# How forms and charts work

> In Velarya, a form is what a patient fills from a secure link, such as an intake questionnaire or a signed photo consent, and a chart is the treatment record your staff fill at the visit. Both come from templates you build in Forms & Charts, and every record keeps the version it started on.

- Source: https://velarya.com/help/how-forms-and-charts-work
- Who can do this: Templates: Admins (Form & chart template builder at manage). A patient's forms and charts: Clinical charts & forms, at view for Location Managers and at edit for Admins and Service Providers
- Plans: Scale, Branded, Connected
- Time: 4 minute read
- Last verified: 2026-10-01

## What are forms and charts?

Forms and charts in Velarya are the two kinds of clinical record you build from templates. A form is filled by the patient, on their own phone or computer, from a link Velarya sends them before their visit: an intake questionnaire, a photo consent, any agreement they sign. A chart is filled by your staff during or after the visit: a SOAP note, or a treatment record with the products, lot numbers and injection sites used.

| | Form | Chart |
|---|---|---|
| Filled by | The patient, from a secure link | Staff with **Clinical charts & forms** at **edit** |
| Starts | When a matching appointment is booked, as the template's delivery settings say | When a provider selects **Start chart** on a visit or on the patient's profile |
| Signature | When the form has a **Signature** field: drawn or typed on the patient's link and recorded as the patient's | Recorded for the staff member who completes it, and for the reviewer when the template needs sign-off |
| Starters | **New Client Intake**, **Photo Consent** | **SOAP Note**, **Basic Treatment Record**, **Advanced Treatment Record** |
| Patients see it | Yes, from their link | Never |

Both kinds live on the patient's one profile, next to their medical history, so the patient's **Clinical** tab shows the signed consent and the intake answers in the same place as the charts. Answers are encrypted, and every view, save and signature is recorded, as [How patient privacy works](https://velarya.com/help/how-patient-privacy-works) explains.

## How do templates, versions and records fit together?

A template in Velarya is the blueprint an Admin builds once in **Forms & Charts**: its questions, and settings for when it is used. Each record a patient or provider fills is made from it. A template is always in one of three states.

| Template state | What it means |
|---|---|
| **Draft** | Being built. Nothing is sent or offered from it yet. |
| **Published** | Live. Forms go out with matching bookings, and charts appear in **Start chart**. |
| **Disabled** | Switched off. No new forms go out and it leaves **Start chart**. Records already made stay, a patient can still finish a form already sent, and **Enable** in the row menu makes it **Published** again. |

Publishing takes a snapshot of the template as a new version. Every form or chart keeps the version it was started on, so a record that was signed can never be changed by a later edit to the template: "Existing submissions keep their pinned version." Edit the template, publish again, and new records use the new version. Changes on the **Settings** tab, such as delivery, apply as soon as they are saved, including to forms not yet finished. **Require sign-off** and **Copy from previous** follow the published version, so a chart keeps the sign-off rule of the version it started on.

## What do the statuses mean?

Each form and chart shows a status wherever it is listed: the **Charts** card on the patient's **Clinical** tab, the sale's **Clinical** tab and the appointment panel.

| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| **In progress** | A chart a provider has started and not completed. Answers save as they type. |
| **Awaiting client** | A form sent to the patient that they have not submitted yet. |
| **Needs review** | A chart completed on a template that needs sign-off, waiting for a reviewer. It is locked. |
| **Changes requested** | A reviewer sent the chart back with a comment. The provider edits it and selects **Resubmit**. |
| **Completed** | Final: a form the patient submitted, or a chart completed or approved. It is locked. |
| **Expired** | A form set to **One time** that has passed its **Expires after (months)**. The patient is asked to fill a fresh copy with their next matching booking. |

![Charts card on a patient's Clinical tab: an intake Completed, a consent Awaiting client, a treatment record in Needs review](https://velarya.com/assets/help/how-forms-and-charts-work/patient-charts-card-699e8897.webp)

## How do sign-off and amendments work?

Sign-off in Velarya is a second signature on a chart, for practices where a medical director or senior provider approves each treatment record. An Admin turns on **Require sign-off** on the chart template and publishes it, and from then on a chart started on it goes to **Needs review** when completed, instead of **Completed**.

- **Finding charts to review.** On **Transactions**, the **Needs chart review** view, or the **Chart review** filter set to **Needs review**, lists the sales with a chart waiting for sign-off. The chart opens from the sale's **Clinical** tab.
- **Approving.** A reviewer with **Approve & sign off charts**, which Admins hold by default, selects **Approve and sign**, adds an optional comment and signs. The chart becomes **Completed**: "Chart approved and signed".
- **Sending it back.** **Request changes** needs a **Comment** saying what to fix. The chart moves to **Changes requested** until the provider edits it and selects **Resubmit**.
- **Skipping review.** Roles with **Submit without reviewer approval**, which Admins hold by default, complete sign-off charts straight to **Completed**, and Velarya records that the review was skipped.
- **Correcting a completed chart.** **Amend** creates a new editable copy linked to the original, with its signature left blank. The original stays unchanged, and both stay on the patient's profile.

