Introduction

Animal clinics and hospitals often have standard paper certificates and forms in use, such as consent forms for procedures or medicine use, health or vaccination certificates, or more complex discharge instructions.

Provet Cloud allows creating and managing such forms digitally, and the benefit is that the system can autofill many standard fields (like the patient's name) on the form, thus making the workflow faster and more reliable. Provet Cloud offers three options to build these forms: Word forms, PDF forms, and built-in forms. In this article, we're learning how to build Word forms. These forms can be related to clients, patients, consultations, discharge notes and referral feedback.

With Provet Cloud Word forms, we can build or adjust an appropriate Microsoft Word file, upload it to Provet Cloud, and then use it directly from Provet Cloud, printing it as a pre-filled form or even using it with the e-signature function.

Restrictions

Note that there are certain limitations to the feature:

1. You must use a version of Microsoft Word that supports the newer DOCX file format.
2. Currently, you can't use versions of Microsoft Word that are meant for Apple computers (that use macOS) - the DOCX file saved by these versions is not suitable.

Video Overview

Creating a Suitable Word Form

The first task is to create a suitable Word document or edit an existing one you may have. The key part will be using what are known as merge fields. These fields act as placeholders for data that Provet Cloud later inserts into the document, or what can be used as freely editable fields. We will insert the merge fields into the document where they replace certain elements, and later when we upload the document to Provet Cloud, we will map these fields so Provet Cloud will recognise them. If we leave the merge field unmapped, it can act as a free text field.

1. Create or Adjust Your Form

First, create or adjust your desired form in Microsoft Word. Design it as you like, but keep in mind that many general data points like the patient name, client name or your clinic's address can be auto-filled by Provet Cloud using merge field placeholders. To get an idea of what kind of placeholders can be used in connections with merge fields, refer to this list of placeholders. In the next step, we will learn how to add merge fields to the document.

2. Create Appropriate Merge Fields

Let's say we want Provet Cloud to fill the client's name for us when we use the form. This means that we want to insert a merge field to the place(s) in the document where the client name will appear.

To do this, place your cursor to the place in the document where the merge field should appear, and select the main 'Insert' menu, and from there, select 'Quick Parts', and then the 'Field...' option.

A dialogue appears for creating the field.

1. Select the 'MergeField' option from the list on the left.
2. Name the field. Use something familiar, so later when we map the field in Provet Cloud, you'll recognise it. In our case, we use 'client_name'.
3. Select 'OK' to save and create the field.

When the field was inserted correctly, you will see its name with double arrowheads on both sides as underlined in this image below.

3. Add Finishing Touches and Save

Resume adding merge fields as you see fit, and if the document is ready, save it as a DOCX file. Remember that you can also use merge fields to note areas that you want to act as free text fields, meaning you can enter text into these fields later when you use the form. Note that if you want to use more advanced stuff like checkboxes, you need to use our PDF form feature.

Uploading the Form and Mapping the Fields

1. Select the Form Type You Want to Create

To upload the file, navigate to Settings > Items & Lists > Templates > Certificates & Forms. Then select the blue 'Document form' menu (1) and select an appropriate form type (2). The choice depends on how you want the form to be used. In our example, we built a treatment consent form, so most probably we want it to be usable on a consultation.

• Patient forms will be accessible from the patient page and can be added at any time.
• Client forms will be accessible from the client page and can be added at any time.
• Consultation forms will be accessible from the consultation page general info section and can be added only during a consultation (before the invoice is finalised).
• Discharge forms will be accessible from the discharge note section on consultation pages and can be added only during a consultation (before the invoice is finalised).
• Patient referral feedback forms will be accessible from the referral feedback feature and can be added when giving referral feedback.

2. Upload the File and Name It

After selecting the form type, a new page opens for managing the form.

1. Give it a title. When users want to use a form, they have to choose it based on this name.
2. Select the department if you want it to be available in a specific department. Leave it unselected if you want it to be available everywhere. If you have one department, the choice does not matter.
3. Drag the Word file to the marked box or click on it to initiate a file upload dialogue.

3. Map the Fields and Save

After the file has been uploaded, you can proceed with the mapping process. Provet Cloud will populate the page with merge fields it found from the document.

On the fields listed on the left (1), start by typing double brackets [[ - this lets Provet Cloud know that you're attempting to map a field. After brackets, type to search for placeholders. Then, select the placeholder from the list. On the image below, you can see how we've mapped the client name and we're in the progress of mapping the patient name.

Note that you have to select it from the list, just typing the placeholder in full won't work. You can also see available placeholders from this list.

As mentioned above, you can also create free text fields for use if you leave a field unmapped. In that case, the selection on the right can also be useful - you can set the field type to be resizeable to get a larger field.

Keep mapping the fields as needed, and finally, select the green 'Save' button from below to finalise the process and save the form.

The Process is Complete

You should now have a new Word form ready for use. See the usage article for instructions.

Your forms are listed under Settings > Items & Lists > Templates > Certificates & Forms, the same place where we started the form creation process.

Troubleshooting

I uploaded the file, but I'm not seeing any of the merge fields

Make sure you are aware of the restrictions described above and follow them.

Contact Provet Cloud support if nothing helps and make sure to attach the last version of the file you used.

I uploaded the file, but some merge fields are not appearing

Try to create the field in Word from scratch and try again. Note that the only correct way of editing an existing merge field in Word is by right-clicking it and selecting 'Edit' from the menu.

Contact Provet Cloud support if nothing helps and make sure to attach the last version of the file you used.

See also

Using Word Forms

Using E-signatures with Word Forms

Setting Up PDF Forms

Example file with merge fields: