Creating and Managing Session Notes

You can write Session Notes (or Treatment Notes) in a way that works for you and your clinical practice. Templates allow you to focus on writing these Notes without worrying about formatting or forgetting information that you need to record.

Creating a Session Note

You should Create a Session Note Template prior to creating a Note.

Left-click on the appointment on your Calendar to open the Appointment Panel on the right-hand side.
On the Appointment Details section, click on the Create a new Note icon:
You will be carried over to this client's Profile → Records → Notes. (You can always just navigate to a client's profile and click Records → Notes, without opening the appointment panel.)
To create a Session Note simply click + Create New.
If you have multiple templates to choose from, do so now.

Fill out your Session Note as required from the Template. You are able to fill out the Text fields either by
- typing;
- dictating via Speech to Text;
- handwriting using the ReMarkable tablet;
- Scribble with an e-pen.

Once complete simply click either Save as Draft (if you plan on returning to the Session Note to make changes or spell-check);
or Save and Complete which locks the Session Note from further changes. This is recommended for long-term storage and avoids unintended deletions or edits.

Hint 💡

The Session Note can be Unlocked if you are logged in as the Master User or a sole practitioner. Just navigate to the Session Note in question and click on the padlock icon shown here;

This moves the Session Note back into the Draft status for further edits.

Editing a Session Note

If it's still a Draft, you can go back into it and edit its content any time by clicking on the pencil icon. Any progress is automatically saved.

Expanding and Closing Notes

For the convenient viewing of the list of existing notes and forms, we have added the option to close and expand all notes and forms.
Each note and form, in its turn, can also be expanded and closed separately:

Watch this short tutorial here:

Displaying Notes in Two Columns

The Two Columns button allows you to display notes in two columns. In the left-side column, you can view, filter and scroll through the existing notes. In the right-side column, you can create and work on the current note.

Pinning a Session Note

By default, all Session Notes for a client are listed chronologically, with the newest at the top. If a particular Session Note is important to your client's long-term planned treatment, you can click on the pin icon which literally pins it to the top of the page regardless of its age, saving you time searching and scrolling;

Copying a Session Note

If you find yourself using the same template continuously for your sessions this makes it easy to pick the same one automatically, ready for your most recent observations.

Attaching Files to a Note

You also have the option of attaching documents and files to a Session Note. To do this simply click the paperclip icon when already editing the Session Note to reveal the ability to drag-and-drop files that are relevant to that appointment's Session for clinical recordkeeping;

After uploading, they can be clicked on and previewed inside Power Diary.

Upload Restrictions

If you try and upload a type of file we can't accept, we'll let you know. At the time of writing, valid types of files we can accept are;

jpg/jpeg and png images
csv, xls, or xlsx Worksheets
zip
PDF
doc or docx Microsoft Word documents
text/txt files
html, htm
heic

Video formats are not supported because they are typically too large, but these can be compressed into an aforementioned ZIP file.

Printing and Emailing Notes

There are several available options for obtaining a printed or digital copy of one note or all notes.

You can simply go to the client's profile, navigate to their Records → Notes and click Print All. This will generate a single PDF file that will include all the notes created in this particular client profile. Send this file to Print or save as PDF on your device to attach to an email.
When a single note needs to be printed or emailed, scroll down to the bottom of the note and click on the Print or Email buttons.
Alternatively, if you would like the entire record for the client in a machine-readable format you can go to Tools → Data Export and use the single client export function. Learn more about that at Exporting Your Data.

Frequently Asked Questions

Below are some questions that we often receive, but if there is something that you don't see covered here please feel free to let us know and we'll help you out.

How can I see who authored a Session Note?

The username of the author is displayed toward the bottom right of the Session Note.

How can I make text annotation on the annotation image?

Click on the 'A' button under the annotation chart image, click on the spot on the image where the text annotation should be added and type. Once done, hit the Enter key to save the text annotation on the chart.

Can I unlock a locked Session Note?

The Session Note can be Unlocked if you are logged in as the Master User or a sole practitioner, or if your user has the permission assigned to unlock notes you have written. Just navigate to the Session Note in question and click on the padlock icon shown here;

This moves the Session Note back into the Draft status for further edits.

I have completed a Session Note but accidentally saved it to the wrong client profile - can I delete it?

From the Master User login, go to the client's Profile → Records → Notes, click the lock icon to unlock the note. This should convert it back to a Draft, at which time the trash can icon will appear in the bottom-right of the Session Note so you can delete it.

How do I manage my Note Templates?

Session and Admin Note Templates are managed via Tools → Note Templates. You can learn about this at Creating a Session Note Template.

Will my logo print on Session Notes?

Yes. When printing Session Notes, if you have uploaded your logo at Setup → Configuration → Invoices your logo will appear on printed Session Notes.

If notes are left as a Draft indefinitely, do they stay there forever, or will they expire at some point?

They'll stay there indefinitely - as long as another user does not delete or edit it, which they could do to a Draft!

I deleted a Session Note accidentally - can you rescue it?

We do prompt you if you are sure to delete something, as this is a permanent action a Power Diary user cannot remedy:

However, if you need to restore a deleted note, please reach out to the support team via support@powerdiary.com

Can I see who and when made changes to a note?

Each session note created has a user activity log at the bottom-right of a note. Click on the View Log hyperlink to open the log to view all recorded system and user actions.