The menus and action buttons available allow the user to create or edit a design. Note that many of the functions within Document Designer  resemble Microsoft Word, and allow easy customization to any design. To see what each action button represents, point to it with the mouse.  A text balloon will appear explaining its function.

To create a new document design, Click File, and Click the Create New Design menu item.

Type the new Document Name. Click either the Blank Document or Copy of (i.e. an existing document) radio button. Click OK.

Making a decision, beforehand, on the content and layout of the design will expedite creation and minimize guesswork. As a suggestion, when creating new designs, create them as a copy of an existing design, or copy and paste content from an existing Word document. Then modify the design by using the commands in the Data Items menu to pull information from the patient chart to the design.

You can use document designer much like a word processor, but you also have the added ability to use data items to pull information automatically onto the report.

The Data Items menu houses all the commands that pull information from either the patient's Demographics (including the Insurance  and Custom Demographics), the Provider Manager, the SOAPnote, Summary, or Contacts.

For example:

1. Click Data Items in the menu bar

2. Click the Misc. Data Items  menu item

3. Click the Dates menu item

4. Click Current w/Full Month.

5. This will insert the command to pull the current date with the full month on to the Document Design