Client intake forms and agreements in Acuity Scheduling

Collect more details about your client during the scheduling process.

When a client books an appointment, they'll enter their name, phone number, and email address. Add custom forms to ask for more information or require clients to agree to your terms or conditions.

Use custom forms to gather information on topics like who referred clients to you, what symptoms they're having, or what their address is.

You can also use internal forms to organize your notes without making them visible to your clients.

This guide explains how to create and edit client intake forms, how to use them internally, and how to set up client agreements. To have clients complete a form in a form block or another system, link to it from the confirmation page or initial confirmation email instead of using an Acuity form.

Tip: To require clients to enter a phone number when they book, enable the Require phone number setting in the Scheduling page options panel.

Create a new custom form

You can customize which forms clients complete based on the appointment type they’re booking. Form questions have a 250-character limit. There's no limit to the number of questions you can add per form.

To create a new custom form:

1. In Acuity, click Intake form questions.
2. Click New custom form.
3. Enter a name and description for the form. These appear between the default and custom form questions on the client scheduling page. For a more seamless flow between questions, leave the name and description fields blank.
4. In the Add questions menu on the left, click a type of question to add to the form. Learn more about each type of question.
5. Add text to the Question field and the Choices field if applicable.
6. To make a question required, click Required.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 until you've added all your questions.
8. Drag and drop the questions into the order you want.
9. In the Show this form when scheduling section, click which appointment types should include this form.
10. Click Save form.

Tip: Clients can't complete intake forms when buying a package, gift certificate, or subscription. However, you can turn on a setting in the Packages, gifts & subscriptions panel that requires clients to agree to your terms before purchasing. 

Edit forms and questions

You can edit a form’s settings or edit individual questions. 

To edit a form:

1. In Acuity, click Intake form questions.
2. Click Edit on the line of the form you want to edit.
3. Make changes.
4. Click Save form. 

To edit a question: 

1. In Acuity, click Intake form questions.
2. Click Edit on the line of the form you want to edit.
3. Hover your cursor over the question you want to edit.
4. Click the pencil icon.
5. Make changes.
6. Click Save.

How clients complete forms

Clients complete forms when booking their appointment. The questions appear below the name, email address, and phone number fields. Clients can edit their responses by clicking Change/cancel appointment in the initial confirmation email.

If you book the appointment for the client, you can fill out the form during the booking process in the Forms, codes and notes section.

Keep in mind:

• It's not possible to email forms
• Clients can't fill out a form without scheduling an appointment

Forms for internal use

If you collect information from clients over the phone or in person, you can create forms for internal use only by clicking This form is for internal use only, don't show it to clients when creating or editing it.

Forms marked for internal use only won't show to clients. Instead, you and your staff can complete the form when booking an appointment for a client, or when editing the appointment details.

Note: If you create a form for internal use, you cannot make any of the form questions required.  

Delete questions and forms

Deleted questions and intake forms aren't shown for new appointments, but stay in previously booked appointments so you don't lose any client information. They aren't included in appointment exports or in Acuity-generated reports.

To delete a question from a form: 

1. In Acuity, click Intake form questions.
2. Click Edit on the line of the form you want.
3. Hover your cursor over the question you want to delete.
4. Click the trash can icon.
5. Click OK.

To delete a form:

1. In Acuity, click Intake form questions.
2. Click Edit on the line of the form you want to delete.
3. At the bottom of the page, click Delete, then click OK.

Intake form questions

Use the table below to review the types of fields you can add to an intake form.

Field name	Description
Textbox	Collect basic information from clients. Choose from small (one line), medium (about a paragraph), or large (several paragraphs), depending how much information you want them to provide.
Drop down list	Create a drop-down menu of multiple options. Clients choose one option.
Checkbox	Create one checkbox for clients to check or leave blank.
Checkbox list	Create a list of multiple options. Clients can check multiple boxes.
Yes/no choice	Clients click yes or no.
File upload	Add an option for clients to upload one image, document, or other file of up to 5 MB. To have clients upload multiple files, add multiple file upload questions.
Address	Add an address field. You can choose to use this address as the appointment location, which is helpful for in-home appointments or similar services.

Client agreements

You can use a form to require clients to agree to specific terms before booking. We recommend making a separate form for terms or agreements. 

