SimplePractice now automatically saves your progress notes and psychotherapy notes as you work, so you no longer have to manually save it for every edit you make.
In this guide, we'll cover:
- Knowing when autosave occurs
- Understanding autosave for progress notes
- Previewing, deleting, downloading, and printing your notes
- FAQs
Note: Autosave for progress notes and psychotherapy notes is being released gradually. If this updated workflow isn't visible in your account yet, it will become available as the rollout continues.
Knowing when autosave occurs
For all appointment types, autosave is triggered for progress notes and psychotherapy notes when:
- You stop typing for 15 seconds
- If you start typing again, the countdown resets
- You click anywhere outside the note field to another field on the appointment page
- You leave the page, close the tab, or your browser crashes
- You sign and lock your note (applicable only to progress notes)
When a note is saved, you’ll see the last saved timestamp below the note field.
After a progress note or psychotherapy note has been autosaved, you can edit by typing your updates directly into the text field.
Understanding autosave for progress notes
If your progress note template has no required fields, your note saves to the client record automatically as you work and is accessible across devices and other browsers.
If your progress note template has any required fields, autosave works in two stages:
- Your in-progress work is temporarily saved to your browser, but won't permanently save to the client record until all required fields are complete
- When required fields are not filled in, you won’t see the progress note preview on the client Overview page
- You can edit this note by clicking +Progress note and you’ll be returned to your draft note
Important: If you clear your browser cache before filling in required fields in a progress note, your note will be deleted.
- Once you fill in all required fields, your note saves to the client record and becomes accessible across all your devices and browsers
- These completely filled in notes are visible from the client Overview page
For more information, see Navigating the client Overview page.
Note: We recommend working on a progress note in only one tab in a browser at a time. If you have the same appointment page open in multiple tabs, changes made in one tab won't appear in the others until you reload the pages.
You can sign a note by clicking Sign and following the instructions.
For more information, see Signing and locking progress notes.
Autosave for group appointments
A group progress note and individual progress notes within a group appointment autosave independently from one another.
Note: The group note is added to all participating clients’ records. Individual progress notes are only added to the respective client’s record.
Each note for a group appointment can also be deleted independently, by clicking Delete group note or Delete note.
Once notes are signed and locked, you can share them with clients. For more information, see Sharing group progress notes with clients for e-signature.
Autosave under supervision
Progress notes autosave for supervisees, who can click Sign and share when they’re ready to share with their supervisor.
For more information, see Reviewing and signing documentation under supervision.
Previewing, deleting, downloading, and printing your notes
You can preview or delete your drafted and autosaved progress notes at any time. To do this:
- Click the dropdown menu next to the progress note
- Select Preview to review your note before signing
- If the option to preview is grayed out, the progress note field is either empty, or required fields within the note have not been filled in
- Click Delete to permanently delete your note
To download or print your note while previewing, click the download icon or the print icon.
FAQs
- What’s changed from the previous workflow?
- How does this work with Note Taker and Care Aide?
- Can I access my work from different devices?
What’s changed from the previous workflow?
Your workflow remains the same. You'll still create notes, preview them, and sign them just like before. The key improvement is automatic protection, since your work now saves as you type, and there’s no risk of losing a progress note or psychotherapy note if you forget to manually save, or if your browser crashes.
There are a few visual changes:
- There’s no longer a Save button for progress notes or psychotherapy notes. For progress notes, you can go directly to signing and locking your note. For psychotherapy notes, your work will save as you type and there are no additional steps needed on your end.
- The dropdown menu for progress notes includes a new Preview option, which is also where you can go to download or print your notes. For more information, see Previewing, deleting, downloading, and printing your notes.
How does this work with Note Taker and Care Aide?
When Note Taker generates a progress note for you, the AI-generated content you load into your note is saved automatically.
To approve the AI-generated note:
- Review the content and make any needed edits directly in the text field
- Click Sign to sign and lock the note
If you try to sign and lock the note without making any changes to the AI-generated content, you'll see a prompt asking you to confirm that you've reviewed the note. This ensures you've reviewed the AI-generated content before signing.
Can I access my work from different devices?
Once all required fields are complete, if applicable, you can access your notes from any device or browser where you're logged into SimplePractice. If you have required fields that remain empty, your note will be saved to your browser and can still be accessed on the same device and browser, as long as you don’t clear your browser cache.