Document 'dis-assembly is the process by which an existing document is deconstructed into its component parts. The individual pieces are saved as separate clauses ('building blocks') in a designated folder or glossary. These pieces form the clauses from which a wide variety of new documents can be assembled.

   Building documents from clauses is one of the two basic approaches to 'document assembly.' The alternative method is 'template based' assembly. There, you start with a complete (actually overbuilt) document and, by answering questions strategically placed within the document, you remove those portions of the template that are not needed for the particular project.

   Which approach you use is one of the more important choice you will make in setting up your system. Each has its advantages. Click here for a full discussion and comparison of clause-based ('building blocks') versus template based document assembly.  

   You probably already have many documents that are ideal for dis-assembly. The ones found in your 'office forms' folder certainly qualify. So do the ones found in treatises and form books to which you subscribe, or those that you received at Continuing Professional Education courses.

   Pathagoras provides you three primary document dis-assembly methods. (Within each major method, there are minor variations in the 'marking' process.)  We have called them "Highlight & Add", "Bulk-Add" and "Instant Book". After a brief discussion of elements and issues common to each, the techniques are discussed and fully illustrated in the following sections of this Manual.