• A new audit source, Document Actions, with six events: document-preview, document-download, document-open, document-delete, document-upload and document-rename.
• Each entry title names the action, the document and the repository, for example "Document previewed – 'Contract.docx' in repository 'matter-documents'".
• Rename entries include the old name and the new name. Clio Operate also records folder renames.
• Clio Operate records the actions in the documents on a work item and in the document preview. It also records them in the related documents on tasks, for example Prepare Document tasks.
• When a repository is not linked to a work item, Clio Operate records the action against the repository. These entries do not display in the audit log of a work item.
• Folder deletes, copying or moving documents, and attaching documents to bundle sections do not create a document audit entry in this release.
• The Open button in the document preview creates a document-open entry. The Open in menu does not when the repository links directly to the file, for example in Microsoft SharePoint.
• Virtual Data Rooms keep their existing audit trail. The new events do not duplicate it.

On a matter, select More > Audit, then filter the Audit Log by Event. Select an entry to see its details.

See [LINK: Document actions in the audit log. Add the link after this article is published.]

• There is nothing to configure. Clio Operate records document actions automatically after the upgrade.
• To view the entries, a user needs the Audit - View Audit History permission.
• Actions from before the upgrade do not display in the audit log.

• List view. The Chronology has a table view, with one row for each entry. List view is now the default. The Timeline view (cards) is still available.
• Column controls. Users can resize, move, freeze and hide columns, and choose which columns display. Clio Operate keeps their choices for their next visit.
• Default columns. Configurators set the default columns of the Chronology list. The same defaults apply on every work type.
• Search. A search box in both views filters the entries when you type. It searches the text that displays, including the title, type, status, participants, work item, summary, tags and related item names.
• Filters panel. A Filters button replaces the filter panel on the left. New filters include Has related items, Has time, Participant categories and Participant roles. Clear removes all filters straight away.
• Participants from child work items. The participant filter lists only participants who have entries. It includes participants on child work items, such as proceedings.
• Saved views. Users can save the current filters as a named view and select it later, on any Matter. Saved views are personal.
• Sorting. Users can switch between newest first and oldest first.
• Dates in Timeline view. The year and day headers stay at the top of the list when you scroll. A new widget setting, which is on by default, adds the date to every card.
• Time entries. Each submitted time entry can display as an entry in the Chronology. Configurators turn this on for each work type.
• Time totals on cards. Cards for work items with recorded time, such as calls and emails, display the total time. Selecting the total opens a list of the time entries. [verify]
• Export. If a configurator allows it, users can export the Chronology list to Excel from the burger menu. [TBC Q12]
• Remembered for each Matter. The Chronology remembers each user's view and filters for each Matter, in the browser that they use.

Open a case and select Chronology. The Chronology opens in List view. Use the Search... box and the Filters button above the entries.

For details, see Understanding the Chronology and [LINK: Search and filter the Chronology. Add the link after this article is published.]. Configurators can find the widget, list and time settings in Chronology.

• List view, search, filters and saved views need no setup.
• To change the default columns, open the Chronology in List view. In the burger menu, select Administration > Manage this list view, then select Columns. The change applies to the Chronology on every work type.
• To display time entries, the Chronology and Time Recording global features must be enabled. Configurators then select the work types in the Time point of interest of the Chronology global feature. No work types are selected by default.
• Time entries are private by default. Users need the Audit - Private Chronology permission to see them.
• The Time column is empty for users without the Time - Read permission, and these users do not see the Has time filter. They can still see time entries that are not private. [TBC Q16]

• The filter panel on the left is removed. The Time Focus graph and the left-hand panel no longer display. Filters are now in the Filters panel. The date range uses dates only, and the end date includes the whole day.
• List view is the default. The first time each user opens the Chronology on a Matter, it opens in List view. After that, it opens in the view that the user last used on that Matter.
• Filters are kept for longer. In versions before 7.13, filters were kept for the browser session. From Clio Operate 7.13, the view and filters are kept in the browser for each user and Matter, including after the user signs out.
• Some Chronology widget settings are removed. For example, Show Filters, Can Open Documents, Can Comment and Show Time Focus no longer display in Portal designer. The Filters button displays on every Chronology, even where Show Filters was off. The other removed settings keep the value that they had before the upgrade, and you cannot change them. For the full list, see Chronology.
• Dates in Timeline view. Timeline view groups the cards under year and day headers. Show date on every card is on by default, so each card also displays its date. If you turn the setting off, cards display only the time.
• Time entries are off until you turn them on. No work types are selected in the Time point of interest by default, so no time entries display after the upgrade. To display them, select each work type.
• Column controls on other list views. The same column controls apply to other list views that allow personalisation. For details, see the List Views entry in these release notes, or enter 119576 in the search field.

