What are Template Rules?
Rules are how you tell PatientNotes exactly how each section of your note should be written — the format, the level of detail, the punctuation, the order of information, and more. Where the template structure decides what sections appear, Rules decide how each section reads.
Rules are the single biggest lever you have over note quality. Most "the notes are too wordy", "it's in paragraphs and I want bullets", or "it keeps reordering my findings" issues are solved here — not by rewriting your whole template.
Where to find Rules
Every V2 template has a Rules tab. Open a template, click on any section, and you'll see the rules that apply to that section. Rules are set per section, so you can have a narrative Assessment and a bulleted Plan in the same note.
Output format — the most important rule
Click any section and choose how its content should be presented:
Sentence — a single flowing sentence.
Paragraph — narrative prose. Best for Assessment and clinical reasoning.
Direct quote — captures the patient's own words verbatim. Useful for subjective/history sections.
List — bullet or numbered points. Best for Plan, objective findings, and anything scannable.
Table — structured rows and columns, e.g. range of motion or outcome measures.
Labelled sections — a label followed by its value (e.g. Aggravating factors: …).
Tip: If your notes feel too long or too wordy, switching a section from Paragraph to List is usually the fastest fix.
Additional rules (Add Rules)
Click Add Rules on a section to layer on finer control:
Level of detail — concise, standard, or detailed. This is the main control for note length and verbosity.
Punctuation — full sentences vs. clinical shorthand / abbreviated style.
Information order — the sequence findings appear in, so the note follows your preferred flow rather than the order things came up in conversation.
Time and date formatting — how dates and times are written and formatted.
Measurements — units and how measurements are expressed.
Rules stack. A single section might be a List, at Concise detail, in clinical shorthand, in a fixed order — each rule handling one part of the output.
Header formatting vs. content rules
Rules control the content of a section. The heading itself (Normal text, H2, H3, alignment, bold, italic) is controlled from the main formatting menu, not the Rules tab. Keep this distinction in mind: if you want to change how a heading looks, use the formatting menu; if you want to change how the content under it reads, use Rules.
Document Rules (Letters & Reports)
Letters and Reports have an additional layer called Document Rules, which apply to the whole document rather than a single section — covering tone, length, formality, and language style. If you upload an example letter or report, PatientNotes will do its best to match that style automatically.
Rules and conditional logic work together
Rules decide how a section is written; conditional logic decides whether it appears at all. Click a section and use the green Make Conditional button so it only appears if the topic was discussed (empty sections never show). You can combine the two freely — for example, a conditional Red Flags section that only appears when relevant, formatted as a concise list when it does.
Test your rules before going live
Use the Test tab to run your template against a real client session and see exactly how your rules render. If something isn't right, go back to the Structure tab and adjust the rule — or describe the change in plain language using Craft with AI and it will update the rules for you.
Common rule fixes
Notes too long / wordy → set Level of detail to Concise, or switch Paragraph to List.
Findings in the wrong order → set an Information order rule on that section.
Wrong format (paragraphs instead of bullets) → change the Output format for that section.
Dates or units inconsistent → add Time/date or Measurements rules.
A section keeps appearing when empty → make it conditional.
Need help?
Chat with us via the support widget inside PatientNotes or email [email protected].