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Use Templates to format your notes

Templates in Freed: Build Once, Document Smarter Every Time

Freed offers an AI-powered template solution, called Learned Templates, which allows you to have fine-tuned control over the structure, formatting, and content of your clinical notes.

Learned templates now auto-learn from your edits automatically — every time you edit a note, Freed captures your changes and updates the template in the background. If you'd prefer to turn this off for a specific template, go to your Template Library, click the template, and toggle off Auto Learn.

When you edit a generated note, Freed analyzes the structure, formatting, and content of your changes — such as headings, spacing, listed vs. narrative style, and included details — and makes informed decisions about when and how to update the underlying template's Example Note.


How Auto Learn works

Auto Learn runs in the background after every edit, automatically keeping your template up to date. It is off by default. To turn it on for a specific template, go to your Template Library, click the template, and toggle on Auto Learn.

What Auto-Learn captures:

  • Section order, headings, and spacing

  • Abbreviations and narrative vs. list style preferences

  • Specific wording you place in quotation marks (verbatim/boilerplate text)

  • Overall conciseness and documentation style

Constraints:

  • Only works with Learned Templates (not Structured Templates).

  • Does not apply if your group administrator has disabled note editing.

  • Does not apply to shared templates — only templates you own.

Platform note: Auto Learn recognizes edits made on any platform — Web, Mobile Web, iOS app, and Chrome extension. You don't need to be on the web interface for the template to update.

Results from testing: Clinicians using Auto Learn saw a 31% reduction in editing time (23 seconds per visit) and 54% fewer key presses — a strong reason to enable it.

Version History & Controls

Auto Learn keeps a version history of your template changes. You can:

  • View version history: See how your template has evolved over time as edits are incorporated.

  • Revert to a previous version: If a captured change wasn't what you intended, you can roll back to any prior version.

  • Turn Auto Learn on: Auto Learn is off by default. To turn it on for a template, click Templates in the left menu, open the template, and toggle on the Auto Learn button at the top of the page (just under the title).


Customize your Templates

There are three ways your templates get customized:

  • Auto Learn (background, off by default): Edit your notes as you normally would — Freed detects your changes and updates the template automatically. To turn on, click the template in your Template Library and toggle on Auto Learn.

  • Edit the Example Note directly (manual): Open the template in the Template Library and edit the reference note.

Option 1: Auto Learn (background, off by default)

  1. Edit your notes as you normally would — Freed detects every edit and updates the template automatically.

  2. To turn on Auto Learn for a specific template, click Templates in the left menu, open the template, and toggle on the Auto Learn button just under the title.

The Example Note is the reference copy of a note for a given Template. It incorporates your edits automatically, including section order, headings, spacing, abbreviations, narrative versus list style, even the exact wording you placed in quotation marks, and more.

Option 2: Edit the Example Note Directly

  1. Open the Template Library by clicking the Templates icon.

  2. Click on the name of the template to open its Example Note.

  3. Edit the Example Note to your liking.

  4. Click the Save Changes button.

The Example Note is not a real note, but simply a reference copy that Freed uses to format your notes. To customize your real notes, you can edit this example note directly:

  • Insert, remove, and re-order subsections within the SOAP note

  • Change punctuation, formatting, and units of measurement

  • Use numbered or bulleted lists

You can view and revert changes to your Example Note using the version history feature.

How to Create a New Template

Three Options:

  1. Create from the New template button

    1. Open the Template library, then click the New template button on the top right corner.

    2. Choose either to upload a template file or duplicate from Freed library

      1. Uploading a template is best for specific notes that don't fit into the SOAP style or if you have specific formatting you like to adhere to

      2. Duplicating from the Freed library will use our tested, pre-built notes, and generally work the best

    3. To upload your own note style select Upload Template File. The finder will open allowing you to search for files saved on your device. Click here to learn more about Instant Templates!
      *Supported file types: PDF and DOCX only (max 5MB)

    4. When duplicating a note you can see a preview of any note before choosing to add to your library. Select Use Template to add it to your library. See section on structured vs. learned templates to understand the difference.

  2. Create from the Freed Library

    1. Open the Template Library, then click the tab to view the Freed library.

    2. Locate a template that closely matches your specialty or template purpose. If you can't find one, locate the Default Note Learned Template.

      1. If you've been using Freed for a while, you might still see Structured Templates - a legacy template type, indicated by a blue icon.

    3. Add the template to your Library.

  3. Create from My library

    1. Click the My library tab at the top of the screen.

    2. Click the ellipses (three dots) on any of the templates, then click Duplicate.

    3. Click the newly duplicated template, indicated by the title containing the word "(Copy)", and rename the template to your desired title.

*Important: To edit any new templates, duplicate the file to your library and click the ellipses (three dots) and select the edit button. Always make sure to save your template if edited.


