---
title: "Send a new patient their intake form"
summary: "Practor can text each new patient a link to fill in their own details and answer your questions before they arrive. Three switches turn it on."
source: https://practor.app/en-za/help/patients-and-records/send-a-new-patient-their-intake-form
published: 2026-09-16T07:37:19.546Z
updated: 2026-09-29T07:14:52.578Z
category: "Patients and records"
---

A new patient can fill in their own details before they turn up. Practor sends them a link, they answer on their phone, and what they enter arrives on their record. It's set up under **Settings → Patient onboarding**.

## Turn on patient onboarding

**Enable patient onboarding** is the switch at the top. Practor sends nothing until it's on, and two more switches and the questionnaires card appear underneath once it is.

**Trigger on new patient**, in the **Auto-Trigger** card, sends the link by itself whenever anyone adds a patient. It starts on.

**Allow customers to capture personal & insurance information**, in the **Information capture** card, adds a step where the patient enters their own contact details, address and medical insurance. It starts off, so until you turn it on they answer the questions and nothing else.

![The patient onboarding settings, switched on](https://res.cloudinary.com/drmnydbcs/image/upload/c_limit,w_1600/f_auto,q_auto:good/v1/help/intake/settings.png?_a=BAMAOGDh0#848x746 "The lower cards only appear once the first switch is on.")

Three things have to be true before a link gets sent on its own: onboarding is on, the trigger is on, and one questionnaire is marked as the default. Miss the last one and new patients are added exactly as they were before, with nothing sent and nothing on screen to say why.

## Write the questions

**Questionnaires** is the card below those switches. The first one comes from **Create questionnaire** in the middle of the empty card, and once one exists the button moves to the card's top corner as **Add questionnaire**.

Every questionnaire in the list shows how many questions it holds, and has three controls. The star marks it the **Default**, the pencil opens it for editing, and the bin deletes it once you confirm.

Only the questionnaire with the star is ever sent, however many you keep.

## What the patient gets

The link is sent one way, chosen off the record. A phone number on it gets an SMS. No phone number and an email address gets an email. Neither gets nothing, and nothing says so.

That choice is made before anything is sent, so a text to a dead number isn't followed by an email. If it doesn't reach them, correct the number and use **Resend link**.

Opening it walks them through consent, then their own details if you turned that step on, then your questions. The link lasts seven days. After that it tells them it has expired, and they need a fresh one.

## Check where a patient got to

**Details → Personal** on a patient's record grows a **Patient onboarding** card once onboarding has started for them. It shows where things stand, whether consent has been given, and which channel it was sent on.

| Status | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| Not sent yet | The link exists but hasn't been sent |
| Link sent | It's with them |
| Opened | They've tapped it |
| Completed | They finished |
| Expired | Seven days went by |
| Cancelled | Somebody stopped it |

![The onboarding card on a patient's details](https://res.cloudinary.com/drmnydbcs/image/upload/c_limit,w_1600/f_auto,q_auto:good/v1/help/intake/status.png?_a=BAMAOGDh0#848x143 "Where they got to, and whether they have consented.")

**Resend link** on that card sends a new one, which is what an expired link needs.

## Related

- [Add a patient](/help/patients-and-records/add-a-patient)
- [Invite a patient to the portal](/help/patients-and-records/invite-a-patient-to-the-portal)
- [A patient's medical history](/help/patients-and-records/a-patients-medical-history)