• The Prepare Document action has a new Context work item (optional) field, directly under Document template in the Document details section.
• The field takes a variable that holds a work item ID, in the same way as Parent work item.
• If the field is set, Clio Operate uses that work item as the data context. The Prepare Document task displays the work item in the About field.
• If the field is empty, Clio Operate uses the parent work item as the data context.

Set Context work item when a document is about a different work item from the parent. For the steps, see Prepare Document - Workflow Toolbox.

• The field is available only in the current Prepare Document action. The deprecated version of the action does not have the field.
• Before the Prepare Document action runs, store the ID of the context work item in a variable of type Work Item Identifier.
• The context work item must exist and must match the data context of the document template. The workflow does not check either condition, so a problem only appears on the Prepare Document task.
• No new permissions are required.

• Existing Prepare Document actions display the new field as empty. No migration is required.
• A workflow saved before the upgrade keeps its earlier behaviour. If Context work item is empty, Clio Operate searches up the hierarchy for the closest work item that matches the data context of the template.
• After you save the workflow in Clio Operate 7.13, its Prepare Document actions use the parent work item when Context work item is empty. This change applies even if you edit a different part of the workflow.
• Before you save an existing workflow, check each Prepare Document action whose parent work item is not the data context of its template. For example, the parent is a task and the template uses the matter. In these actions, set Context work item to the correct work item.

Fees has been rebuilt rather than enhanced. The concepts carry over, almost everything around them has changed.

• A new fee template editor, with Preview Estimates and Preview Actuals, so a configurator checks the result before publishing. Templates are versioned, and only a published version reaches a work item.
• Eight section types, with hourly rates now resolving by job role, time code or business rule. Tax is no longer a section type and is set on the template instead.
• Templates carry the charge-out rates used by time recording. Recording time against an hourly section creates and maintains the fee actual, and the time entry now displays the charge rate and the charge value as it is recorded.
• The fee arrangement on a work item is a commercial model, with its own phase model and approval route. It works the same way whether or not an estimate exists.
• Fee actuals have a billing status, separate from the phase model and ready for billing. Fixed fees now have a phase model of their own.
• Fees can be written off before invoicing. A write-off is a work item in its own right, with its own approval rules and accounting.
• Unbilled revenue posts per fee section, so each fee type can have its own account or be stopped from posting at all.
• Templates move between environments through configuration import and export.
• New and renamed permissions govern commercial models and their contents.

What you need to act on

• Run the Assistant job Fees - Convert Template Goods/Service References to Compound Key. Fee template import is blocked until it has.
• Review Automatically create fee. The upgrade switches it on for every mandatory and recommended element, which is far wider than a firm would choose element by element.
• Check your Unbilled Revenue overrides. The list of fee types has changed.

Upgrade impact below carries the detail behind all three.

Everything you need to know about fees covers the three areas in full: building a fee template, making it available on a work type, and what a fee earner does with the result on a matter.

See also Rate cards, which covers the rate cards that fee templates draw their amounts from, and Understanding Time Recording. Modeller Assistant covers how to run the upgrade job named under Upgrade impact.

Order of work

1. Build the rate cards. A fee template section can only point at a rate card that already exists.
2. Configure the tax codes needed by tax-enabled templates.
3. Enable and configure the Unbilled Revenue global feature, which names the account that unbilled revenue posts to. Accounts are set per fee section as overrides within it, and an override can also stop a fee type writing to the chart of accounts at all.
4. Enable the Fee Structures global feature, at Modeller > Global features > Finance > Fee Structures, and set its approval model.
5. Enable Fee Structures on each relevant work type, and set each work type's Purpose to Commercial Agreement or Operational Work Type. The per work type settings are reachable from the global feature or from the work type under Manage Features.
6. Build and publish the fee templates.
7. Attach commercial models to the statements of work that matters will inherit from.

Also needed

• Job roles in place, for Hourly Rates By Job Role sections.
• Time classifications configured, for Hourly Rates By Time Code sections.
• An aspect and a business rule, for Hourly Rates By Business Rule sections.
• An approval model. The Fee Structures global feature is not valid without one, so set it before going near work types, even where no work type overrides it.
• Write-off account codes, one for fixed fees and one for hourly fees. The write-off feature requires both. A costs account as well, where split accounting is in use.
• The Fees Write-Off feature flag enabled, and the write-off permission granted, or the bulk action is not offered.
• A bulk action menu named on each fee actual list view when it is added to a portal page. Without it the bulk menu is not displayed.

