With Paperless Intakes, you can send clients different types of intake documents and consent forms to be completed electronically and returned to you before their appointment.
In this guide, we’ll cover:
- Creating a client and sending intake documents for the first time
- Customizing the Welcome message
- Checking if my client opened the intake email
- Resending the Client Portal invitation email
- Viewing the Client Portal as a client for the first time
- Updating the order of documents presented in the Client Portal
- Logging into the Client Portal with Instant Sign In or Google Sign In
- Receiving email notifications for completed intake forms
- Setting up reminders for clients to complete their intake forms
- Checking the status of intake documents that have already been shared with a client
- Printing a client's completed intake documents
- Resending a form to a client
- Deleting a completed questionnaire
- Sharing documents with existing clients
- Sharing completed intake forms with clients
- Sharing progress notes, assessments, and diagnosis and treatment plans for e-signature
- Storing client documents
- Uploading and sharing documents for individual clients
- Printing a blank version of intakes and other documents
- Important details to know
Creating a client and sending intake documents for the first time
Once your Client Portal is set up, you can create a new client and select the Paperless Intake forms you want to send to them through the Client Portal. Here's how:
- Click + Create > + Create Client
- Enter the new client's name and contact information, and select Create & Continue
- In the Send Intakes window, select which forms you want to send
- Choose Continue to Email
- Edit the email, if necessary
- Click Continue to Review
- Review the email
- If you need to make edits, click Back to Email
- Select Share & Send Now when you're ready and the client will receive the Welcome email with the Client Portal link
Note: To learn how to customize your intake form and note templates, see Creating customized templates in My Notes and Forms.
Customizing the Welcome message
When you share documents with a client or a contact for the first time, they’ll be sent the Welcome email with a link to log into the Client Portal. To customize this Welcome message:
- Navigate to Settings > Client Portal > Emails
- Click Edit next to the default Welcome message for clients
Important: When editing the Welcome message, don’t delete the {practice_client_portal_login_link} macro. This macro generates a button that clients can click directly in the email to login to their Client Portal. For more information, see Explaining client email and reminder macros.
- Click Contact and Couple Emails to edit the default Welcome message for contacts and couples
Note: If you're working with couple clients and would like to learn more about setting up a couple, see Enhanced Client Management for couples. If you're working with minor clients and would like to learn more about setting up a minor client and their contacts, see Enhanced Client Management for minors.
Checking if my client opened the Welcome email and logged into the Client Portal
You can check on whether your new client has opened the Welcome email and logged into the Client Portal. To do this:
- Navigate to your client's Overview page
- Click Edit > Client Portal
- Under Client Portal Access, you’ll see either the last time and date the client logged into the Client Portal or if the client has yet to log in, you’ll see this yellow notification: Invitation sent – client has not signed in yet.
Resending the Client Portal invitation email
To resend the Client Portal invitation email to your client:
- Navigate to the client's Overview page
- Click Edit > Client Portal
- Under Client Portal Access, check the box for Resend email invitation
Note: The Resend email invitation box will only appear if the client has not yet signed into the Client Portal. If the client has already signed in and they need help logging in, we recommend sending them your Client Portal link so they can generate a login email via Instant Sign In.
- Edit and review the email content
- Click Send Email
Tip: If you update a client's email address in the Client Info tab, you'll also want to resend the Client Portal invitation email in the Client Portal tab.
Viewing the Client Portal as a client for the first time
This video will show you all of the optional features of the Client Portal, from the client perspective:
Tip: Create a test client using your own contact information. This way you can practice sharing documents and preview intake forms you plan to send.
Updating the order of documents presented in the Client Portal
The intake forms and consent documents you share will be presented to your client in the order that you see at Settings > Client Portal > Shared Documents and Files.
If you'd like for your clients to see the forms in a different order, you can:
- Rearrange the order of these forms by deleting and recreating them in a specific order
- Send the forms to your client one at a time in the order that you'd like
Logging into the Client Portal with Instant Sign In or Google Sign In
Clients and contacts have two options for signing into the Client Portal: Instant Sign In and Google Sign In.
With Instant Sign In, your clients will be able to use a unique link to sign into their Client Portal each time. This removes the need for your clients to memorize a password and improves the overall security of their Client Portal account.
With Google Sign In, clients who have a Gmail email address associated with their Client Portal have the option to sign in with their Google account credentials.
To learn more about how to invite a new client to the Client Portal, and to help clients that are having trouble signing in, see Assisting clients with signing into the Client Portal.
