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A template is the shape of a whole note: sections, prompts and fields already laid out, so you fill in rather than compose. ClinikEHR ships a library of them, and your practice builds its own as note forms.

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What you’re looking at

Templates opens with a card — Build your own note template as a form — carrying Create a note form and Browse templates. Below it the page is headed Pre-built templates — “Simplify documentation with pre-built templates” — and carries a yellow panel you should read once:
Legal Disclaimer: Templates are for reference only. It is your responsibility to customize them and ensure they meet the legal requirements of your state.
Below it, a Search templates… box and the library grouped into categories: General/Standard, Scored measures, Intake forms, Progress notes / Session notes, Diagnosis and Treatment Plans, Mental Health, Dental, Ophthalmology, Physiotherapy, Med Spa and Other Documents. Every card carries a Use button and a ⋮ menu. This page has no empty state: the library is fixed, so a brand-new practice sees every category on day one. The only blank view is a search that matched nothing — “No templates found. Try adjusting your search terms.”
Delete on a pre-built template replies “Delete functionality is disabled in static mode” and removes nothing. The shipped library is shared and cannot be edited away. If one does not suit how you work, build a note form with the sections you need.

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Use a template

1

Choose one

Select Use on the card. It opens in the Template Notes editor — “Create structured clinical documentation”. A pre-built template is not a note form; only templates your practice builds in the form builder are.
2

Pick the client

Set Client at the top. Two of the header buttons — Upload file and Load last note — stay disabled until you have.
3

Pull forward what you wrote last time

Load last note opens Previous Template Notes for this client. Choose one and its content loads into the form, so a review appointment does not start from a blank page.
4

Work down the form

Each section has its own field. Upload file attaches supporting material, and AI Note Taker drafts the whole thing from a recording — see Generate a note with AI.The form saves itself as you go. The chip beside the title reads Saving…, then Saved at 14:32:07, and Unsaved changes when there is something not yet written down.
5

Finish it

Save Draft keeps it editable. Sign & Lock finishes it — and saves a draft for you first, so nothing is lost between the two. Export PDF needs the note saved: an unsaved one replies “Note not saved — Please save the note as a draft before exporting.” Send, beside it, needs the same saved note and emails the client a private link instead of the file — see Send a report securely.
If you open the form without choosing a template you see No Template Selected — “Choose a template to begin documenting your note” — and a Choose a template… picker.

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Build your practice’s own: a note form

Your practice’s own note templates are built as note forms, in the same form builder as your other forms.
1

Start one

On Templates or Custom Templates, select Create a note form. A blank note form opens in the form builder. To start from somebody else’s, select Browse templates instead — the template gallery opens showing note templates only — and choose one. Browse scored measures opens the gallery on scored measures such as the PHQ-9 or GAD-7.
2

Add its questions

Lay out the questions the note should ask, exactly as you would build any form — see Build a form.
3

Publish it

Select Publish. A draft note form is not offered for notes: only a published one appears where you start a note.
4

Write a note on it

Open the client’s record, go to Notes, select New note, then open Choose a template…. Your published note forms are listed first, under Forms, together with your published scored measures, which are marked Scored. Answers save as you go, and Export PDF downloads the note with every answer in it.A note form split into pages has Back and Next to move between them. There is no Submit: the note saves itself, and you finish it with the note’s own buttons, as you would any other note.

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Open a note written on a note form

A note written on a note form opens only from the client’s record. Open the client, go to Notes, and select the note. It does not open in the Template Notes or Blank Note editors on the Notes page. Those editors file each answer under a section’s name, while a note form files each answer under its own question. Opening one in the other would show every section empty, and saving would write those empty sections over the real answers. So instead of opening it, the Notes page tells you where it lives:
This note was written on one of your clinic’s forms, so it opens in the client’s record rather than here. Nothing has been lost — the record still holds every answer.
A note written on a scored measure puts its score on the client’s Measures once the note is finished — saved as final or signed — exactly as if the client had filled in the form themselves. A draft note puts nothing on the chart. Changing a finished note’s answers updates its score. If the form came from a template whose author asks for credit, the note’s heading names it — for example “Based on “PHQ-9” by ClinikEHR.” — and so does the exported PDF.
A note keeps the version of the form it was started on. Publishing changes to the form later never changes a note that was already written.
If your practice has no published note form yet, Choose a template… shows Create a note form and Browse templates under the list, so you can build one from there.

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Custom Templates

Select Custom Templates in the left rail. It lists the templates your practice built before note forms, with a card at the top — Custom templates are now read-only — new note templates are forms. Custom templates are read-only. You can still Use one to write a note, and every note already written on one still opens, signs and exports. You can no longer create a custom template or change one — changing a template’s sections would stop the notes already written on it from opening. Each card offers Use, and a ⋮ menu with Use Template, Preview, Copy Content and Delete. Each shows Created by and its author’s name.

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Convert a custom template to a note form

1

Convert it

Select Convert to form on the card. A new draft note form is created from the template’s sections. The template itself, and every note written on it, is left exactly as it was.
2

Check it

The card now reads Converted — draft, with Open and the form’s name. Open it and check the questions — a message after converting names anything the old template could not carry across.
3

Publish it

Publish the form. The card then reads Note form published — “Choose it under New note on a client’s record.”
Delete asks you to confirm, and removes the template for everybody in the practice. A template that notes were written with cannot be deleted, so those notes keep opening.

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Who can do this

Create a note form and Convert to form only appear for people who may manage forms. See Staff permissions.

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Check it worked

A template you used opens as Template Notes with its sections in place, and the finished note appears under Recent Notes on the Notes dashboard against the right client. A note form you published is listed under Forms when you open Choose a template… on a new note on a client’s record.

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Common issues

You opened a note written on a note form from somewhere other than the client’s record — for example View under Recent Notes. Nothing has been lost: every answer is still on the note. Open the client, go to Notes, and select the note there to read or continue it. See Open a note written on a note form.
Custom templates can no longer be created. Build a note form instead — Create a note form on Templates or Custom Templates.
It is still a draft. Open it and publish it; only published note forms are offered. Note forms are chosen on a new note on a client’s record.
That template holds written text rather than fields. Keep using it as it is, or build a note form by hand and copy the text across with Copy Content.
Deleting it would leave those notes with nothing to open under. Leave it in place — nobody has to use it for new notes.
You tried to delete a pre-built template. They cannot be removed. Build a note form with the sections you need and use that instead.
Both need a client selected — one attaches a file to their record, the other reads their history. Set Client first.
Nothing has been written for this client on this template before. It is a genuine “nothing to load”, not a fault.

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FAQ

Not in place. Build a note form with the questions you need, or use Copy Content to lift the template’s text into one.
A note written on a custom template is stored against that template’s section names. Changing a section would stop every note already written on it from opening. Convert the template to a note form to keep improving it — a note form keeps each note on the version it was written against.
A template is a whole note laid out for you. A snippet is a paragraph you drop into any note. See Snippets.
No. A note keeps the content it was saved with, and a note written on a note form keeps the version of the form it was started on.
On the client’s chart, exactly like a quick note, and in Recent Notes with a Template Note type label.
No. It saves a draft first, then opens the signing sheet.