Permissions to grant

Grant the estimate and fee actuals read permissions to anyone who needs to see the fee screen on a work item. Grant the revise permission only to the people allowed to re-quote, because it reopens an estimate that was locked deliberately.

For full details see Everything you need to know about fees.

Run the Assistant job first

Fee template elements used to reference goods and services by legacy id keys. They now use a compound key. A Modeller Assistant job converts them:

• Fees - Convert Template Goods/Service References to Compound Key

Until it has run, fee template import is blocked, with an error rather than a warning. The block applies if either the incoming package or the target environment still holds elements on the legacy keys, so a firm cannot import anything until the conversion is done. Run it through Modeller Assistant in the same way as any other upgrade job.

Breaking changes

Configuration that has gone or moved

Data that changes on upgrade

Retired

The Fees Radar widget has been deprecated, along with its sub widget. Any site still using it needs to take it into its own client plugin.

• The column menu has a Personalise section with Move left, Move right, Freeze column and Hide column.
• Moving or hiding a column reloads the list, which clears any filters that the user applied.
• Columns that cannot be sorted or filtered now also have a column menu, so that end-users can personalise those columns too.
• End-users can resize a column by dragging the right edge of its header. Clio Operate saves the new width as a fixed width.
• Clio Operate saves hidden, moved and resized columns for the end-user, so the list keeps them the next time that they open it. Frozen columns are saved only in the current browser.
• After an end-user changes a list's columns, a dot displays on the burger menu. Reset columns to default in the burger menu removes all of their column changes.
• The first time that an end-user changes a list's columns, Clio Operate displays the notice "Columns personalised – reset anytime from the list's menu".
• Asc and Desc buttons at the top of the column menu replace Sort Ascending and Sort Descending.
• When the pointer is over the header row, a faint sort icon displays after the title of each column that can be sorted. An arrow displays after the title to show the current sort direction.
• The caret that opens the column menu now sits at the right of the header. The caret displays when the pointer is over the header.
• Where the experimental List View Grouping global feature is enabled, columns that filter by a list of values also display Group on column.

For the end-user steps, see Using List Views. For the configuration settings, see Configuring List Views and List View Column Properties.

• The Personalise options and column resizing are available only on list views where Allow user customisations is selected in the list view settings.
• The Asc and Desc buttons display only on columns where Allow user to sort by this column is selected in the column properties.
• Group on column requires the List View Grouping global feature. This feature is experimental, so it is not usually enabled on customer systems.

• No action is required. On list views where Allow user customisations is already selected, end-users see the new column options after the upgrade.
• To stop end-users changing a list's columns, clear Allow user customisations. Clearing the setting also removes Choose columns from the list's burger menu.
• Update any training material or screenshots that show Sort Ascending and Sort Descending in the column menu.

• Three new entries are available in every time zone list:
  • (UTC-07:00) Pacific Time (British Columbia)
  • (UTC-06:00) Mountain Time (Alberta), which also covers the Northwest Territories
  • (UTC-05:00) Central Time (Manitoba)
• Each new entry displays under its own UTC offset, so it is not next to the matching (US & Canada) entry. The (US & Canada) entries are still available.
• The search in a time zone list now matches text anywhere in an entry. For example, type Alberta to find (UTC-06:00) Mountain Time (Alberta). Until now, the search matched only the start of a word.
• Dates in summers after 2030 now display at the correct time in every time zone that uses daylight saving time. Until now, these dates displayed one hour wrong.
• Timed appointments that Clio Operate syncs to Outlook are now sent in UTC. In Outlook, these events display (UTC) Coordinated Universal Time as their time zone. The time of the event displays correctly in the user's own time zone.
• The Canadian entries use the same time zone abbreviations as the matching US entries, for example in list view columns and generated documents.

Select the Canadian entry wherever a time zone is set for people in these provinces:

• The environment default: Modeller > Global Features > Regional Settings > Default time zone.
• A user's own time zone: My profile > Edit Profile > Time Zone.
• A work item's time zone: the Time Zone panel, on work types that include it.

For how these settings work together, see Regional settings and time zones.

• The new time zone rules apply automatically after the upgrade. You do not need to configure anything for them.
• To change the default time zone, you need access to Modeller.
• Computers and Outlook need the Microsoft Windows update for the Canadian change. Without this update, the computer clock and Outlook display times one hour wrong after 1 November 2026, whatever Clio Operate displays.
• Clio Operate 7.13 does not cover north-west Ontario (Kenora) or Nunavik. The time zone database does not include changes for these areas yet.

