The Warnings & Alerts page (Settings > General > Warnings) controls which confirmation prompts and alert popups appear around the appointment book, invoicing, and client files, and, where relevant, whether entering a reason is compulsory before staff can proceed. This article explains what each setting on that page actually does, and where in PracSuite you'll see its effect.
Every row on this page also appears under Settings > Appointment Book (for the appointment book section) and Settings > Billing (for the invoicing section). These aren't separate settings, they're the same setting shown in three places for convenience, so changing it on one page changes it everywhere else it appears too.
How to read the columns
Most rows have two possible columns:
Show Warning: whether a popup or prompt appears at all for that event.
Require Reason: only applies to the deletion rows and to rescheduling. When switched on, the reason field in that confirmation becomes compulsory rather than optional, so staff can't proceed without typing something in.
For "Opening client file", "Deleting Appointment", "Deleting items", "Deleting payments", "Deleting write offs" and "Deleting refunds", Show Warning is always on and can't be turned off, these confirmations always happen. Rescheduling works differently, see the note under the appointment book table below.
Client file
Opening a client's file always checks for a saved warning note (the free-text alert recorded against that client) and displays it if one exists. This can't be turned off, it's designed to reduce the risk of an important clinical or billing note being missed. The warning note itself is added or edited directly from this popup by clicking on the warning text.
Appointment book
Alert when | What it does when turned on |
Deleting appointment | Always prompts for confirmation. "Require reason" makes typing a reason for the deletion compulsory. |
Reschedule appointment | "Require reason" makes typing a reason compulsory when an appointment's date or time is changed. Unlike the other rows in this table, there's no separate "always on" confirmation here, if "Require reason" is off, rescheduling by editing an appointment's date/time doesn't prompt at all. See the note below for other ways an appointment can be rescheduled without a prompt. |
Future appointment exists | When booking a new appointment, warns if the client already has another future appointment with the same profession, and shows that appointment's business, practitioner, appointment type and date/time. |
Billing future appointments | Warns when creating an invoice directly from an appointment that's still in the future (i.e. the appointment hasn't happened yet). |
Drag and drop of appointments | Shows a simple "Change appointment?" confirmation whenever an appointment is moved to a new time or column by dragging it in the appointment book. This is separate from, and in addition to, the "Reschedule appointment" reason prompt above, both can appear one after the other if both are switched on. |
Client warning on booking, rescheduling, or cancelling appointment | Surfaces the client's saved warning note (see "Client file" above) at these three points specifically, in addition to it always showing when the file itself is opened. |
Client warning when status is set to arrived | Surfaces the client's saved warning note when their appointment status is changed to one that counts toward the practitioner queue (e.g. marked as Arrived). |
Booking with non-default practitioner | Warns when booking an appointment with a practitioner other than the client's recorded default practitioner, and names the client's actual default practitioner and business. |
No appointment with profession for over [period] | Warns when booking if the client hasn't had an appointment with that profession within the selected period, and shows the details of their last appointment with that profession. The period is configurable from 1 month up to 5 years. |
A note on rescheduling: because "Drag and drop of appointments" and "Reschedule appointment" are independent settings, there are a few situations where moving an appointment produces no prompt at all, even with both settings turned on:
Changing an appointment's length by dragging its edge to resize it doesn't trigger either setting, it's treated differently from moving the appointment to a new time.
Notes and rule-outs never trigger the "Require reason" prompt, even when that setting is switched on.
If you want rescheduling to always require a reason, turn on "Require reason" for "Reschedule appointment", but be aware the two exceptions above will still go through without a prompt.
If your practice uses the word "Patient" instead of "Client", these same settings and warnings will show using your practice's chosen terminology.
Invoicing
Alert when | What it does when turned on |
Deleting items / payments / write offs / refunds | Always prompts for confirmation. "Require reason" makes typing a reason compulsory for that specific type of deletion. |
Account is outstanding for [period] | Warns when invoicing an account whose balance has been overdue for at least the selected number of days (0, 7, 14, 30 or 60). |
Treatment plan warnings on invoicing | Warns when invoicing against an account that has an active treatment plan, so treatment plan progress isn't missed at billing time. |
Client warning when invoicing | Surfaces the client's saved warning note when creating an invoice for them. |
If you'd like to change any of these settings, go to Settings > General > Warnings, click Edit, adjust the relevant toggles, and click Save.