Building note templates

A note template is a reusable skeleton for clinical documentation. Instead of writing a SOAP note from a blank page every visit, you apply a template and fill in the gaps. Templates are what make the AI-drafted note and the visit summary consistent across your practice.

The Templates page

In the left sidebar, click Library, then click Templates — "create and manage templates with [placeholder] syntax".

Use Templates in the Library menu (1) to open this page from the left sidebar. Your templates (2) is the place for templates your practice already owns. Use New Template (3) to start a template from scratch. Use the Library specialty tabs (4) to switch between the library shelves, and open A library template card (5) to preview or import one.

The page uses a sidebar rail instead of a grid. The rail holds your templates, All templates, and the library shelves. On mobile, use Show to switch between those places. The main pane shows one place at a time, with New Template to build one and the library below it.

Import a ready-made template

In the left sidebar, click Library, then click Templates. The fastest start is to import. The library is tagged by specialty — All, SOAP, Intake, Referrals, Primary Care, Mental Health, Therapy, Pediatrics, Functional Medicine — with a count on each shelf.

Use Preview (1) to read the template before you take it. Use Import (2) to copy it into your own templates, where you can edit it.

Each card shows the template name, a description, and the specialty it belongs to. Two actions:

• Preview — read the template before taking it.
• Import — copy it into your own templates, where you can edit it.

After import, the button changes to Added. In the preview dialog, Open template appears so you can jump straight to the copy you just imported.

The library covers the common note types out of the box: SOAP Note, Past Surgical History (PSHx), Past Medical History (PMHx), ADHD Assessment, Therapy Progress Note, Pediatric Well Visit, Mental Status Exam, Treatment Plan Update, Discharge Summary, Follow-Up Visit, Medication Review, Care Coordination Note, Medical Referral Letter, Comprehensive Encounter Note, and more.

Import first, edit second. It's faster to take the closest match and adjust it than to build from nothing, and the imported version is fully yours to change.

Placeholders

The defining feature is [placeholder] syntax. Text in square brackets becomes a fill-in field when the template is applied to a visit — [patient name], [reason for visit], [chief complaint]. The SOAP template, for example, lays out Subjective / Objective / Assessment / Plan with placeholders for the patient's presentation and history.

When the AI drafts a note or you apply the template manually, those placeholders are where the specific content goes. Everything outside the brackets stays fixed, which is what keeps notes consistent.

Name placeholders for what goes in them, clearly enough that anyone on the team knows what to write. [reason for visit] is self-explanatory; [field1] is not.

Build your own

In the left sidebar, click Library, then click Templates. Click New Template to start from scratch. Write your structure as plain text and mark the fill-in points with [square brackets].

A good template is mostly fixed structure with placeholders only where content genuinely varies. If nearly everything is a placeholder, the template isn't saving anyone time — the value is in the fixed scaffolding around the gaps.

Where templates are used

Templates surface in three places:

• Summary template — open a visit (in the left sidebar, click Visits, then click the visit) and use Summary template on Summary to apply one directly. See Creating a consultation / starting a visit.
• AI-drafted notes — the note generator uses your template as its structure, so the draft comes back already shaped.
• Template picker — choose a template from the note template picker when you are starting a note.

Related library pages sit alongside this one: Interviews (patient-facing intake forms) and Consents (forms sent for signature).