25.1.0
Enable Redline DOCX Output	Boolean	Enables the Redline DOCX comparison output type in the comparison viewer and 1-Click. Default is true.	Pre-25.1.0
Enable Track Changes in Word Output	Boolean	Enables the Track Changes comparison output type in the comparison viewer and 1-Click. Default is true.	Pre-25.1.0
Enable Changed Pages Output	Boolean	Enables the Changed Pages comparison output type in the comparison viewer and 1-Click. Default is true.	Pre-25.1.0
Enable Excel Redline Output	Boolean	Enables the Excel Redline comparison output type in the comparison viewer and 1-Click. Default is true.	Pre-25.1.0
Enable PowerPoint Redline Output	Boolean	Enables the PowerPoint Redline comparison output type in the comparison viewer and 1-Click. Default is true.	Pre-25.1.0
Enable Native Office Output	Boolean	Enables the Native Office comparison output type in the comparison viewer and 1-Click. Default is true.	Pre-25.1.0
Redline PDF Output Enabled	Boolean	Allows disabling of the Redline PDF output option. Set to false to disable. Default is true.	Pre-25.1.0
Enable Departures Table Output	Boolean	Enables the Departures Table comparison type in the comparison viewer and 1-Click.	25.8.0
Enable Changes Report	Boolean	Enables the Changes Report comparison type in the comparison viewer and 1-Click. Default is true.	26.1.0
Enable Text Only Compare	Boolean	Enables the Text Only Compare comparison type in the comparison viewer and 1-Click. Default is true.	26.1.0
Enable AI-Ready Redline Output	Boolean	Enables AI-Ready Redline as an export option. This output generates a deterministic full-document diff in Markdown format, suitable for use with AI tools. Default is true.	26.3.200
Suppress table cell revisions for Track Changes output	Boolean	When enabled, omits table cell insertion/deletion revision markers in Track Changes outputs, avoiding comment bubbles on the right-hand side.	25.8.0

Output and viewer settings (global)

These settings were lifted from individual Redline profiles to global (application-wide) settings in 26.6.0. For full registry value details, see the registry configurations article.

Policy	Type	Description	Options	Available From Version
Output filename pattern	Text (max 1024)	Template used to name redline output files. Supports tokens such as {originalName} and {revisedName} (e.g. {originalName} (compared)).	—	26.6.0
Show comments in three-pane redline output	Boolean	Controls whether the three-pane redline view includes a comments column. Default is enabled.	—	26.6.0
Summary page position	Enum	Where the redline summary page is inserted in generated output.	Skipped, Start (default), End, Both	26.6.0
Open Word In	Enum	How Draftable opens final Tracked Changes and Redline DOCX output.	Reviewing (default), Edit	26.6.0
Action after a comparison completes	Enum	What Draftable does when a comparison finishes.	ask (default), open, save	26.6.0

Redline profiles

For detailed configuration of redline profiles, see the Configuring Redline profiles within Group Policy article.

Policy	Type	Description	Available From Version
Redline Settings Base Profile	Text (max 4096)	Specifies a named set of configuration settings for comparisons. Optionally allows enforcing properties on all profiles.	Pre-25.1.0
Redline Settings Profile 1–9	Text (max 4096)	Preloads up to 9 redline settings profiles for use within Draftable Legal. Each profile also has a team name field.	Pre-25.1.0
Redline Settings Default Profile Name	Text (max 100)	Sets the default profile used for Redline comparisons.	Pre-25.1.0
User Team Name	Text (max 100)	Assigns a team name to restrict which Redline profiles can be used.	Pre-25.1.0
Admin Base Profiles Only	Boolean	When enabled, removes the Draftable Default Template and disables importing of user profiles. Forces users to only use admin-defined profiles.	Pre-25.1.0

UI and other settings

Policy	Type	Description	Available From Version
Custom Status Tags	Text (max 4096)	Override the default status tags in the comparison viewer. Supply as a JSON array of color and label pairs.	25.3.100
Hide warning before closing Bulk Compare window	Boolean	Suppresses the confirmation dialog when closing the Bulk Compare window.	25.5.0
Enable Settings pre-warm at startup	Boolean	Pre-warms the Settings interface at application startup so the first open is near-instant. Enabled by default; disable if security software interferes with the off-screen browser process used for pre-warming.	26.6.0
Never share obfuscated documents	Boolean	Controls submission of the files produced by the Create safe file for sharing feature (called Document Obfuscation before 26.6). When enabled, submission is always disabled. When disabled, submission is always enabled. The policy name is unchanged.	Pre-25.1.0
Enable custom contact details	Text (max 62)	Replaces [e-mail] with custom contact details in all dialog windows and as the email recipient.	Pre-25.1.0
Show Bulk Compare Option	Boolean	Enables the Bulk Compare option in the application.	Pre-25.1.0 (Deprecated in 26.4.0 — Bulk Compare is now always available)
Disable Legacy Document Elements Warning Dialog	Boolean	Disables the warning dialog shown when Draftable detects legacy elements in a document’s structure.	Pre-25.1.0 (Deprecated in 25.5.0 — feature removed)

Changed in 25.5.0: The “Custom Status Tags” policy was moved to a new location in the ADMX templates. If upgrading from pre-25.5.0, reconfigure this policy.

Deprecated policies

The following policies have been removed from the ADMX templates. If you are running an older version, these policies may still be available in your templates.

iManage On Premises Server URL — Removed in 25.10.100, superseded by “iManage endpoints (CSV)”

This policy has been replaced by the “iManage endpoints (CSV)” policy, which supports multiple iManage server endpoints as semicolon-separated HTTPS URLs. If you are upgrading from a version prior to 25.10.100, you must migrate your iManage server URL to the new CSV format. See Configuring Multiple iManage Tenancies for migration details.

Show Bulk Compare Option — Removed in 26.4.0

Bulk Compare is now always available in the application and no longer requires a Group Policy toggle to enable. This policy has no effect in version 26.4.0 and later.

Disable Legacy Document Elements Warning Dialog — Removed in 25.5.0

This policy was deprecated when the legacy document elements feature was removed from the application.

Enable SharePoint Heavy Usage Mode — Removed from the GP template in 26.6.200

This policy no longer appears in the Group Policy editor from the 26.6.200 templates onward. The underlying registry value (SharePointHeavyUsageModeEnabled) is still read by the application, and the setting remains available in the in-app SharePoint settings, so existing deployments are unaffected. See the registry configurations article if you need to continue setting it directly.

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Installer policies

These policies are defined in DraftableInstaller.admx.

Policy	Type	Description	Available From Version
Create Desktop Shortcut	Boolean	Controls whether a desktop shortcut is created during installation.	Pre-25.1.0

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Using Microsoft Intune

Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based service provided by Microsoft that helps organizations manage and secure their devices, applications, and data.

If you are using Microsoft Intune, you can use it to install Group Policy for Draftable Legal. Follow the Microsoft documentation for more information.