• Existing time zone settings do not change. Users, work items and the default time zone that use a (US & Canada) entry keep that entry after the upgrade. Clio Operate cannot tell which people are in Canada. A configurator must change each setting, preferably before 1 November 2026.
• Items that are already booked keep their old time zone. This applies to tasks and appointments dated from 1 November 2026 to mid-March 2027, and in later winters. These items display the booked time, but in the four provinces they fall one hour later. To correct an item, open it, change its time zone to the Canadian entry, check the time and save it. If the item syncs to Outlook, saving it also updates the Outlook event.
• Times can differ from 7.12 in other time zones. This applies to time zones whose rules changed after 2020, for example Mexico City. It also applies to summer dates after 2030 in any time zone that uses daylight saving time.
• Outlook events display UTC as their time zone. Timed appointments that sync to Outlook display (UTC) Coordinated Universal Time as the event's time zone.

• When you delete a single item, the dialog names it, shows its icon, and is titled Confirm deletion of file or Confirm deletion of folder.
• When you delete several items, the dialog lists the selected files and folders by name, grouped and counted. It shows up to 10 of each, then summarises how many more are included.
• Deleting a folder displays a warning that the folder's contents will be deleted permanently. The warning appears whether you delete the folder on its own or as part of a selection.

When you delete one or more files or folders in the Document Repository Viewer, check the item names in the confirmation dialog, then select Yes to confirm. For the full steps, see Document Repository Viewer.

No configuration is required to receive the improved confirmation dialog.

The Delete action appears only if your administrator has enabled deletion for the repository, and you have permission to delete documents.

• Clio Operate now uses a supported browser event to detect that the user is leaving the page. The Browser Navigate / Close Action options work as before in current versions of Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome.
• Clio Operate now sends a no-store cache header with each page, so the browser does not restore pages from its back/forward cache. When the user selects Back, the page reloads in full, as before.
• Prompts that warn the user about unsaved work are unchanged, for example in the workflow editor and during a document upload.
• End-users see no other change. Running stopwatches stop or pause again when they close the tab or navigate away.

No action is needed. The Browser Navigate / Close Action setting is in Modeller > Global Features > Time Recording. For a description of each option, see Time Recording Global Feature Configuration.

• There is no new configuration.
• The Default and Stop Active in Session options apply only to work types that have Stop on Close turned on in Work Type Configuration. They also apply only when the work item is the first blade that is open on the page.
• Pause All applies whether or not Stop on Close is turned on.
• Stop Active in Session cannot stop a stopwatch if the user has more than one billable role on the work item. In that case, the stopwatch keeps running.
• Firefox is not a supported browser. In Firefox, Clio Operate does not always stop or pause a stopwatch when the user closes the tab or navigates away.

• If you changed Browser Navigate / Close Action to Default as a workaround, you can select Stop Active in Session or Pause All again after you upgrade.
• If your IT team set the Microsoft Edge policy ForcePermissionPolicyUnloadDefaultEnabled for Clio Operate, Clio Operate no longer needs it. Check with your IT team before they remove it, because other applications might depend on it.
• In Firefox, Back now reloads the page in full instead of restoring it from the browser's cache. The page takes longer to display, but it no longer displays a loading indicator that does not clear.
• Browser developer tools might still display warnings that the unload event is deprecated. These warnings come from third-party scripts that Clio Operate includes, and they have no effect.

• Recording time against a fee
  A Fee field is added to the time entry. Where the work item carries a commercial model, the fee earner selects the fee section the time belongs to. Recording against an hourly section creates the fee actual and keeps it in step with the entry afterwards. Recording against a fixed fee section logs and links the time without creating a fee, so a firm can compare the time spent against the fixed fee charged.
  The selector offers only the sections enabled for actuals, which means those targeted at Actuals or at Both. A section targeted at estimates only is not offered, because no fee can be recorded against it.
• Charge rate and charge value
  Where the time has a charge rate, the charge rate and the charge value display in Time Details, next to the units they are calculated from. Both are read-only.
  Both are saved as soon as the entry is created as a draft, rather than at submission. The value of draft time is therefore visible and can be reported on before anything is submitted, and a fee earner can see whether the time will carry a charge at all.
  A rate of 0.00 is valid and displays as 0.00. It produces no fee, because a fee actual can never hold a zero amount.
• Chart of Accounts Entries
  The finance section of the time entry is renamed Chart of Accounts Entries, so its contents say plainly whether a posting has reached the chart of accounts. Whether one exists depends on the Unbilled Revenue global feature being on.
• Which job role sets the rate
  The rate comes from the job role the person held on the date the time was recorded, not the role they hold today. An entry that spans a role change is priced at the role held when it started, and editing an entry’s start date resolves the role again.
• List view
  core-time-entries has a new Fee Section column, displayed as Commercial Model Name > Fee Section. It is an available column rather than a bound one, so a configurator adds it to the view.
• Permissions
  Time - View Fee Costs controls whether the charge rate and charge value display. Without it a user sees no charge figures, and can still select a fee section and bill the time.

