Documentation - Cadence IP

Create your account

1

Register

Visit the registration page and enter your details. The Organisation Name is the name of your firm or practice (e.g., "Patentec" or "Smith IP"). This appears in email signatures and invoices.

2

Verify your email

Check your inbox for the verification email and click the link. Once verified, you will be taken to the dashboard.

3

Configure general settings

Go to Settings → General to set your timezone, preferred date format, and default hourly rate for time entries.

Practical example

You are setting up for "Acme Patent Attorneys". Enter "Acme Patent Attorneys" as the organisation name, set timezone to Australia/Sydney, date format to DD/MM/YYYY, and hourly rate to $550.

Create your first matter type

Matter types are the backbone of the platform. Each type defines a distinct workflow. Navigate to Settings → Matter Types and click + New Matter Type.

Common matter types for IP practices

PCT Application — International patent applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty
AU Standard Patent — Australian standard patent applications
AU Provisional — Australian provisional patent applications
Trademark — Trademark applications and registrations
Design — Registered design applications
NZ Patent — New Zealand patent applications

Give your matter type a name and optional description. The description helps team members understand when to use this type.

Start with one type

Focus on configuring your most common matter type thoroughly. Once you understand how steps, fields, and automations work together, creating additional types is quick.

Define workflow steps

Steps represent the stages a matter moves through from start to finish. Each matter type has its own set of steps. Navigate to the Steps tab on your matter type configuration page.

Filing

ISR

Written Opinion

National Phase

Examination

Acceptance

Grant

Step configuration showing a PCT Application workflow

When creating steps:

Mark one step as the Start Step — new matters begin here
Mark one or more steps as End Steps — matters here are considered closed
Steps appear as a breadcrumb trail at the top of every matter page
Automations can trigger when a matter enters or leaves a specific step

PCT Application steps

A typical PCT workflow might have these steps:

Filing → ISR Received → Written Opinion → Report to Applicant → National Phase Entry → End

When the matter reaches "ISR Received", an automation can send the ISR report to the applicant and create a task to follow up.

Add custom fields

Fields store the data specific to each matter. Navigate to the Fields tab. Each field has a data type that determines how it behaves:

Type	Use for	Example
String	Short text values	Application No, Title, Country
Date	Dates and deadlines	Filing Date, Priority Date, Grant Date
Number	Numeric values	Number of Claims, Fee Amount
Text	Long-form rich text	Instructions, Notes, Abstract
List	Predefined options	Status (Pending/Granted/Lapsed), Country
Calculated Date	Dates derived from other dates	Convention Deadline (12 months after Priority Date)

Deadline fields

Mark any date or calculated date field as a Deadline to have it appear in the Deadlines view and on the calendar. This is essential for convention deadlines, examination deadlines, and renewal dates.

Pinned fields

Mark important fields as Pinned to display them in the matter page header, visible at a glance without scrolling. Application Number and Filing Date are good candidates.

AU Standard Patent fields

Application No (String, unique, pinned) — e.g., 2026123456
Filing Date (Date, deadline, pinned) — e.g., 15 Jan 2026
Priority Date (Date) — the earliest priority date claimed
Convention Deadline (Calculated Date: 12 months after Priority Date, deadline)
Direction to Request Examination (Calculated Date: 5 years after Filing Date, deadline)
Acceptance Deadline (Calculated Date: 12 months after Direction to Examine, deadline)

Define roles

Roles define the types of contacts that can be linked to a matter. Navigate to the Roles tab on your matter type.

Common roles for patent matters include Applicant, Inventor, Attorney, and Foreign Associate. For trademarks, you might add Trademark Owner, Authorised User, and Opponent.

Roles are important because they connect contacts to automations. For example, an email template can be configured to send to the contact(s) assigned to the "Applicant" role on a given matter.

Example

When you create an automation to send an examination report to the client, you configure the email to go to the Applicant role. If matter M-42 has "Acme Corp (john@acme.com)" assigned as Applicant, the email goes to john@acme.com automatically.

Configure email

To send and receive emails within Cadence IP, configure your SMTP settings under Settings → Email Settings.

1

Enter SMTP credentials

Enter your SMTP host, port, username, and password. Common configurations:

Office 365: smtp.office365.com, port 587, TLS
Gmail: smtp.gmail.com, port 587, TLS (use app password)
Custom SMTP: Contact your email provider for details

2

Test connection

Click Test Connection to verify your credentials. A test email will be sent to your address.

3

Set up your signature

Use the built-in signature builder to create a professional email signature with your firm's logo, contact details, and styling. The signature is automatically appended to all outbound emails.

4

Configure incoming email

Set up your email handle for inbound email capture. Cadence IP matches incoming emails to matters using the subject tag pattern (e.g., $matter_id in the subject line).

Incoming email matching works by looking for your configured subject tag in the email subject. When you send an email from a matter, the tag is automatically inserted into the subject. Replies preserve the tag, so they are filed back to the correct matter.

Configure SMS (optional)

If you want to send SMS reminders or notifications, connect a Twilio account under Settings → SMS Settings. You will need your Twilio Account SID, Auth Token, and a phone number.

SMS is useful for urgent deadline reminders to foreign associates in different time zones, or for quick follow-up messages that might otherwise be missed in a busy inbox.

Create templates

Templates save time by pre-formatting your most common correspondence, documents, and invoices. Each matter type can have its own set of templates. Navigate to the relevant tab on your matter type configuration:

Email Templates

Pre-written emails with variables like $field.Application No and $role.Applicant.display_name . Configure recipients by role.

Document Templates

DOCX templates with merge fields. Upload a Word document with $field.Filing Date placeholders, and the system fills them in.

Invoice Templates

Predefined line items, account codes, and payer roles for quick invoicing. Integrates with Xero.

Your first automation

Once your matter type has steps, fields, and at least one email template, you can create your first automation. Navigate to the Automations tab on your matter type.

Deadline reminder automation

Let's create an automation that emails the applicant 30 days before the convention deadline:

Trigger: Relative to Date — 30 days BEFORE the "Convention Deadline" field
Conditions: None (fires for all matters with this deadline)
Action: Send Email — using the "Convention Deadline Reminder" template, to the Applicant role
Optionally, enable Approval Required so the email queues for your review before sending

Start with approval-required automations so you can review each action before it fires. Once you are confident the automation behaves correctly, you can disable the approval gate for hands-free operation.

Learn more about automations →

Account Setup