Exporting client information is simple with our data export feature. In a solo practice, you can export data for a single client or for all of your clients at once. If you’re in a group practice, you also have the option to export data for all of a primary clinician’s clients.
Exporting your data can help you maintain accurate records or comply with requests from verified third parties such as lawyers, law enforcement agencies, or court systems. Whether you're looking to to cancel your account or back up your client records, we recommend performing a data export.
Note: If you or a team member are transferring between SimplePractice accounts and need help exporting data, see our guide for Transferring client data between SimplePractice accounts.
In this guide, we'll cover:
Exporting client data
Account Owners and practice managers with data export permissions are able to perform data exports. If you're a clinician that is part of a group practice, you'll need to contact your Account Owner or practice manager to request a data export. If you have multiple clinicians in your practice, you’ll see an option to filter your export by primary clinician.
To initiate a data export:
- Navigate to Settings > Practice > Data export
- Click Start export
- Choose whether you’d like to export data for All clients in the practice, One client, or All clients for one clinician (for group practices only)
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- If you choose All clients for one clinician, use the dropdown menu to Select a primary clinician
- Select the type of export you’d like to perform: Complete, Sessions, or Contacts
| Export types | Information included |
| Complete |
Progress notes, psychotherapy notes, mental status exams, other documents, diagnosis and treatment plans, chart notes, administrative notes, client contact information, insurance claims, invoices, statements, statements for insurance reimbursement (superbills), intake questionnaires, Secure Messages, and stored documents |
| Sessions |
Progress notes, psychotherapy notes, mental status exams, other documents, diagnosis and treatment plans, chart notes, and intake questionnaires
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| Contacts | Client contact information exported in vCard (.vcf) format for easy import into Google, Outlook, and Apple contacts, and other address book programs |
Note: With a Complete export, all Secure Messages for the client(s) will be downloaded. This includes messages sent to any clinician within the practice. If a client is seen by multiple clinicians, we highly recommend that you review their file before sharing it with others. Client announcements are not included in data exports at this time.
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The Require a password to open file (recommended) option will be selected by default
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If Require a password to open file (recommended) is selected, a unique password will be required to access the file
- Access to the data export and its password will expire after 48 hours
- If you’d prefer to opt out of password protecting the file, uncheck the Require a password to open file (recommended) box
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If Require a password to open file (recommended) is selected, a unique password will be required to access the file
- Click Export
Downloading and viewing your data export
Generating your export will take a few minutes. You'll receive an email notification when the file is ready to download.
To download your data export:
- Return to Settings > Practice > Data export
- Under Status, click the link to download the file to your computer
- If you chose to password protect the file, you’ll be prompted to enter the password after downloading the file
When viewing the exported file, the information will be divided into the following folders:
| Folders | Information included |
| Billing Documents |
Insurance claims, invoices, statements, and statements for insurance reimbursement (superbills) If a client has insurance information in their profile, it will be included in this folder |
| Contacts | Client contact information |
| Medical Records |
Progress notes, mental status exams, other documents, diagnosis and treatment plans, administrative notes, chart notes, and intake questionnaires While administrative notes are included in this folder, they're not typically considered part of a client's clinical record |
| Psychotherapy Notes | Any Psychotherapy notes you have created for each client |
| Secure Messages | Secure Messaging history with each client, contact, and team member within the practice |
| Stored Documents | Any documents you have stored in each client's profile |
Client contact information will appear as a vCard (.vcf file), Secure Messages will appear as a plain text (.txt) file, and all other documents will appear as PDFs. To see how you can export your client contact information in another format, see How can I download my client’s contact information exported in CSV or Excel format?
After downloading the data export, you can print any of the included documents. To do this, open the document you'd like to print and select Command P or Control P.
FAQs
- Why is my data export asking for a password?
- Where's the data export password? My account password doesn't work for the data export.
- How is client documentation timestamped in a data export?
- Are data exports logged in the Account Activity page?
- Who can perform a data export?
- What data will be included in an export for clients seen by multiple clinicians?
- Why am I getting an error message when trying to open the exported file?
- How can I download my client's contact information in CSV for Excel format?
- Are client appointments included in a data export?
Why is my data export asking for a password?
