A template tells Lupa Notes how to structure the AI-generated note for a given type of consult. A vaccination consult, a pre-op surgical, a dermatology follow-up, and an emergency triage all have very different shapes — and your notes will be framed for that specific purpose. This article covers the template library built into Lupa Notes, how to star the ones you use most, and how to create or edit custom templates with the template builder.

💡 In short: Open Settings > Templates to browse the library, star the templates you use most, or create your own. Use the template builder to define the sections the AI should fill in. Personal templates are yours alone; company templates are shared with the whole clinic.

Why customise templates

⚠️ **Pick a template before you record. No problem if you choose the wrong template, you can add a new thread (which allows you to select an alternative template) to format your consult into a different format. **

What templates do	Why it matters
Tell the AI what each section should contain	Each section can have its own instructions (e.g. "Bullet list of the owner's main concerns, in their words") so the output matches your house style
Set a clinical specialisation	Tags the template for the area of medicine it's used in, so the AI's vocabulary and emphasis fit the case
Make the team consistent	Company templates mean every vet writes a vaccination, a dental, or a discharge in the same shape — easier handovers, easier audit

Where templates live

The home for templates is Settings > Templates in Lupa Notes. Open the settings sidebar on the left and click Templates. You'll see four collapsible groups:

Group	What's in it
Personal	Templates only you can see and use. Anyone in the clinic can create these.
Company	Templates shared across your whole clinic. Any team member can use them; only admins can edit or archive them.
Lupa library	Pre-built templates that ship with Lupa Notes (e.g. SOAP, Vaccination, Surgical Note). Read-only — you can star them and use them, but not edit them.
Archived	Templates you (or an admin) have removed from active use. Collapsed by default. Templates here can be restored if you change your mind.

A search box at the top filters across all groups by name. A star icon next to each template marks your favourites — see the next section.

Star the templates you use most

A starred template surfaces at the top of every template drop down so it's easy for you to find. To star a template:

Open Settings > Templates.
Hover over the template name and click the star icon. It fills in to confirm.
Click again to unstar.

✅ Star fewer than you think. Three to five well-chosen favourites for the consults you do most often will save you more time than starring twenty templates and then scrolling. New starters at the practice usually start with the SOAP, Vaccination, and one or two specialisation-specific ones.

Create a new template

📍 Permissions: Any team member can create a personal template. Only admins can create a company template. The dropdown at create time is the only place this matters — once a template exists, the same edit / archive rules apply.

Open Settings > Templates.
Click Create.
Pick the scope:
Personal Template — visible and editable only by you
Company Template (admins only) — visible to the whole clinic; only admins can edit or archive
Give the template a name when prompted.
The template builder opens, ready to be filled in (see the next section).

💡 If you're not sure where to start, duplicate a Lupa library template into your personal templates and tweak it from there. Most teams build their first few templates by starting from SOAP and trimming or adding sections to fit their workflow.

Use the template builder

The builder is split-screen: the editor on the left (the part you can customise), a live preview on the right (you cannot edit this side). As you add or edit sections, the preview updates immediately so you can see how the AI will lay out the note.

Top bar — name, specialisation, save

The bar at the top of the builder is for template-level settings:

Field	What it does
Template name	Click to edit inline. Use a name that's obvious at a glance — Routine Vaccination, not Template 7.
Specialisation	Single-select dropdown of clinical areas (Consulting, Surgery, Dentistry, Cardiology, Equine, Exotic, and so on — 19 options). Tags the template for the kind of medicine it covers; the AI uses this to set its vocabulary and emphasis.
Save / Close	Save commits your changes. Close exits without saving — make sure you save before you leave the builder.

Specialisation templates

If you are a specialist and would like specialist specific terminology - then remember to make this known when creating your own template.
You can select a speciality per template.

Sections — the body of the note

A template is a list of sections. Each section becomes a heading in the AI-generated note. Add sections in the order you want them to appear; reorder, edit, or delete them at any time.

Section type	When to use it
Freeform	You can give the AI an instruction ("Summarise the owner's reported concerns in 2-3 sentences") and also create text that will always show up

For each section you can set:

Title **outside the box - **this is so you know what the section is about, based on the prompts and instructions you provide.
**Default content (free text) **— the bold 'History' below - AI will not change this. This will always show up in your history, almost like default text or a section title.
**Prompts (purple free text) ** — create prompts and suggestions for AI, so it knows what information to search for and retrieve from your consult. Be specific to give it the best guidance. Remember to use {{ }} these brackets when creating a prompt. If it doesn't highlight purple, you have not created a prompt for AI to use.
**Hide when empty - **use the toggle on the right hand corner of each section, to hide a section (the default content you created) if this section is not relevant to the consult. When the toggle is purple, it means you have enabled this function and only relevant sections will show up.

