Mapping and Importing Form Responses into Client Records

In this article:

• Importable Sections
• Creating Form Mappings
• Importing Data from a Completed Form
• Automatically Importing Data into a Client Record
• Importing Form Responses into the Client's Basic Information
• Collecting Client Credit Card Information Through Forms
• Editing and Deleting Mappings
• Sharing Mappings (Team Plans)
• Mapping and Form Versioning

Importable Sections

Mappings allow you to import form data into various sections of a client record, including:

• Personal Information
• Secondary Contact
• Emergency Contacts
• Healthcare Providers
• Insurance Policy
• Diet & Lifestyle
• Medical History
• Billing Information: Credit Card

Creating Form Mappings

Before you can import form data into a client record, you'll need a form with the questions you want to map. If you haven't built your form yet, start there first.

Learn more about Creating Forms & Waivers Manually in Practice Better →

Once your form is ready, follow these steps to create your mappings. Mappings are set up once per form and apply to all future imports of that form.

1. Go to Settings (gear icon) > View All Settings > Forms & Signature. Alternatively, go to My Practice > Forms & Waivers and click the Mappings & Settings tab.
   
    
2. Click Add mapping (or Add another), then select a form from the popup menu to define which questions should map to fields in your client record.
   
    
3. Click Add mapping to create a new mapping line for a form question to a destination field. Optionally, click Add all to add all available questions in the mapping at once.
   
    
4. Select a question from the picklist on the left.
   
    
5. Select a destination from the picklist on the right.
   

📍 Note: The same question can be mapped to more than one destination field. Add additional mapping lines for the same question and select a different destination for each.

6. Click the More Options menu (3 dots) to the right of your mapping to select additional options. See the details in the Customizing Importing Options section below.
   
    
7. After configuring all required mappings, click Save.

Customizing Importing Options

You can customize how data is imported for free-form destination fields such as Diet & Lifestyle, Medical History, and Personal Information Notes.

• Overwrite Existing Data: By default, data is appended to existing entries. Enable this option to overwrite (replace) current data in the field. The icon between the input and destination picklists will change from an outlined arrow (append) to a filled arrow (overwrite).
   
• Include Question Title: Enable this option to include the title of the question when importing data into free-form fields. Disable this if the question title would create redundant or confusing content in the destination field.
   
• Include Private Notes: Optionally include any private annotations already added to your client's form response during the import.

Importing Data from a Completed Form

If you prefer to review form responses before importing, or if you don't have an automation set up, you can import data manually from the client's record at any time.

📍 Note: A form response can be imported more than once. Each import applies the current mapping settings, so whether data is appended or overwritten depends on how your mapping is configured. Review the Overwrite Existing Data option before re-importing to avoid unintended changes to the client record.

To import a client’s form manually:

1. Go to your client's Forms & Waivers section.
    
2. Click the More Options menu (3 dots) beside a completed form and select Import into file.
   
    
3. If mappings are already set up for your form, they will appear in the Import Form Data popup. You can also add or adjust mappings manually at this stage by clicking Add mapping or Add all.
   
    
4. Click Review to see which fields will be updated based on the completed form's responses.
    
5. An error will appear if any mappings are skipped due to unanswered questions. The rest of the import will still proceed for questions that were answered.
   
    
6. Click Import to finalize.

✅ The data from the form response has been imported into the client record.

Automatically Importing Data into a Client Record

Setting up an automation removes the manual import step entirely. Once configured, data is imported into the client record as soon as the client submits the form.

📍 Note: You must have a form mapping set up before creating the automation. The automation references the mapping to know where to send each piece of data. If a mapping is deleted after setting up the automation, the automation will run but produce no results.

To set up your form mapping automation:

1. Go to your Practice > Automations.
    
2. Click the Fast Action Button in the bottom right corner.
    
3. In the pop-up, select Import completed forms into client files.
   
    
4. Name your automation and choose which form you want to import automatically into your client's file.
   
    
5. Select the existing mapping you have set up for the form. If you have not yet created a mapping, follow the steps in the [Creating Form Mappings] section above first.
   
    
6. Click Create if this is a new automation, or Save Changes to save your automation.

✅ Once active, this automation will import the form response into the client record every time a client submits the form, with no manual steps required.

Importing Form Responses into the Client's Basic Information

Several form elements have dedicated mapping destinations that import directly into structured fields in the client's Basic Information section. Use the table below as a reference when setting up your mappings.

Form Question	Mapping Destination	Notes
Personal Information	Personal Information	Email address cannot be overwritten via import. Update email manually from the client's Basic Information page.
Healthcare Provider	Healthcare Provider	Imports the provider's name and contact details into the client's Healthcare Providers list.
Contact Person	Emergency Contact	Imports the contact's name and relationship details into the client's Emergency Contacts.
Contact Person	Secondary Contact	Requires the contact's name and email address for a successful import. If a secondary contact already exists, enable Overwrite existing data in the mapping to replace it.
Health Insurance	Insurance Policy	Imports policy details into the client's insurance policies list.
Credit Card	Billing Information: Credit Card	Requires Practice Better Payments to be connected. Card data is handled securely by Stripe. No charge is made at import. Learn more →

📍 Note: The Contact Person question can be mapped to either Emergency Contact or Secondary Contact depending on your use case. Add separate mapping lines for each destination if you need both.

Collecting Client Credit Card Information Through Forms

You can map a Credit Card form element to the Billing Information: Credit Card destination to save a client's card to their billing profile on import. This workflow requires Practice Better Payments to be connected to your account and uses a dedicated form element designed for secure card collection.

Learn more about Collecting Client Credit Card Information Through a Form →

Editing and Deleting Mappings

Mappings can be updated or removed at any time from the Mappings & Settings tab (Forms & Signature page).

• To edit a mapping, return to Settings (gear icon) > View All Settings > Forms & Signature (or My Practice > Forms & Waivers > Mappings & Settings), locate the form, and adjust the mapping lines as needed. Click Save to apply your changes.
• To delete a mapping, remove the individual mapping lines for a form, or delete the entire form mapping set.

📍 Note: If you edit a mapping that is linked to an active automation, review your automation settings to make sure it still references the correct mapping. An automation tied to an outdated or deleted mapping may run without producing results.

Sharing Mappings (Team Plans)

On Team plans, mappings can be shared with other team members. Team members can use form mappings on any form shared with them, including mappings created by other team members.

From the Forms & Signature page, click the Manage sharing button at the top of the list to open the Team Resource Sharing modal to manage sharing resources in bulk. 

Learn more about Mass Sharing Resources with Team Members → 

Or click the More Options menu (3 dots) next to any individual mapping and select Manage Sharing.

📍 Note: For a team member to access shared mappings, their role must have Team Member Access set to All or Specific team members. This can be configured from My Team by clicking Edit Role beside the team member's name. Learn more about Managing Roles & Permissions for Team Members → 

Mapping and Form Versioning

If a form is updated after a mapping is created, Practice Better will display a warning at import time indicating that the mappings are based on an older version of the form. Review and update the mapping before importing to ensure all destination fields are correctly aligned with the current form questions.

💡 Tip: If an automation is not importing data as expected, check whether the form has been updated since the mapping was created. Recreating the mapping and updating the automation to reference it is the most reliable fix.