Note: For step-by-step instructions on signing into the Client Portal, you can share this guide with your clients: Logging in to the Client Portal.
Receiving email notifications for completed intake forms
When a client has completed all of their pending documents in the Client Portal, you’ll receive an email alerting you that the documents have been completed.
The client must complete all of their documents in order for you to receive this email.
Checking the status of intake documents that have already been shared with a client
You can view the status of each intake document that you’ve shared with a client on their client Overview page in the Shared with Client section:
In this section, you'll find the status under each document. Here’s what each status indicates:
Status | Definition |
Sent |
The document has been sent to the client. |
Viewed |
The document has been sent and the client has viewed it in the Client Portal. |
Reviewing |
The client has filled out the document and is currently reviewing their responses before submitting. |
Signed |
The document has been filled out and signed by the client. |
Completed |
The document has been filled out and completed by the client. |
Setting up reminders for clients to complete their intake forms
Automated email and text reminders can be enabled so that clients are notified to complete their intake paperwork in the Client Portal before their appointment. When email or text reminders are enabled, an automatic reminder is sent to clients that have incomplete paperwork.
First you’ll want to make sure the client has Client Portal access at their Overview page > Edit > Client Portal. If they don’t have access, you can grant access by clicking Send email.
Note: To learn more about granting Client Portal access, please see Inviting clients to the Client Portal.
To enable Completing documents email reminders for a client:
- Navigate to the client’s Overview page
- Click Edit
- Check the box for Completing documents under Send email reminders for
- Click Save Client
If you’d like to customize the email template that’s sent to your clients, you can do so from your Client Reminders page. To do this:
- Navigate to Settings > Client Reminders > Email
- Select Edit next to Complete Documents
- Adjust default message as needed
- Click Save
To enable Document reminders via text for a client:
- Navigate to the client’s Overview page
- Click Edit
- Check the box for Send incomplete document reminders under Phone
- Click Save Client
If you’d like to customize the text reminder that’s sent to your clients, you can do so from your Client Reminders page. To do this:
- Navigate to Settings > Client Reminders > Text
- Select the Document reminders tab
- Edit the message in the Customize text reminder field
- Click Save changes
Printing a client's completed intake documents
Your client's completed intake forms and questionnaires are located on their Overview page under Shared with Client. You can click on the name of each document to open it.
When viewing the document, click the printer icon in the top right corner.
Resending a form to a client
If a form was already completed and submitted to you, you can resend the same form. To do this:
- Navigate to the client’s Overview page
- Click Share in the upper right corner
If a form has not been completed by the client yet, but has already been sent, you can delete the first request and then resend the form. To do this:
- Navigate to client's Overview page
- Under Shared With Client, click the X next to the form with a Sent status
- Click Delete now in the confirmation modal that appears
- Choose Share in the upper right corner of the client Overview page
- You can also click Share New under Shared With Client
- Select the form you want to resend to the client
- Review your selection and the associated email, then click Share & Send Now
Note: If the template you want to resend has been deleted or disabled on the My Notes and Forms page, it won’t be available to share with clients. To learn more, see Enabling or disabling an intake form.
Deleting a completed questionnaire
There are two ways an Account Owner can delete a questionnaire that's already been completed by a client.
Note: This will remove the questionnaire from both the client's chart and their Client Portal. If you delete a completed form, the document is unable to be recovered. To learn about saving records of completed forms, see Printing a client's completed intake documents.
From the client’s Overview page
- Navigate to the client's Overview page
- Hover your mouse over the completed questionnaire
- Click the trash can icon
- Confirm you'd like to delete the questionnaire by clicking Delete now in the confirmation modal that appears
Under Shared With Client
- Navigate to the client's Overview page
- Under Shared With Client, click the completed questionnaire
- Click the trash can icon in the top right corner
- Confirm you'd like to delete the questionnaire by clicking Delete now in the confirmation modal that appears
Sharing documents with existing clients
To share documents with an existing client:
- Navigate to the client’s Overview page
- Click Share in the upper right corner
- You can also click Share New in the Shared with Client box
- Select the documents you want to send to your client in the Share items window, then click Continue to Email
- Customize the email as needed, then click Continue to Review
- Select Share & Send Now when you're ready to send the client the email and documents
When your client logs into the Client Portal, they’ll see all the pending and completed documents that you’ve shared with them. This helps them easily track what they need to complete and send back to you. Here’s the client view of the Client Portal Documents tab:
- Once your client has completed the requested documents, you can locate the completed forms on the client's Overview page under Shared With Client
Sharing completed intake forms with clients
Once a client completes their Paperless Intakes, the completed copies aren’t available for them to view within their Client Portal. Clients will only be able to view their completed intake forms if you download their intake forms, upload them to the client’s profile, and share them with them.
