> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://zenskar.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How to manage contracts

<Note>
  This is a task-oriented guide covering the steps to alter a contract after it's been created. For the reasoning behind contract status and its restrictions, see [contract: concepts](/docs/20240301/product-modules/contracts/concepts/contract).
</Note>

## Edit a contract

1. Open the contract's **Summary** tab.
2. Click **Edit**.
3. Update the required details in the **Update Contract** form.
4. Click **Update** to save your changes.

## Activate a contract

1. Open the draft contract.
2. Move it from draft to active.

A contract needs pricing on at least one product before it can be activated.

## Pause a contract

1. Open the active contract.
2. Pause it.

A paused contract can later be resumed back to active, or expired. It can't go back to draft.

## Expire a contract

1. Open the contract.
2. Expire it.

Expiring is how you end a contract that's already been active, whether or not it's currently paused. Expired is a final state, an expired contract can't be reactivated, paused, or moved to any other status.

## Delete a contract

1. Open the draft contract.
2. Delete it.

Deletion only works while the contract is still in draft. Once a contract has ever gone active, you can't delete it, you can only expire it. This is by design: a contract that's already been billed needs to stay in the system as a record, even once it's done.

## Add a phase to an existing contract

1. Open the contract.
2. Add a new phase, with its own start and end dates.
3. Add products and configure features for that phase, the same way you would for the contract's first phase.

Use a new phase to capture a change in terms partway through a contract, for example a step-up in pricing or a change in what's being sold, without having to create a whole new contract.