• A new Note item is available in a new Notes category on the Toolbox tab.
• Notes support formatted text, including headings, lists and links.
• You can move and resize notes. If the text is longer than the note, the note scrolls.
• Clio Operate saves notes with the workflow. Each published version keeps the notes that it had when you published it. [VERIFY: published version notes]
• Notes are not part of the workflow logic. They do not display in the Plan tab or the plan script, and they do not affect how the workflow runs.

Drag Note from the Toolbox tab onto a blank area of the canvas. Select the note, then enter the text in the Note field on the Properties tab. For full guidance, see Note - Workflow Toolbox.

No setup is needed. Notes are available in every visual workflow. You need access to Modeller > Workflows.

Before you use notes, consider the following points:

• Notes do not move with steps. If you move a step, move its notes too.
• You cannot copy, paste or duplicate notes.
• Notes are available only in visual workflows, not in the script canvas.

Create a step by dropping an action

• An action that you drag from the toolbox onto an empty area of the canvas now creates a new step that contains the action.
• An action that you drag out of an existing step onto an empty area also creates a new step. You can move or copy the action, and it keeps its configuration.
• Several actions that you drag together go into one new step, in their original order.
• Each new step has a default name, for example Step 4, which you can change.
• An action that you drop over an existing step, including the start step and the end step, still goes into that step.

Duplicate, copy and delete

• Each step and each action on the workflow canvas has an ellipsis icon (⋮) with Duplicate and Delete options.
• A duplicate step has the original name followed by (copy), a unique system name, and copies of all the original actions. The copy is not connected to other steps.
• A duplicate action appears at the end of the same step, with the same configuration and no connections.
• Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V copy and paste one step, or one or more actions, within the same workflow. On a Mac, use Cmd+C and Cmd+V.
• You cannot delete the start or end step. If you duplicate either of them, Clio Operate creates a new ordinary step with copies of its actions.

See Creating a new visual workflow step - Workflow Toolbox.

No setup is needed. The changes apply to visual workflows for every configurator who can edit them.

The canvas highlights a step when you drag an action over it, but displays no highlight over an empty area. If you release an action outside the step that you intended, Clio Operate creates a new step.

Clio Operate deletes a step or action straight away. It does not ask you to confirm, and the canvas has no undo. To reverse a deletion, close the workflow before you save. Closing discards every unsaved change.

• A Remove participant block is available in the Data category of the visual workflow toolbox.
• The block has two required fields: Work item to remove participant from and Participant to remove. Each field offers only variables of the matching type.
• The block removes the participant from every role that they hold on the work item. The person, organisation or team stays in the ODS.
• If the participant is the last holder of a mandatory role, the step fails. The error message asks you to reassign the role.
• If the block cannot remove the participant, the step fails and the workflow does not continue past the block.

Load the participant ID with a Load work item data block, then add the Remove participant block to a later step. For the full configuration, see [LINK: Remove participant - Workflow Toolbox. Add the link after this article is published.]

• The workflow needs a Work Item Identifier variable for the work item and a Participant Identifier variable for the participant.
• The execution engine client (ee-app) must hold the Update any sharedo and Read any sharedo permissions. Most environments have both already. You can check them in Admin > Integrations > Manage Identity Server.

• Each Condition field in the Condition list panel has an Insert variable tag button (</>).
• The list displays the Display Name of each variable in the workflow, or its Identifier if it has no display name.
• When you select a variable, Clio Operate inserts ctx["identifier"] at the cursor.
• Other fields that use the variable picker still insert {{identifier}}.
• Existing conditions are unchanged and run in the same way as before.

In the Condition field, place the cursor where the variable goes, select Insert variable tag, then select the variable. See Using If in a workflow - Workflow Toolbox.

• No setup is required. The picker is available to configurators who can edit visual workflows in Modeller.
• The picker prevents typing errors in variable names only. The rest of the condition is free text, and Clio Operate does not check the condition when you save the workflow.
• If you change the Identifier of a variable, conditions that use the variable are not updated. Test the workflow after you change a condition.