Every signature, whether a patient's, a provider's or a reviewer's, is stored with who signed, when, a fingerprint of the answers at that moment, and the IP address and browser used. A chart copied from an earlier one, and an amendment, start with the signature blank, so each record is signed by the person who completes it. The provider's side of charting is in [Chart a visit: notes, charts and photos](https://velarya.com/help/chart-a-visit).

## What do patients see?

Patients see their forms and never a chart. A patient booked for a visit gets an email headed "Forms to complete before your visit" with a **Complete your forms** link, and a text with the link if they have agreed to texts. The link opens a page with your practice's logo and name that greets them by first name, saves every answer as they go and ends with **Submit form**. A signature field lets them draw with a finger or type their full name.

![Form builder Preview at phone width showing the New Client Intake questions](https://velarya.com/assets/help/how-forms-and-charts-work/form-preview-mobile-c8ddaf82.webp)

*The builder's Preview at phone width shows the questions a patient answers, in order.*

Once they submit, the page reads "We have received your form", the link stops working and the form shows **Completed** to your team. How forms are sent, and how to send one again, is in [Send intake and consent forms to patients](https://velarya.com/help/send-intake-and-consent-forms).

## What you can change

Each template has a **Settings** tab. Forms and charts share the first two settings, and the rest belong to one type.

| Setting | Type | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Services** | Both | All services | Which booked services send a form, or offer a chart in **Start chart**: **Specific services** or **Specific categories** |
| **Locations** | Both | All locations | Which locations' bookings send a form, or offer a chart |
| **Collect** | Form | **Every appointment** | A new copy for every appointment, or **One time** per patient |
| **Expires after (months)** | Form | Never | Asks for a **One time** form again after 1 to 120 months |
| **Send with confirmation** | Form | Off | Sends the form as soon as the appointment is booked |
| **Send with reminder** | Form | Off | Sends it with every appointment reminder |
| **Send same day** | Form | Off | Sends it with the appointment reminders that go out on the day of the visit |
| **Require sign-off** | Chart | Off, on for **Advanced Treatment Record** | Completed charts wait for a reviewer before they are final |
| **Copy from previous** | Chart | Off, on for the three chart starters | Offers to copy answers from the patient's last completed chart of this template. Signatures are never copied |

A new form has every **Delivery** switch off, so it reaches patients once at least one is on. Building the questions themselves is covered step by step in [Create a form or chart template](https://velarya.com/help/create-a-form-or-chart-template).

## Where to find forms and charts

Templates live in **Organization settings** > **Forms & Charts**, under **Client Experience**. The page lists every template with its **Type**, **Status** and **Last edited** date, and **New template** starts a new one.

A patient's own forms and charts are on their profile:

1. Select **Clients** in the left sidebar and select the patient.
2. Select the **Clinical** tab. The **Charts** card lists every form and chart, newest first, with "Client form" or the name of the staff member who started it, and the date, under each.
3. Select one to read it, or to carry on filling a chart that is **In progress**.

One visit's forms and charts are in the **Forms & Charts** block of its appointment panel on the **Calendar** and **Front Desk**, where **Chart** opens the sale's **Clinical** tab. Allergies, medications and medical alerts sit on the patient's **Clinical** tab too, as [Record a patient's medical history and files](https://velarya.com/help/record-medical-history-and-files) shows.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can a signed chart be changed?

No. A completed chart is locked, so the record that was signed stays exactly as it was. To correct it, a provider opens the chart and selects Amend, then Create amendment. Velarya makes a new editable copy linked to the original, with its signature left blank for whoever completes it, and a line that reads "Amendment of an earlier record. View the original chart." Both records stay on the patient's profile.

### Do form answers update the patient's medical record?

Yes, for questions connected to a field. When a patient submits a form, Velarya copies each connected answer into their record: allergies, medications, medical conditions and sex at birth into the medical record on the Clinical tab, and date of birth and address into their profile. A filled answer replaces what was there, and a blank one never erases it. Charts do the same and can also update name, email and phone.

### Who can see a patient's forms and charts?

Staff whose role holds Clinical charts & forms. Admins and Service Providers can view both and fill charts, Location Managers can view them for patients seen at their locations, and the Front Desk role holds none. Service Providers see and open the forms and charts from their own appointments with the patient, and those linked to no visit. Every time someone opens, fills, signs or approves one, Velarya records who and when in the patient's Access history.

### Do patients need the app or a password to fill a form?

No. Each form arrives as its own link by email, unless the patient switched email off, and by text for patients who agreed to texts. It opens in the browser on any phone or computer, greets the patient by first name and saves answers as they go, so they can finish later from the newest link they were sent. A link works until 24 hours after the appointment starts, or 14 days from sending if sooner.

### Can I use the same template at every location?

Yes. Templates belong to your whole practice, and a new one applies to every service and location. On a template's Settings tab, choose specific services, service categories or locations, and a form goes out only with those bookings and a chart is offered only on those visits. Each form and chart a patient fills stays on their one profile, whichever location they visited.