Each note is associated with a patient in the database. This section will outline how to create, organize, lock and archive patient notes.
Creating a Note
Blank patient notes can be created from scratch or from a template. For either method, having a patient selected will create a New Note for them. Not having a patient selected will display a search window, allowing for the search or selection of a patient record.
Creating a Blank Note
To create a blank note, select the New Note node in the sidebar, and click the green plus button in the upper left corner of the MacPractice window. A blank text document will be created. The margins and default font for the note are set in the Notes Preferences.
Text can be typed directly into the note, pull fields can be dragged and dropped to add information from the patient's account, or Parts can be dragged and dropped to populate predefined text and data. The document can be formatted with the standard word processor tools (fonts, styles, bullet points, justification, tabs, and so on.)
- Select the template in the sidebar and click the plus button to create a new patient note.
- Drag the patient name or appointment from the sidebar to the Note Template in the sidebar of the Patients or Schedule ability. If the Appointment pull fields (not the Appointment Table pull fields) are present in a template, the note must be created by dragging the appointment to the note template in the sidebar of the Scheduling ability. Otherwise, MacPractice will not be able to determine which appointment's information should be pulled into the note.
- Drag a patient's name or a list of names from the List tab in the Drawer to the Note Template (this can be done in the Patients, Schedule, or Notes abilities).

If the note has not been printed prior to locking it, an alert will display and prompt the user for a course of action. Click Don't Print to simply lock the note without printing, Cancel to return to the note without locking it, or Print to print a copy of the note and lock the record. Locked notes can still be printed at a later date, if necessary.

If the note has already been printed only a confirmation message will display. Click Lock to lock the note or Cancel to return to the note without locking it. Check "Don't ask me again" to automatically lock notes without viewing this prompt in the future.

A new window will open with a list of archived notes. By default all notes will be displayed. You can use the Filter By Patient menu to view only a selected patient's notes. Check the Retrieve checkbox next to the note or notes you wish to unarchive, and click the OK button. The note will be added back to the New Note or Locked node, depending on whether the note was locked before it was archived.


Depending on your Preference settings, notes associated to archived incidents may be hidden in the Notes ability.
Display Notes in the Ledger