Use Advanced Features

Learned Templates offer advanced control over your notes through these features:

Add special instructions

Special Instructions are optional, inline directives you embed in the Example Note inside square brackets [ ] to guide how Freed should handle a particular subsection. Think of them as a "second layer" of customization: the Example Note sets the overall look and flow, while additional instructions fine-tune individual elements. Together, they give you precise, subsection-level control without rebuilding the entire template.

To add special instructions to any section of the note, use square brackets [ ] and follow the instructions in the left sidebar.

Example:
HPI: [Avoid using direct quotes from the patient.]

Mr. Franklin is a 56-year-old male with a history of ischemic stroke (resulting in right-sided hemiplegia) and a recent but now-treated MSSA bacteremia who is currently intubated for ventilatory support due to enterococcal pneumonia. His wife reports...

Example:

Medical History: [Use commonly accepted medical abbreviations when possible.]

- Ischemic stroke (2019) with residual right hemiplegia

- MSSA bacteremia with septic emboli, now resolved

- Enterococcal VAP during ICU admission (2022)

- HTN

Tip #1: The best results come from clear, succinct instructions being placed directly next to the part of the note they are intended to target, in addition to an example in the Example Note. In these examples above, the content of the HPI and Medical History are congruent with the [Special Instruction].

Tip #2: While Special Instructions can be a powerful tool, writing a comprehensive and stylistically-sound example in the Example Note can usually lead to better results.

  • Recommended note formatting:

    Surgical History

    - Appendectomy (2021)

    - Cholecystectomy (2022)

  • Less recommended note formatting:

    Surgical History [add dates in parentheses when available]

    - Appendectomy

    - Cholecystectomy

Add the same text to every note

Verbatim text, also known as boilerplate, is language that you want to see present in every note exactly the same way.

  • In your Example Note, enclose text in "quotation marks" to indicate that it should appear exactly as written.

    • "Patient consented to the use of Freed to record and transcribe notes during this visit."

    • "The patient was asked to return to the emergency department should their symptoms worsen."

To add a consent statement to a Learned Template:

  1. Open the Example Note and insert your consent statement, in your desired location in the note, surrounded by quotation marks (" "), directly into the Example Note.

  2. Save your changes.

Make your notes more concise

To achieve concise documentation, ensure the Example Note reflects the level of brevity you want by:

  • Generating a note, then editing it (removing redundancy, using accepted abbreviations) — Auto Learn will capture your changes and update the template automatically.

  • Or by manually editing the Example Note directly.

Future notes generated from that Learned Template will then mirror the concise tone, structure, and style you established.


Key Benefits of Customizing Templates

  • Zero extra clicks: Edits feed the template automatically in the background.

  • Flexible formatting: Captures formatting, styling, and content preferences beyond a rigid template.

  • Truly customizable personalization: Learns writing style and unique formatting, such as complex lists, or a mix of paragraph and listed notes.

  • Version history: View and revert template changes if a captured change wasn't what you intended.

Considerations

  • Your learned edits apply only to that specific template, but this allows you to create unlimited, unique templates for different visit types.

  • After Auto Learn captures an edit, it can take up to 1-2 minutes for the template to update, but you can continue working while this happens in the background.

All Templates are independent from each other, allowing you to define different examples and formatting for each one.


Transition from Structured to Learned Templates

If you've used Freed for a while, you may still be using our legacy template type called Structured Templates. These templates are indicated by a blue icon, and featured a template builder to allow you to craft a predefined outline for your notes.

We are sunsetting support for Structured Templates, as we've found that using Learned Templates provide more customization and personalization options, in addition to greater accuracy and consistency. Note: Auto Learn does not work with Structured Templates.

If you've already built out Structured Templates and are satisfied with your notes, you can still use them. However, we encourage you to try our newer Learned Template type, indicated by a purple icon, to unlock additional ways to customize your notes.

Turn a Structured Template into a Learned Template

While there currently isn't a direct way to turn a Structured Template into a Learned Template, you can follow these steps to efficiently create a Learned Template based on notes you've already generated:

  1. Open a note that you've already generated using a Structured Template that you are satisfied with.

  2. Open a new browser tab, then navigate to the Templates page in Freed.

  3. Duplicate an existing Learned Template, and open the Example Note for the template.

  4. (Optional) Edit the name of the template at the top.

  5. Copy the Subjective section of the previously-generated note, and paste it into the Subjective section of the Example Note, replacing the pre-written text.

  6. Repeat Step 5 for the Objective and the Assessment and Plan sections.

Going forward, ensure that you select your newly created Learned Template to generate new notes. Auto Learn will capture your edits automatically as you work.


Get Support

If you need further help or have questions, you can get in touch with our Clinician Support team in the method that works best for you:

  • Click on the Help Icon found at the bottom left corner of your Freed Page, and select Chat with support.

  • Email your message to [email protected].

  • Live Support Call with our support team.

If you're interested in using Freed as a group, talk with our sales team.

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