Skip to main content

Client Notifications & Reminders

Reminders cut no-shows more than any other setting in the app. This guide covers the automated emails your clients receive, how to turn on email and text reminders, and the notifications you get as a clinician.

Setting up appointment reminders

  1. Go to Settings → Client Notifications (under Clients — practice owners and managers only).
  2. In Reminder Emails, make sure Reminders are on — it is by default.
  3. Choose the timing: send 24, 48, or 72 hours before the appointment (48 is the default). Changes save automatically.

Client Notifications settings: automated email toggles, editable templates, and the reminder timing

That's the practice-wide half. Each client also has their own switch, on by default — check it if someone reports missing reminders:

  1. Open the client's chart and click Edit.
  2. Under Reminder Preferences, confirm Email appointment reminders is on.
  3. If the client has multiple email addresses, pick which one receives reminders.

Reminder emails include a calendar invite (.ics) the client can add to their own calendar, and for telehealth sessions, the link to join.

Reminders go only for appointments still on the books — cancel or delete a session and no reminder is sent. For couples, family, and group sessions, every member gets their own reminder. For clients without their own email (a child, say), the reminder goes to the guardian's email instead, and family contacts who've been given appointment access in the portal receive reminders too.

Customizing the emails clients receive

The Automated Emails section of the same page controls the rest of client email:

  • Appointment notifications — confirmation and update emails when you accept or decline a client's online booking request. Welcome and intake emails are always sent regardless — they're functional, not promotional.
  • Click the pencil next to any template — Welcome, Appointment Confirmed, Appointment Declined, Appointment Reminder, Guardian Welcome — to rewrite it in your own voice. Insert placeholders (client name, appointment date/time, practice details, portal link) from the macro menu, and they're filled in per email.
Confirmations are for client-requested appointments

When you schedule an appointment directly, the client does not get a confirmation email — only appointments the client requested (and you approved) trigger one. The reminder email before the session is what tells directly-scheduled clients about it, so pick a reminder window that gives them enough notice.

Reminding clients to finish paperwork

To chase unfinished intake forms automatically, flip the per-client switch: client's chart → EditReminder PreferencesIncomplete document reminders. It's off by default; when on, the client is emailed before each appointment about any pending forms, consents, or measures. See Intake forms.

Setting up text (SMS) reminders

  1. Go to Settings → Client Texts.
  2. Turn on Text appointment reminders and pick the timing — 4, 24, or 48 hours before (default 24).
  3. Get each client's consent: client's chart → EditReminder PreferencesText (SMS) appointment reminders. Texting is strictly opt-in per client (the switch records their consent to receive reminder texts; message and data rates may apply, and every text ends with "Reply STOP to opt out").
Text delivery is activating

The setup above works today — settings and client consents are saved — but actual text delivery is awaiting carrier verification of the practice texting number. Set up your consents now; messages start sending automatically once verification clears. Email reminders are unaffected.

Your own notifications

What you get emailed about lives at Settings → My Notifications (under You):

My Notifications: evening summary and secure message email toggles

  • Evening Summary — a daily digest of the day's appointments and AutoPay amounts (off by default).
  • Secure Messages — an email whenever a client sends you a secure message (on by default).

Some practice events email you automatically, no setting needed: a new client request from your booking page, an appointment request from an existing client, a client cancelling a booked appointment from the portal, and a client completing the last of their intake forms.

Troubleshooting

A client says they get no reminders. Check in order: Reminders are on at Settings → Client Notifications; the client's own Email appointment reminders switch (chart → Edit → Reminder Preferences); the client actually has an email on file; and the appointment is still booked — cancelled sessions don't remind.

Can I skip the reminder for one specific appointment? No — reminders switch at the practice or client level only. If a session shouldn't be reminded about, it usually shouldn't be on the calendar as booked.

Why did a client get no confirmation when I booked them? By design — see the note above. Their reminder email will still arrive before the session.