When you request a data export, the exported file will be protected and encrypted with a secure password. If you don’t want to password protect the data, you can deselect the checkbox next to Require a password to open file (recommended) before clicking Export. We don’t recommend disabling this feature.
Where's the data export password? My account password doesn't work for the data export.
SimplePractice will generate a unique password for each data export. This will be different from your account password.
To view your data export password, navigate to Settings > Practice > Data export. You can click Copy in the Password column, then paste the password into the required field when you open your export.
Note: You’ll also receive an email from SimplePractice with your data export password.
Access to the data export and password will expire from the Data export page after 48 hours. If you can’t locate your data export password or the email containing this information, you’ll need to request a new export.
Important: We aren’t able to retrieve passwords for expired data exports.
How is client documentation timestamped in a data export?
When client documentation is downloaded from a client’s profile or as part of a data export, there are two timestamps included at the bottom of the document: Created on and Last updated on.
The Created on timestamp corresponds with the date and time the document was created. If the document was edited after it was created, the Last updated on timestamp will update accordingly.
You can edit the date and time for chart notes, mental status exams, and diagnosis and treatment plans to accurately reflect when these occurred.
To do this for a chart note, navigate to the client’s Overview page, hover over the entry to click Edit, and adjust the date and time:
For a mental status exam, hover over the entry to click Edit and adjust the Date and time:
To do this for a diagnosis and treatment place, navigate to the client’s Overview page, open the document in question, and adjust the Date and time of diagnosis fields:
For chart notes, the date and time assigned to the chart note will be reflected at the top of the downloaded document under Noted on. This will appear in addition to the Created on and Last updated on sections at the bottom of the page.
For mental status exams and diagnosis and treatment plans, the downloaded document won’t include a Noted on section and will only show the Created on and Last updated on timestamps.
Note: If you’d like to note when the mental status exam occurred, or when the diagnosis and treatment plan was assigned, we recommend including this information within the text of the MSE or treatment plan.
Are data exports logged in the Account Activity page?
Yes, a data export performed in your SimplePractice account will be logged in the History tab of the Account Activity page. For more information, see Account Activity: Tracking changes and information access in your account.
Who can perform a data export?
Account Owners, and Practice Managers with data export permissions are able to perform data exports. To update a practice manager's permissions:
- Navigate to Settings > Team > Team members
- Click the name of the practice manager
- Under Role info, click Edit
- Select Continue
- Under Operations, toggle Export client data on
To learn more about granting practice managers the permission to complete data exports, see Updating a team member’s role or access level.
What data will be included in an export for clients seen by multiple clinicians?
If you’re exporting data by clinician, the file will include all data for each client they’re assigned to as primary clinician. If a client was seen by multiple clinicians, the data export may include documentation for appointments held by other clinicians, depending on how appointments were scheduled. At this time, there’s no option to filter an export by client and clinician.
Note: To learn more about sharing clients while keeping documentation separate, see our guide to Sharing clients.
Why am I getting an error message when trying to open the exported file?
If you receive an error message when opening the exported file, it may be related to your browser settings. We recommend downloading the file using a different supported browser (ex: if you’re using Safari, try Google Chrome instead). For more information on supported browsers, see Minimum requirements for using SimplePractice.
How can I download my client's contact information in CSV or Excel format?
While client contact information can’t be exported in CSV or Excel format through our data export feature, the Client details report includes client contact information, including email addresses. To export this information in CSV or Excel format:
- Navigate to Analytics > Reports
- Under Clients & Appointments, select Client details
- Click Export > CSV or Excel
Are client appointments included in a data export?
Data exports don’t include client appointments or clinician’s SimplePractice calendars. However, you can generate an Appointment status report or print your calendar manually to obtain this information.
To generate an Appointment status report:
- Navigate to Analytics > Reports
- Scroll down to Clients & Appointments
- Select Appointment status
- Click Export > CSV or Excel
This report will show all appointments and other appointment details within a given date range, and can be exported in CSV or Excel format.
To print your calendar:
- Navigate to page of your calendar you want to print
- On your keyboard, select Command+P (on a Mac) or Control+P (on a PC)
- Choose your printer
- Click Print