Keeping Professional Client Notes

Learn how to document sessions, track progress, and keep organized notes for your clients. Good note-taking helps you remember what happened and deliver consistent service.

Introduction

Client notes help you remember important details, track progress over time, and provide better service. A dated record also helps you stay accountable for what you agreed with a client.

Step 1: Access Client Notes

1. Go to Clients in the sidebar
2. Click on a client name to open their profile
3. Navigate to the Notes tab
4. You'll see that client's notes

The Notes page in the sidebar shows notes across your clients, and you can pick a client there too.

Step 2: Create a New Note

To add a note:

1. Click "Add note"
2. Add an optional title and write your note in the editor
3. Choose a note type: General, Session, Progress, Medical, Financial, Personal, Important or Follow-up
4. Optionally link the note to an appointment and set a follow-up date
5. Choose who can see it: "Only me" or "Team"
6. Click "Save" (or press Cmd/Ctrl + Enter)

Step 3: Organize Notes with Types and Tags

The note type sorts notes into broad kinds, and tags add your own labels for easy searching. Some tags you might use:

• session - Regular session notes
• progress - Milestone or progress updates
• billing - Payment or invoicing notes
• health - Health-related information (notes are encrypted at rest and you can limit who sees them; ClientFlow is not HIPAA-certified and signs no BAAs)
• goal - Client goals and objectives

Add tags in the note's Tags field. Pin the notes you want to keep at the top.

Best Practices

1. SOAP Format (for healthcare professionals)

Switch on "Structured (SOAP)" in the note form to get a box for each part:

Subjective: What the client reported
Objective: What you observed
Assessment: Your professional assessment
Plan: Next steps and recommendations

2. Session Format (for coaches/trainers)

Date: [Session Date]
Duration: [Length]
Focus: [Main topic/goal]
Progress: [What was achieved]
Next Session: [Planned for next time]

3. Business Format (for consultants)

Meeting Date: [Date]
Attendees: [Who was present]
Discussion Points: [Key topics]
Action Items: [Next steps]
Follow-up: [When to reconnect]

Save formats like these as note templates (see Templates and Shortcuts below) so you do not retype them.

Privacy and Security

Handling Sensitive Health Notes

ClientFlow is not HIPAA-certified and does not sign Business Associate Agreements. These are general hygiene steps, not a compliance programme:

• Set sensitive notes to "Only me": only the person who wrote one can see it, whatever their role
• Enable two-factor authentication (Settings → Security)
• Note that notes are encrypted at rest, and that file uploads are encrypted in transit and at rest by our storage provider, but not with client-side or end-to-end encryption — assess that against your own obligations before storing medical records

GDPR and Your Clients' Data (EU Clients)

• Notes are encrypted at rest
• If a client asks for a copy of their information, you can export their notes as a CSV file from the Notes page
• Deleted notes go to a recycle bin, where you can restore them; when they are removed for good follows your data retention preference
• Each note keeps a history of what changed: created, updated, pinned, deleted and restored

Who Can Change a Note

On the Team plan, a Member can edit, pin or delete only the notes they wrote, and can restore a note they deleted themselves. A note an Owner or Admin deleted stays deleted until an Owner or Admin restores it. Owners and Admins can change any note they can see. A Viewer can read notes but not change them. Publishing a note through a share link stays with owners and admins.

Searching and Filtering Notes

Find notes quickly:

1. Use the search box at the top of the Notes page (Cmd/Ctrl + F jumps to it)
2. Search by keyword; a tag filter narrows the results to one tag
3. Filter by note type (Session, Progress, Medical, and so on)
4. Sort by Date Created, Date Modified, Alphabetical or Note Type

Exporting Notes

Export client notes when you need a copy, for example for your own records or to hand to a client who asks for them:

1. Open the Notes page and pick the client
2. Turn on selection mode and select the notes you want
3. Click "Export"
4. A CSV file downloads

To take a single note out, open its menu and choose "Export"; the note is copied to your clipboard as text.

Templates and Shortcuts

Quick Templates

Save time with pre-written templates:

1. On the Notes page, open "Quick Templates" to start from a ready-made layout (Session Note, Follow-up, Progress Update, Clinical Note and more)
2. Open "Manage Templates" to create note templates for your own common scenarios
3. Use {{customer_name}}, {{date}} and {{time}} for values that fill in automatically
4. Pick a template when creating a new note and customize it with client-specific details

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Cmd+N / Ctrl+N: New note (on a client's profile)
• Cmd+Enter / Ctrl+Enter: Save the note
• Cmd+F / Ctrl+F: Search notes (on the Notes page)
• Esc: Cancel and close the note editor

Next Steps

Now that you're keeping professional notes:

• Set up note templates - Save time with pre-written formats
• Export when you need a copy - Select notes and export them as CSV
• Track client progress - Use notes to measure outcomes over time

Well-organized notes make it easier to pick up where you left off with every client.

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Read time: ~5 minutes | Difficulty: Beginner