To use X-Author Contracts, you do not need to login directly via Salesforce. You can connect from the X-Author Contracts ribbon tab in Microsoft Word. X-Author uses Salesforce OAuth for connecting from X-Author Contracts to Salesforce. By using OAuth, multiple user accounts can be set up on the same computer for logging into X-Author Contracts. Once added, you can simply switch from one user to the other using the Manage Connections option.

You may need to change an Administration Setup > Security Controls > Session Settings > Session Timeout setting, as this timeout value takes precedence over OAuth and may force you to reconnect to X-Author Contracts more frequently.

To handle SSO (Single Sign-On) you can also use an Admin Setting to change the default token storage location. If you need to have storage of the session token locally for X-Author Contracts, then set the admin property APTS_EnableSessionTokenStorageInAuthor to True. If this setting is not available, then you can create it; otherwise, the session token will not be stored locally.


Connecting to Salesforce from X-Author Contracts and X-Author Templates

Connect enables users to connect to a Salesforce Production org or Salesforce Sandbox org from Microsoft Word. You can still create different connections if they work for different Production and Sandbox orgs.


You can connect for the first time, from either ribbon tab by clicking Connect. If you wish to connect to a different Salesforce org, you can click Connect again and then select Manage Connections from the drop-down picklist. 


To connect to X-Author Contracts or X-Author Templates

  • You must have Microsoft Word open.
  • You must have chosen either the X-Author Contracts or X-Author Templates tab from the Microsoft ribbon.
  1. Click Connect and select Manage Connection...
  2. In the Create a new connection section, enter the first name and last name — as they are stored in Salesforce — of a user and click login.salesforce.com or test.salesforce.com. The name can also be entered by using someone's email or another unique way of identifying a user in the system. The test.salesforce.com is commonly used for sandbox testing purposes.
  3. Click Authorize to open the Salesforce login window. Enter your credentials and click Login.
  4. If you are connecting to Salesforce via X-Author Contracts or X-Author Templates for the first time, you may need to click Allow to continue.

The X-Author Contracts and X-Author Templates ribbon options are enabled and you can now login to Chatter, Check-In and Check-Out files, or additionally display the Translate side menu when logging into Word. Once you have configured connections for multiple users, you can select a different connection. 

To revoke a connection

  1. Select Connect > Manage Connections to display the Manage Connections window. The list of users who have been configured for that computer is displayed with the option for the currently logged in user disabled.
  2. Click Revoke and then click Yes in the confirmation dialog.

That user's login credentials are removed and they cannot login to X-Author Contracts until they have a new connection created.

Behavior and Limitations

  • When you login to X-Author Contracts, the login popup does not save and display the last used user credentials.

  • If you're using Microsoft Word Version 1808, action buttons on the X-Author Contracts ribbon are active before establishing the connection.