Your templates are the blueprints for every clinical note Whippet writes. A template lays out the sections, headings, and instructions you want in a note, and Whippet follows it when turning a recorded consultation into a written record — build it once and every consult you record against it comes out in your house style. If a template is mostly working but one or two sections misbehave, you can also let Whippet refine the wording for you — see Improve templates with AI.
The Templates list
Open Templates from the dashboard. Each template appears as a row showing its Name (with a small badge for its type), its Description, and a set of actions on the right:
Star — makes that template your default, the one Whippet remembers as your preferred choice when recording. You can't unset the star on the template that's already default — the button is disabled there.
Pencil icon — opens the template in the builder. Clicking anywhere on the row does the same.
⋯ menu — opens Duplicate and Archive.
If you have more than 10 templates, use the arrow buttons at the bottom of the list to move between pages. If you haven't made any yet, you'll see No templates yet with a Create Template button to get started.
How to create a template
On the Templates page, click Create Template (top right).
Choose a starting point to seed the editor. There's a card for each common consult type — Small Animals (a full SOAP-style layout: Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan), Large Animals, Equine, Avian, Reptile / Amphibian, Euthanasia / QoL, and Phone Consult (for telephone calls, with no physical-exam section) — plus two non-clinical starters, Meeting Minutes and Team Handover, for turning a recorded practice meeting or ward handover into structured notes. Blank starts you with almost nothing. Click a card, then click Next.
Enter a Template Name (for example, "Feline Annual Exam") and a Description of what the template is used for. Both are required.
Build the content in the editor (see below), then click Save Template.
The template builder editor
The middle of the page is a rich text editor with a formatting toolbar, where you write the body of your note layout. A Template helper panel on the right (on wider screens) explains the three building blocks:
Sections and headings. Write your section headings in plain text or as headings — for example, Subjective. These give your note its structure.
Placeholders in [square brackets]. Wrap text in
[ ]to mark an area Whippet will try to fill in from your consultation, telling it what belongs there — for example,[List medications used, including drug names and dosages. If none used, write "None administered"]. A placeholder can also hold a default value Whippet falls back to when nothing relevant was said — such as[Default to "soft, pain free on palpation, no mass effect or fluid wave evident" unless abnormal]— handy for fields that are usually normal, so you only edit the exceptions.Instructions in (parentheses). Wrap an instruction in
( )to tell Whippet how to treat information that is, or isn't, mentioned in your session — for example,(only include if explicitly mentioned in the transcript, contextual notes or clinical note, otherwise leave blank.). Instructions suit flexible or optional behaviour where a simple placeholder isn't precise enough.
Keep instructions specific — tell Whippet exactly what to write when something isn't mentioned (the starter Small Animals layout is a good model). If your template doesn't perform as expected, try adding AI instructions at the end of it referencing the specific sections and what you'd like done to them.
Editing, duplicating, and archiving
Edit — click a template's row or its pencil icon. The builder opens (headed Edit Template) with the name, description, and body already filled in — you don't re-pick the starting point. Make your changes, then click Update Template.
Duplicate — open the ⋯ menu on the template's row and click Duplicate. A copy is added to your list, ready to open and edit — useful for basing a new template on one you already have.
Archive — open the ⋯ menu, click Archive, then click Archive again on the confirmation. The template will no longer be offered when you record a new consult, but your past notes are untouched.
How templates shape your notes
When you record a consultation, Whippet transcribes it and writes the note according to the template you've selected — your sections, placeholders, and instructions all shape what comes out. For the full recording workflow, including how you pick a template when you record, see Recording a consult. Once a note has been generated, Find & Replace can sweep changes across its text.
If something goes wrong
The Next button is greyed out (step 1). You haven't selected a starting point yet — click a card first.
The Save / Update button is greyed out (step 2). The Template Name needs at least 3 characters, the Description can't be empty, and the template body needs to be reasonably substantial (a very short body won't pass). Fill these in and the button enables.
A red error appears after saving. You'll see "Failed to create template. Please try again." (or "Failed to update template. Please try again."). Try saving again; if it keeps failing, check your connection.
You clicked Cancel and got a "Discard changes?" prompt. Choose Keep editing to stay, or Discard to leave without saving.
What this doesn't do (yet)
Delete templates outright. The tidy-up action is Archive, not delete — your historical notes are preserved.