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OutSmart Guide

Free Form Sections

A Free Form Section is a plain text area with no heading and no structured fields — just space to write. Use it when you need to capture narrative content that doesn’t belong under any specific topic heading: a visit summary, a phone-call note, a paragraph of context that doesn’t fit elsewhere.

Free Form Sections give you the flexibility of Basic Charting’s free-text areas while keeping you inside the PRO Charting structure for the rest of the chart.

Adding a Free Form Section

  1. In the chart editor, click the + button on the page where you want the section (+S, +O, +A, or +P).
  2. Choose Free Form from the section-type menu.
  3. The section appears as a text area. Start typing.

The section is added to the chart index on the left using a generic label so you can still navigate to it. The chart auto-saves while you type.

When to Use Free Form vs Other Section Types

  • Use Free Form when the content is narrative and doesn’t belong under a labelled topic. Conversation notes from a phone call, a visit summary paragraph, a “things to follow up on next visit” note.
  • Use Basic Headings when you want the same kind of free-text content but with a heading on top so it’s easier to find later.
  • Use Heading With Status when the content is about an ongoing concern you’ll revisit and want to mark progress on.

In practice, most charts that include a Free Form Section use it as a single Plan-page paragraph for the visit’s summary — the kind of thing you’d hand the patient verbatim as a written summary.