Overview
Notes templates let you pre-fill appointment notes for every booking created under a service or course template. Instead of writing the same instructions or checklists for each appointment, configure them once on the service or course template and they are automatically applied to new appointments.
Course templates additionally support per-session lesson definitions, letting you set a unique title, description, and notes for each session number (e.g. Session 1, Session 2). When a new course run is created, each session automatically inherits the title and description from the template. When a pet is enrolled, per-session notes are merged into the appointment alongside the service-level defaults.
Where to Find Notes Templates
Notes templates are configured on two types of entities:
On a Service
Navigate to Services
Open the service you want to configure
Select Notes Templates
On a Course Template
Go to Courses. On the template's card, select Manage, then Manage Template
Select Lesson Details
What You Can Configure
Service Notes Templates
The service's Notes Templates page shows Internal Notes (private, staff only) under Default Notes & Attachments Templates. Turn on Advanced options to see the Customer Notes and Business Notes cards:
Customer Notes
Pre-fill instructions and notes that are visible to the customer. These might include:
Preparation instructions ("Please bring vaccination records")
What to expect during the session
Post-appointment care guidelines
Customer-facing photos or reference images
Petboost saves these defaults but does not add them to new bookings. For a customer-visible note on every booking, use Customer-facing Notes in the Business Notes card.
Business Notes
Pre-fill Customer-facing Notes from your business. For staff-only notes, use Internal Notes (private, staff only) under Default Notes & Attachments Templates. Internal notes might include:
Service checklists or standard procedures
Equipment or room setup requirements
Staff handover notes
Reference photos for the team
Both sections support rich text formatting and file attachments.
Course Template Notes Templates
The Lesson Details page has a Session Schedule card for session titles and descriptions. When the course has more than one session, switch between Default Notes and Lesson-specific Notes below it.
Default Notes & Attachments
These notes apply to every session. They have Customer Notes and Business Notes tabs.
Lesson-specific Notes
Titles and descriptions sit in Session Schedule. Session notes sit under Lesson-specific Notes, in an expandable section per session (Session 1, Session 2, and so on). The number of sessions comes from the template's recurrence rule.
For each session you can set:
Title (in Session Schedule) - a custom name for this session (e.g. "Introduction to Obedience"). When a course run is created, each session inherits this title instead of the generic auto-generated name
Description (in Session Schedule) - a short description of what this session covers. This is also carried through to the appointment's business notes on enrolment
Internal Notes (private, staff only) - session-specific internal instructions
Customer-facing Notes - session-specific notes visible to the customer
Business Photos & Attachments - photos or files specific to this session
How They Work
Service-Level Notes
When a new appointment is created for a service (or a course session), the system checks whether the service has default notes configured:
Private internal notes from the template are automatically pre-filled into the appointment's internal notes field
Customer-facing Notes from the Business Notes card are pre-filled the same way. Customer Notes defaults are not added
If multiple services on the appointment have default notes, they are combined with a separator between them
Staff can edit or remove the pre-filled notes after the appointment is created
Pre-filling only happens when creating new appointments, not when editing existing ones
Per-Session Notes (Courses)
When a pet is enrolled in a course, the system layers notes from multiple sources:
Service-level defaults (global, same for every session) - applied first
Per-session lesson notes from the template's lesson definitions (specific to the session number) - appended after service defaults
Session description (from the lesson definition or set at course creation time) - combined with per-session notes
The result is a merged set of notes on the appointment. Service defaults provide the baseline, and per-session notes add session-specific content on top.
Per-Session Titles and Descriptions (Courses)
When a new course run is created from a template:
If the template has lesson definitions with a title for a session number, that title becomes the session name (instead of the auto-generated "1 - Course Name" format)
If the template has a description for a session number, that description is set on the group session
Staff can still override these at course creation time. The template values serve as defaults that save repetitive data entry.
Tips
Use for repeatable checklists: grooming checklists, daycare intake procedures, training session plans
Keep templates current: update notes templates when your processes change, and all future appointments will use the new version
Separate internal from customer-facing: use Internal Notes for staff procedures and Customer-facing Notes (in the Business Notes card) for owner-facing instructions
Use per-session definitions for structured courses: if your puppy school has a defined curriculum, set the title and description for each week so every new course run starts with the correct lesson names
Combine global and per-session notes: use service-level defaults for universal content (e.g. "Always check vaccination records") and per-session notes for session-specific content (e.g. "Week 3 focuses on lead walking")
Related Articles
Getting Started with Services - Service setup and configuration
Getting Started with Courses - Course template setup
Managing Appointments - Working with appointment notes