To download the completed intake forms, follow these steps:
- Navigate to your client's Overview page
- Locate the Shared with Client section
- Click Show Completed
- Select the document
- Click the Download icon to download the document to your device
If you filled out the Notes field on a completed intake form, that note will be present within the downloaded file.
To make any changes to the note:
- Click Edit Notes at the bottom of the completed intake form
- Adjust the contents of the note
- Click Save Notes
Note: If you’ve already downloaded the completed intake form and want to make edits to the Notes section, you’ll need to re-download and share the document with your client after the changes have been made.
Once the file has been shared, your client will be able to download the file from the Documents tab in their Client Portal.
Note: For more information on this, see What clients see when they log into the Client Portal.
Sharing progress notes, assessments, and diagnosis and treatment plans with clients for e-signature
You can share signed and locked progress notes, assessments, and diagnosis & treatment plans with clients or contacts so they can be electronically signed via the Client Portal. To do this:
- Navigate to the client's Overview page
- Click Share in the upper right corner
- Select the document you’d like to share under Your Signed Documents
Note: This feature won't be available for clients that haven't logged into their Client Portal yet.
- Select the documents you want your client to sign under Your Signed Documents
- The Your Signed Documents section will list the 5 documents that have been most recently locked and signed by the clinician.
Note: This feature won't be available for clients that haven't logged into their Client Portal yet.
- Click Continue to Review
- Select Share & Send Now when you're ready to send the email and documents
You can also share a document directly from its respective page. To do this:
- Navigate to the desired document from the client's Overview page
- Click Share
- Click Continue to Email
- Click Continue to Review
- Select Share & Send Now when you're ready to send the email and documents
Important: A document must be signed and locked before it can be sent. If a clinician is under supervision, their supervisor will also need to sign and lock the document before it can be sent to the client for e-signature.
The client or contact will be notified that a document has been shared with them through the Client Portal and will receive a link to sign in. When logged in, they'll see the document under the Needs to be completed section.
- Once the document has been signed, you can see the date it was signed in the Shared With Client box
- After the client signs the document, it'll appear in your account with both of your signatures.
Storing client documents
You can store nearly any type of digital file or document, including Word documents, PDFs, photos, video clips, sound recordings, spreadsheets, and more. The only requirement is that the file is 10MB or less.
You can store documents or images in the client's Overview page in the Uploaded Files section. To do this, either click Upload in the upper right hand corner, or click Upload New in the Uploaded Files section:
Alternatively, you can attach files to an individual progress note by clicking the paper clip icon:
After you upload a file from a progress note or from the client's Overview page, it will be accessible in the Uploaded Files section. In that section, you can change the name of a file by clicking the pencil icon.
Note: There’s no storage limit, and any file uploaded to this section will only be visible to you unless you share the document directly with the client.
Uploading and sharing documents for individual clients
You can upload documents from your computer or device to share to individual clients through the Client Portal. For instructions on how to upload a file to a client's Overview page, see our section How do I store client documents?
Note: To learn how to upload and share documents to multiple clients on a practice level, see Customizing and adding new practice documents.
Printing a blank version of the intake questionnaire
Yes, if your client doesn't use email, you can provide a blank form to collect intake information. However, the process to get this information into SimplePractice involves a few extra steps. For more information on how to print blank forms, see How do I print blank forms?
Important details to know
- SimplePractice doesn’t retain data that has been deleted from your account. We recommend using caution when deleting form templates and completed documents, as well as printing or saving a copy for your records prior to deletion. To learn more, see:
- If you didn’t include a link to the client's Demographic information, intake, or practice documents when you first created them, you can share these documents with them at any time. For instructions on how to share documents with clients, see Sharing documents with existing clients.
- If you'd like for clients to be able to share documents with you, see Allowing clients to upload documents to the Client Portal.
- You can always disable/re-enable the Client Portal to trigger a new email being sent to your new or existing client. To learn more, see How to individually update and troubleshoot the Client Portal for a client.
- You’re unable to view the content of a customized email after it’s been sent. You can only see that the email was sent in your Account Activity and in your Sent emails report. To learn more about Account Activity and reports, see: