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Merge Fields: Full List & Troubleshooting

Every merge field in PracSuite, what it does, which message types it works in, and how to fix a merge field that isn't populating correctly.

Merge fields are the <<FieldName>> tags you can add to email, SMS, letter and online form templates (for example <<FirstName>> or <<InvoiceNo>>). When a message is actually sent, PracSuite replaces each tag with the real value for that patient, appointment, invoice, and so on.

A note on wording: depending on your settings, PracSuite may display "Patient" as "Client" or "Customer" throughout your account. This article uses "patient" generically to mean whichever term your practice has set.

Why a merge field might show up blank

This is the most common issue people run into with merge fields, and it's rarely a fault — a merge field only fills in if the message being sent actually has that information attached to it. For example, <<InvoiceNo>> needs the message to be about a specific invoice. If you add that field to a general Campaign email, which isn't linked to any invoice, it will come out blank, because there's no invoice for it to pull the number from.

So whether a field populates depends on what kind of message it's used in, not on the field itself being broken. The table below shows which categories of fields are available in each message type, and the full list further down tells you exactly which tag to use for each one.

Which fields work in which type of message

Message type

Available

Not available

Appointment reminders, confirmations & telehealth emails/SMS (incl. online booking confirmations)

Patient, business, this appointment, the patient's other appointments, account, practitioner

Invoice, quote

Invoice emails

Patient, business, the patient's other appointments, account, this invoice, practitioner

This specific appointment, quote

Statement emails

Patient, business, the patient's other appointments, account

This specific appointment, invoice, quote, practitioner

Quote emails

Patient, business, the patient's other appointments, account, this quote, practitioner

This specific appointment, invoice

Campaigns (bulk email/SMS)

Patient, business, the patient's other appointments

This specific appointment, account, invoice, quote, practitioner

Online form confirmation emails

Patient, business, the patient's other appointments, account (plus this appointment & practitioner, only if the form was linked to a booking)

Invoice, quote

General email/SMS sent manually from a patient's file, an appointment, an invoice, or a quote

Patient, business and the patient's other appointments always; this appointment/invoice/quote/account only if sent from that specific screen

Depends what screen it was sent from — see Troubleshooting below

Two things worth knowing from this table:

  • The patient's other appointments (next/previous/first appointment fields) work almost everywhere, including Campaigns, because they only need to know who the patient is — not what the current message is about. So <<NextAppointment1Date>> can be used in a Campaign, but <<AppointmentDate>> (the current appointment) cannot.

  • Campaigns are the most limited — they only ever know the patient and the business. Appointment, account, invoice, quote and practitioner fields will always be blank there.

Full list of merge fields

Click a category below to see every field in it, with a description and the exact tag to use.

General

Available in every message type.

  • Today's Date — <<Date>>

  • Today's Day — <<Day>>

  • Current Time — <<Time>>

  • Database Time Zone — <<TenantTimeZone>>

  • Business Name — <<BusinessName>>

  • Business Display Name — <<BusinessDisplay>>

  • Business Full Address — <<BusinessAddress>>

  • Business Address Line 1–4 — <<BusinessAddress1>> to <<BusinessAddress4>>

  • Business Suburb — <<BusinessSuburb>>

  • Business State — <<BusinessState>>

  • Business Postcode — <<BusinessPostcode>>

  • Business Country — <<BusinessCountry>>

  • Business Phone Number — <<BusinessPhone>>

  • Business Website — <<BusinessWebsite>>

  • Business Fax Number — <<BusinessFax>>

  • Business Email Address — <<BusinessEmail>>

  • Logged In Practitioner — <<LoggedInPractitioner>>

  • Logged In Practitioner Title — <<LoggedInPractitionerTitle>>

  • Logged In Practitioner First Name — <<LoggedInPractitionerFirstName>>

  • Logged In Practitioner Preferred Name — <<LoggedInPractitionerPreferredName>>

  • Logged In Practitioner Surname — <<LoggedInPractitionerSurname>>

  • Logged In Practitioner Email — <<LoggedInPractitionerEmail>>

  • Logged In Practitioner Professional Title — <<LoggedInPractitionerProfessionalTitle>>

  • Logged In Practitioner Qualifications — <<LoggedInPractitionerQualifications>>

  • Logged In Practitioner Provider No — <<LoggedInPractitionerProviderNo>>

  • Logged In User — <<LoggedInUser>>

  • Logged In User First Name — <<LoggedInUserFirstName>>

  • Logged In User Surname — <<LoggedInUserSurname>>

  • Logged In User Email — <<LoggedInUserEmail>>

  • Logged In User Mobile — <<LoggedInUserMobile>>

  • Logged In User Phone — <<LoggedInUserPhone>>

The "Logged In" fields are only relevant to messages sent manually by staff — they're blank on automated messages.

Practitioner (default practitioner)

The patient's assigned default practitioner. Available anywhere a practitioner is attached to the message (see the table above).

  • Default Practitioner Title — <<PracTitle>>

  • Default Practitioner First Name — <<PracFirstName>>

  • Default Practitioner Preferred Name — <<PracPreferredName>>

  • Default Practitioner Surname — <<PracSurname>>

  • Default Practitioner Full Name — <<PracFullName>>

  • Default Practitioner Default Profession — <<PracDefaultProfession>>

  • Default Practitioner Default Qualifications — <<PracQualifications>>

  • Default Practitioner Default Provider Number — <<PracProviderNo>>

  • Default Practitioner Professional Title — <<PracProfessionalTitle>>

Patient

Always available, since every message is tied to a patient.

  • Title — <<Title>>

  • First Name — <<FirstName>>

  • Middle Name — <<MiddleName>>

  • Preferred Name (First Name used if no preferred name) — <<PreferredName>>

  • Surname — <<Surname>>

  • Full Name — <<FullName>>

  • Work Phone Number — <<WorkPhone>>

  • Home Phone Number — <<HomePhone>>

  • Mobile Phone Number — <<Mobile>>

  • Fax Number — <<Fax>>

  • Email Address — <<Email>>

  • Date of Birth (dd/mm/yyyy) — <<DateOfBirth>>

  • Current Age — <<Age>>

  • Age Next Birthday — <<AgeNextBirthday>>

  • Current Age including Months — <<AgeWithMonths>>

  • Gender — <<Gender>>

  • Gendered pronoun helpers, based on the patient's Gender — <<HeShe>> / <<HeSheCap>>, <<HimHer>> / <<HimHerCap>>, <<HisHer>> / <<HisHerCap>>, <<HisHers>> / <<HisHersCap>>

  • Fee Category — <<FeeCategory>>

  • Full Address — <<Address>>

  • Address Line 1–4 — <<Address1>> to <<Address4>>

  • Suburb / State / Postcode / Country — <<Suburb>>, <<State>>, <<Postcode>>, <<Country>>

  • File Number — <<FileNo>>

  • Occupation — <<Occupation>>

  • Health Fund — <<HealthFund>>

  • Health Fund Membership Number — <<MemberNum>>

  • Concession Number / Expiry Date — <<ConcessionNum>> / <<ConcessionExp>>

  • Veterans Affairs Number (DVA) — <<VetNum>>

  • Medicare Number / IRN / Expiry Date — <<MedicareNum>>, <<MedicareIRN>>, <<MedicareExp>>

  • Consent to Treatment Date — <<ConsentToTreatmentDate>>

  • "How did you find us?" field — <<HowDidYouFindUs>>

  • GP Title / First Name / Surname / Full Name — <<GPTitle>>, <<GPFirstName>>, <<GPSurname>>, <<GPFullName>>

  • GP Organisation / Organisation Phone / Fax / Email — <<GPOrganisation>>, <<GPOrganisationPhone>>, <<GPOrganisationFax>>, <<GPOrganisationEmail>>

  • GP Full Address / Address Line 1–4 — <<GPAddress>>, <<GPAddress1>> to <<GPAddress4>>

  • GP Suburb / State / Postcode / Country — <<GPSuburb>>, <<GPState>>, <<GPPostcode>>, <<GPCountry>>

  • GP Phone / Mobile / Fax / Email / Provider Number — <<GPPhone>>, <<GPMobile>>, <<GPFax>>, <<GPEmail>>, <<GPProviderNo>>

  • Default Business Name / Display — <<DefaultBusinessName>>, <<DefaultBusinessDisplay>>

  • Default Business Full Address / Address Line 1–4 — <<DefaultBusinessAddress>>, <<DefaultBusinessAddress1>> to <<DefaultBusinessAddress4>>

  • Default Business Suburb / State / Postcode / Country — <<DefaultBusinessSuburb>>, <<DefaultBusinessState>>, <<DefaultBusinessPostcode>>, <<DefaultBusinessCountry>>

  • Default Business Phone / Website / Fax / Email — <<DefaultBusinessPhone>>, <<DefaultBusinessWebsite>>, <<DefaultBusinessFax>>, <<DefaultBusinessEmail>>

  • NDIS Participant Number — <<NDISNumber>>

  • Patient Time Zone — <<ClientTimeZone>>

  • Client ID — <<ClientID>>

  • Email Unsubscribe Link — <<EmailUnsubscribe>> (email only)

Appointment

This category covers two different things, which behave differently — see "Which fields work in which type of message" above.

This appointment (the specific appointment the message is about — only available in appointment reminders/confirmations/telehealth emails, online booking confirmations, and manual messages sent directly from that appointment):

  • Appointment Time / Time (Patient Time Zone) — <<AppointmentTime>>, <<AppointmentTimePatientTZ>>

  • Appointment Date / Date (Patient Time Zone) — <<AppointmentDate>>, <<AppointmentDatePatientTZ>>

  • Appointment Practitioner Full Name / Title / First Name / Preferred Name / Surname / Professional Title — <<AppointmentPracName>>, <<AppointmentPracTitle>>, <<AppointmentPracFirstName>>, <<AppointmentPracPreferredName>>, <<AppointmentPracSurname>>, <<AppointmentPracProfessionalTitle>>

  • Appointment Business Display Name / Name — <<AppointmentBusiness>>, <<AppointmentBusinessName>>

  • Appointment Business Full Address / Address Line 1–4 — <<AppointmentBusinessAddress>>, <<AppointmentBusinessAddress1>> to <<AppointmentBusinessAddress4>>

  • Appointment Business Suburb / State / Postcode / Country — <<AppointmentBusinessSuburb>>, <<AppointmentBusinessState>>, <<AppointmentBusinessPostcode>>, <<AppointmentBusinessCountry>>

  • Appointment Business Phone / Fax / Email / Website — <<AppointmentBusinessPhone>>, <<AppointmentBusinessFax>>, <<AppointmentBusinessEmail>>, <<AppointmentBusinessWebsite>>

  • Appointment Profession / Provider No — <<AppointmentProfession>>, <<AppointmentProviderNo>>

  • Patient / Practitioner Telehealth Link — <<AppointmentTelehealthLink>>, <<AppointmentTelehealthLinkPrac>>

  • Appointment iCal Link — <<AppointmentIcalLink>>

  • Appointment Manager Link — <<AppointmentManagerLink>>

  • Appointment Type / Type ID / Short Description — <<AppointmentType>>, <<AppointmentTypeID>>, <<AppointmentTypeShort>>

  • Location Name / Address / Suburb / State / Postcode / Phone / Email / Logo — <<LocationName>>, <<LocationAddress>>, <<LocationSuburb>>, <<LocationState>>, <<LocationPostcode>>, <<LocationPhone>>, <<LocationEmail>>, <<LocationLogo>> (Logo is email/letter only)

  • Group Appointment List — <<GroupAppointmentList>>, <<GroupAppointmentListPatientTZ>> (text list of the other appointments in a group booking)

  • Appointment ID — <<AppointmentID>>

  • Payment Link — <<PaymentLink>>

The patient's other appointments (worked out from the patient's booking history — available anywhere the patient is known, including Campaigns):

  • Patient's First Appointment Date / Time (incl. Patient Time Zone) — <<FirstAppointmentDate>>, <<FirstAppointmentDatePatientTZ>>, <<FirstAppointmentTime>>, <<FirstAppointmentTimePatientTZ>>

  • Next Appointment 1 Date / Time / Business — <<NextAppointment1Date>>, <<NextAppointment1DatePatientTZ>>, <<NextAppointment1Time>>, <<NextAppointment1TimePatientTZ>>, <<NextAppointment1Business>>

  • Next Appointment 1 Practitioner (Full Name / Email / Title / Surname / First Name / Preferred Name / Provider No. / Professional Title) — <<NextAppointment1PracName>>, <<NextAppointment1PracEmail>>, <<NextAppointment1PracTitle>>, <<NextAppointment1PracSurname>>, <<NextAppointment1PracFirstName>>, <<NextAppointment1PracPreferredName>>, <<NextAppointment1PracProviderNo>>, <<NextAppointment1PracProfessionalTitle>>

  • Next Appointment 1 Manager Link / iCal Link — <<NextAppointment1ManagerLink>>, <<NextAppointment1IcalLink>>

  • Next Appointment 2 and Next Appointment 3 have the exact same set of fields as Next Appointment 1 above — just replace the "1" with "2" or "3" in the tag, e.g. <<NextAppointment2Date>>, <<NextAppointment3PracEmail>>.

  • Previous Appointment 1 Date / Time / Business — <<PreviousAppointment1Date>>, <<PreviousAppointment1DatePatientTZ>>, <<PreviousAppointment1Time>>, <<PreviousAppointment1TimePatientTZ>>, <<PreviousAppointment1Business>>

  • Previous Appointment 1 Practitioner (Full Name / Email / Title / Surname / First Name / Preferred Name / Provider No. / Professional Title) — <<PreviousAppointment1PracName>>, <<PreviousAppointment1PracEmail>>, <<PreviousAppointment1PracTitle>>, <<PreviousAppointment1PracSurname>>, <<PreviousAppointment1PracFirstName>>, <<PreviousAppointment1PracPreferredName>>, <<PreviousAppointment1PracProviderNo>>, <<PreviousAppointment1PracProfessionalTitle>>

  • Previous Appointment 2 and Previous Appointment 3 only have the Date, Time, Business and Practitioner (full name) fields — e.g. <<PreviousAppointment2Date>>, <<PreviousAppointment2Time>>, <<PreviousAppointment2Business>>, <<PreviousAppointment2PracName>> (and the same pattern for "3"). They don't have the extra practitioner detail fields that Previous Appointment 1 has.

Account

Referring doctor, treatment plan, billing contact and balance information from the patient's Accounts tab. Available anywhere an account is attached to the message.

  • Referring Doctor's Title / First Name / Surname / Full Name — <<RDTitle>>, <<RDFirstName>>, <<RDSurname>>, <<RDFullName>>

  • Referring Doctor's Organisation / Organisation Phone / Fax / Email — <<RDOrganisation>>, <<RDOrganisationPhone>>, <<RDOrganisationFax>>, <<RDOrganisationEmail>>

  • Referring Doctor's Full Address / Address Line 1–4 — <<RDAddress>>, <<RDAddress1>> to <<RDAddress4>>

  • Referring Doctor's Suburb / State / Postcode / Country — <<RDSuburb>>, <<RDState>>, <<RDPostcode>>, <<RDCountry>>

  • Referring Doctor's Phone / Mobile / Fax / Email / Provider Number — <<RDPhone>>, <<RDMobile>>, <<RDFax>>, <<RDEmail>>, <<RDProviderNo>>

  • Date / Expiry Date of Doctor's Referral — <<ReferralDate>>, <<ReferralExpiry>>

  • Treatment Plan Name / Start Date / End Date — <<TPName>>, <<TPStartDate>>, <<TPEndDate>>

  • Treatment Plan Alert Number / Value / Quantity — <<TPAlert>>, <<TPAlertValue>>, <<TPAlertQuantity>>

  • Treatment Plan Used (Items & Quantity, and +1) / Dollar Value — <<TPCurrentTreatments>>, <<TPCurrentTreatmentsPlus1>>, <<TPCurrentValue>>

  • Treatment Plan Allocated Items / Quantity / Dollar Value — <<TPTreatments>>, <<TPTreatmentsQuantity>>, <<TPTreatmentValue>>

  • Bill To Full Address / Address Line 1–4 — <<BillToAddress>>, <<BillToAddress1>> to <<BillToAddress4>>

  • Bill To Suburb / State / Postcode / Country — <<BillToSuburb>>, <<BillToState>>, <<BillToPostcode>>, <<BillToCountry>>

  • Bill To Phone / Fax / Email / Name — <<BillToPhone>>, <<BillToFax>>, <<BillToEmail>>, <<BillToName>>

  • Bill To Contact Full Name / Title / First Name / Surname — <<BillToContact>>, <<BillToContactTitle>>, <<BillToContactFirstName>>, <<BillToContactSurname>>

  • Bill To Contact Work Phone / Home Phone / Mobile / Email — <<BillToContactWorkPhone>>, <<BillToContactHomePhone>>, <<BillToContactMobile>>, <<BillToContactEmail>>

  • Bill To Contact Address Line 1–4 / Suburb / State / Postcode / Country — <<BillToContactAddress1>> to <<BillToContactAddress4>>, <<BillToContactSuburb>>, <<BillToContactState>>, <<BillToContactPostcode>>, <<BillToContactCountry>>

  • Date of Last Statement / Last Invoice / Last Invoice Due Date — <<LastStatement>>, <<LastInvoice>>, <<LastInvoiceDueDate>>

  • Date / Time Patient Last Paid, Date Last Billed — <<LastPaidDate>>, <<LastPaidTime>>, <<LastBilled>>

  • Current Amount Owing / Overdue Amount / Total Amount Billed / Total Balance — <<CurrentBalance>>, <<OverdueBalance>>, <<TotalBilled>>, <<AccountBalance>>

  • Account Name / Number — <<AccName>>, <<AccNumber>>

  • Claim Number / Biller Client ID — <<ClaimNumber>>, <<BillerClientID>>

  • Employer — <<Employer>>

  • Date of Injury / Injury — <<InjuryDate>>, <<Injury>>

  • Hospital/Facility — <<HospitalFacility>>

  • Custom Field Name / Value (from the Accounts tab) — <<CustomFieldName>>, <<CustomFieldValue>>

Invoice

Only available in invoice emails, or a manual message sent from a specific invoice.

  • Date of Invoice — <<InvoiceDate>>

  • Due Date of Invoice — <<InvoiceDueDate>>

  • Invoice Number — <<InvoiceNo>>

  • Invoice Total / Paid / Outstanding — <<InvoiceTotal>>, <<InvoicePaid>>, <<InvoiceOutstanding>>

  • Invoice Link — <<InvoiceLink>>

  • Medicare AoB (Assignment of Benefit) Link — <<MedicareAoBLink>>

Quote

Only available in quote emails, or a manual message sent from a specific quote.

  • Date of Quote — <<QuoteDate>>

  • Expiry Date of Quote — <<QuoteExpiryDate>>

  • Quote Number — <<QuoteNo>>

  • Quote Total — <<QuoteTotal>>

Contacts (emergency contact, next of kin, etc)

Format: <<FieldName(RelationshipCode)>> — for example <<FirstName(EC)>> for an Emergency Contact's first name (relationship codes are whatever your practice has set up). Available wherever the patient is known, as long as they have that type of relationship recorded on their file — if they don't, the tag is simply left out of the message rather than showing broken text.

  • Title, First Name, Last Name, Full Name — <<Title(Code)>>, <<Firstname(Code)>>, <<Surname(Code)>>, <<FullName(Code)>>

  • Organisation, Payer — <<Organisation(Code)>>, <<Payer(Code)>>

  • Full Address, Address Line 1–4 — <<Address(Code)>>, <<Address1(Code)>> to <<Address4(Code)>>

  • Suburb, State, Postcode, Country — <<Suburb(Code)>>, <<State(Code)>>, <<Postcode(Code)>>, <<Country(Code)>>

  • Email, Mobile, Phone, Home, Work, Fax — <<Email(Code)>>, <<Mobile(Code)>>, <<Phone(Code)>>, <<Home(Code)>>, <<WorkPhone(Code)>>, <<Fax(Code)>>

  • Provider No., Relationship, Job Title — <<ProviderNo(Code)>>, <<Relationship(Code)>>, <<ProfessionalTitle(Code)>>

Online forms

Format: <<Form/FormMergeTag>> — inserts a link to a specific online form (one tag per form template). If the message is linked to a patient, the link is personalised and pre-fills their details; otherwise it links to the generic public version of the form.

Troubleshooting: a merge field isn't populating correctly

If you're composing an SMS or email manually in PracSuite and see a prompt like this, appointment details will not be correctly inserted into your message:

This warning means you've included one or more of the "This appointment" fields (listed under Appointment above) in a message you're sending manually/ad-hoc. Those fields need the message to be generated as part of a specific appointment, which an ad-hoc message isn't.

Sending a manual reminder from the appointment book

If you need to send a manual appointment reminder using the "This appointment" fields, you can — but only when sending directly from that appointment.

Find the patient's appointment on the appointment book and select Appointment Details.

Use the Send SMS button in the bottom right to send a manual reminder.

Sending a manual appointment reminder any other way will lead to missing appointment information.

Sending bulk messages via Reports (or any other ad-hoc/bulk method)

If you need to send bulk appointment-related messages from a report (or any other method that isn't tied to one specific appointment), use the "the patient's other appointments" fields instead (listed under Appointment above, e.g. <<NextAppointment1Date>>) — these work for ad-hoc and bulk messages because they only need to know the patient, not a specific appointment.

Common questions

A merge field in my template shows the raw tag text, like <<SomeField>>, instead of a value — why?
That means the tag name is misspelled or doesn't exist. Unrecognised tags are left in the message as-is rather than being blanked out.

A merge field came out completely blank — is it broken?
Usually not — it means that message type doesn't carry the information that field needs. See "Which fields work in which type of message" above.

Can I mention a patient's upcoming appointment in a Campaign?
Yes — use <<NextAppointment1Date>>, <<NextAppointment1Time>>, etc. These work in Campaigns because they're based on the patient alone, unlike <<AppointmentDate>> which needs the message to be sent as part of that specific appointment.

Why isn't the invoice link/number showing in my appointment reminder?
Appointment reminders aren't tied to an invoice, so invoice fields (<<InvoiceNo>>, <<InvoiceLink>>, etc) will always be blank there. Invoice fields only populate in invoice emails or a manual email sent directly from that invoice.

What's the difference between <<PensionNum>> and <<ConcessionNum>>?
<<ConcessionNum>>/<<ConcessionExp>> are the current fields for concession card details. <<PensionNum>>/<<PensionExp>> are legacy and shouldn't be used in new templates.

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