Before adding an agreement or terms, keep in mind:

• If you have questions about the content or legal implications of your terms or agreements, consult an attorney.
• To collect signatures with forms, use a separate program designed for electronically signing agreements. 

To add a new client agreement form:

1. In Acuity, click Intake Form Questions. 
2. Click New Terms & Conditions Agreement. 
3. Customize the form by editing the description or adding new questions. Pasting a URL, including the http://, into any question or form description field will create a clickable link. You can also use HTML to create a more polished link in the form description.
4. To require clients to agree to the terms before submitting, keep the checkbox field and ensure it's a required field. If you make the question required, clients can't proceed if they don’t agree. 
5. In the Show this form when scheduling field in the bottom-left corner, check the boxes next to the appointment types that should include the client agreement form.
6. Click Save Form.

Review and edit clients' form answers

You’ll see clients’ answers in the appointment details and in your confirmation emails, unless you change your settings.

To review clients’ answers, open their record:

1. In Acuity, click Clients.
2. Click Client list. 
3. Click a client's name to open their record. Any form answers will appear near the bottom of the appointment details.

Edit or complete a client's form

You can edit a client's form answers, or complete the form on behalf of the client if they booked an appointment without answering the questions. To edit form answers:

1. In Acuity, click Calendar.
2. Click the appointment that has the form you want to edit.
3. Click Edit.
4. Scroll down to the bottom and make changes.
5. Click Save.

Clients can also edit form answers by clicking Change/cancel appointment in their initial confirmation email.

Access an uploaded file 

To access an uploaded file in your Acuity account:

1. In Acuity, click Calendar.
2. Click the appointment that has the file you want to access.
3. Scroll down to the file and click the file link. 

You need to be logged into your account to access uploaded files. When using a third-party calendar or through .ics, file links take you directly to the file in your Acuity account.

Delete an uploaded file

To delete a file that a client uploaded through an intake form:

1. In Acuity, click Calendar.
2. Click the appointment that has the file you want to delete.
3. Click Edit.
4. Scroll down to the file and click Remove file, then click OK.

Print a client's form

To print form answers, print the appointment details:

1. In Acuity, click Calendar.
2. Click the appointment with the form you want to print.
3. Click in the top-right corner.
4. Click Print.
5. The appointment details will open in a new tab, formatted for printing.

SOAP notes

If you're a healthcare professional, you can add SOAP notes (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan), which are automatically marked for internal use only.

To add a new SOAP notes form:

1. In Acuity, click Intake form questions.
2. Click New SOAP notes form. 
3. Customize the form by editing the default field names, deleting fields, or adding new questions. 
4. In the Show this form when scheduling field in the bottom-left corner, click which appointment types should get the SOAP notes form.
5. Click Save form.

Tip: If the built-in SOAP notes form doesn't fit your needs, you can build your own SOAP notes form using a custom form marked for internal use only or edit the pre-built SOAP notes form to better fit your needs.

Forms for new clients only

Forms are shown each time a client books the associated appointment type. To show a form to new clients only, create an appointment type specifically for new clients, then attach your form to it.

How clients edit their answers

Clients fill out intake forms before booking, but depending on your settings, they can update their answers after booking.

To update their answers, they click Edit forms on the confirmation page that they reached when they booked their appointment. You can also edit your confirmation and reminder email templates to include the Edit forms button.

To decide if clients can edit forms after booking and how close to an appointment they can make changes, update your scheduling limits.

Special formatting

There are two kinds of text that must be entered in specific ways: lists of addresses and clickable links.

Create a list of addresses

To populate a drop-down menu or checkbox list with mailing addresses, or any other data that includes commas within each list item, enter the addresses in the Choices field, but use a forward slash and a comma followed by a space (\, ) each time the address contains a comma. Separate the addresses by entering a comma followed by a space.

If you enter this:

8 Clarkson St.\, New York\, NY 10014, 311 SW Washington St.\, Portland\, OR 97204

Your clients will see this:

Add a clickable link

To add a clickable link to a form, enter http:// before the rest of the URL, and it will automatically become a link. It's not possible to add a link to a form that's for internal use only. 

Track referrals

To track referrals, add a custom intake form asking clients how they found you. View client answers in your appointment details, or run a report to see all your referrals in one place. Consider rewarding clients who refer new business with a coupon code for a discount on their next appointment.