Overall prompt — instructions for the whole note

Above the sections is an overall prompt field. This is a template-level instruction the AI follows in addition to the per-section prompts. Use it for global guidance:

"Use British English veterinary terminology."
"Keep the tone professional but readable for a colleague covering the case."
"If the owner mentioned an existing chronic condition, include it under History even if not asked about today." Section prompts override the overall prompt where they conflict.

Save when you're happy

Click Save in the top bar. Saved changes apply the next time the template is used to generate a note — they do not change notes that have already been generated.

Edit, archive, or restore a template

Action	Who can do it	What happens
Edit a personal template	The owner	Opens the builder. Save to apply.
Edit a company template	Admins only	Opens the builder. The change applies to every vet using this template from then on.
Edit a Lupa library template	Nobody	Read-only. Duplicate it into a personal or company template if you want to customise it.
Archive a template	Owner (personal) or admin (company)	Moves to the Archived group and disappears from pickers. Existing notes generated from it are unaffected.
Restore an archived template	Owner (personal) or admin (company)	Returns it to the active group and pickers.

⚠️ Editing a company template ripples to everyone. Any vet who uses it from that moment on gets the updated structure. Tell the team before you change a heavily used template — and consider creating a new one alongside the old until everyone has migrated.

Tips

✅ Habits that lead to templates the team actually uses:

Build templates from real consults — record a few of the kind of consult you want to template, see what the AI naturally produces, and copy that structure into a template.
Keep section names short and consistent across templates (e.g. always History not sometimes Hx and sometimes Background). It makes scanning notes easier.
Use key-value with paragraph display for the routine parameters block (Weight, Temp, HR, RR, MM, CRT) — you get a tidy one-liner instead of a six-bullet list.
Use the overall prompt for things you'd otherwise repeat in every section (tone, language, default to assuming UK units).
Don't make templates too long. The AI does best with focused structures of 4–8 sections, not 20.
Test a new template on one or two real recordings before you star it for daily use — adjust based on what the AI struggles with.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
I can't find a template I created at recording time	Templates appear in your drop down list once they're saved and not archived. Star the template to push it to the top of the list.
I'm logged in but I can't see the Create Company Template option	Only admins can create company templates. Ask a clinic admin to either create the template or grant you admin access from Settings > Teams.
The AI ignored my section's instructions	Make the section prompt specific and concrete — "List the owner's main concerns as bullets" works better than "Concerns". If the conversation didn't cover what you asked for, the AI has nothing to populate the section with.
My company template changes haven't shown up for a colleague	Edits apply the next time the template is used — already-generated notes don't update retroactively. Ask your colleague to start a new recording or add a new thread to test.
I archived a template by mistake	Open the Archived group at the bottom of the templates list and restore it. No data is lost.
I can edit Lupa library templates on my colleague's machine but not mine	You can't — Lupa library templates are read-only for everyone. If your colleague has a customised version, they have duplicated it into their personal or company templates.

Frequently asked questions

Can I share a personal template with one specific colleague?

Not directly. The two scopes are personal (just you) and company (the whole clinic). If you want a teammate to use your template, ask an admin to create it as a company template, or share the structure verbally so they can rebuild it as their own personal template.

What happens if I delete a template that someone has used?

Archiving is the equivalent of deleting in Lupa Notes — there is no hard delete. Notes that were generated from the template stay exactly as they were. The template just disappears from the picker and moves to the Archived group, where it can be restored later.

Why doesn't my template change update my older notes?

Templates are applied when the AI generates a note. Once the note exists, it's a separate document — editing the template afterwards doesn't reshape past notes. To rebuild a past consult against a new version of the template, regenerate it (see ).

What's the difference between a template and a snippet?

A template is the structure of an entire AI-generated note — the headings, the order, the prompts. A snippet is a short, reusable bit of text you drop into a note while editing (e.g. discharge instructions, post-op warnings). Templates live in Settings > Templates; snippets live in Settings > Snippets.

Can I have a template for a phone consult that's different from an in-person one?

Yes. Create two templates with the same body but different overall prompts (e.g. "This is a phone consultation, so don't infer physical exam findings" vs "This is an in-person consultation, include physical exam findings") and star both. Pick the right one when you start the recording.

Does the specialisation tag affect what the AI writes?

Yes. The AI uses the specialisation to set the medical context — vocabulary, emphasis, common abbreviations — when generating the note. A template tagged Dentistry will produce different language to one tagged Behaviour, even with identical sections.

Custom templates and template library