Aline can automatically detect when one document relates to another — an amendment to its MSA, an SOW under an ISA, or a numbered series of order forms — and flag them as parent–child relationships. This guide shows how to review those flagged links and where to find them afterward, so related agreements stay connected across your repository.
⚠️ Parent–child agreement detection is an Enterprise capability that Aline turns on for your account, and it uses tokens as it scans your repository. If you don't see relationship flags, contact Aline to have it enabled.
How Relationships Are Detected
Aline flags a relationship only when both of these are true:
The related agreement is also in your repository, and
It is referenced by name in the document.
An amendment that doesn't name its underlying agreement, or whose agreement hasn't been uploaded, won't be linked.
Step 1: Review Flagged Relationships
When Aline detects relationships, a notification icon with a count appears at the top right of your Documents view.
Click the relationship notification icon (it shows how many flagged relationships are waiting).
Click View on the flagged set.
Review the proposed links. Today you accept all or reject all — there is no per-link partial accept.
To accept, select the set and click the checkmark (not the X).
💡 Best Practice: accept the flagged relationships. Once Aline adds per-type filtering, your accepted links carry forward automatically.
Step 2: Spot Linked Documents in the Repository
After you accept, a relationship icon appears next to a document in the repository, so you can tell at a glance which documents have linked files.
Step 3: See Relationships Inside a Document
Open any document and go to Document Analysis. Even when your repository isn't grouped, Document Analysis always shows any document flagged as a relationship — plus a Parties field that Aline recognized automatically.
Step 4: Group Your Repository by Relationships
Relationships are not shown grouped by default. To view your repository grouped by linked documents:
In Documents, click Display.
Choose Group by, then Relationships.
Finding Every Document for One Party
Parent–child is not the same as "same customer." Aline already groups by Parties, recognized automatically on upload. To see everything for one party, click the party in Document Analysis, or open the Parties tab and select it. You can also filter by party in the document repository.
Known Limitation
⚠️ If you filter the repository by contract Type (for example, only Amendments), a linked parent of a different type won't appear above its child while that filter is active. The link still exists — the filtered view just hides the parent. A fix to keep parents visible under a type filter is on the roadmap.
💡 Best Practices
Upload the underlying agreements before their amendments and SOWs, so the references resolve.
Accept flagged relationships rather than rejecting them.
Use Display → Group by → Relationships for a relationship view, and Parties for an everything-for-this-customer view.
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❓ Need Help?
Click the Support button in Aline to reach our team.