# Case Noting in the App

Source: https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/support-worker-app/during-a-shift/case-noting-in-the-app

> Record, view, and edit case notes against a shift in the app.

Scheduling add-on - This feature requires the Scheduling add-on, which is available on Astalty Premium. See How to enable Scheduling.

## Overview

Use the Astalty app to record, review, and edit case notes linked to your shifts. Your organisation may require a case note before clock-out.

> **Related**
>
> Notes can also be added to internal shifts that aren't linked to a Participant. See [Internal Event Notes](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/internal-event-notes).

## Writing a Case Note

- Open the Support you are documenting.
- Tap **Write Note**.
- Enter the details of your case note. It saves as you type, so there is nothing to press to keep it.
- When you are finished, tap the tick in the top right to close the note.

The tick stays greyed out until the note reaches the minimum length your organisation has set, so a
note that is too short cannot be finished off.

![Two app screens side by side: the shift action sheet with Write Note highlighted below Clock In, View Shift and View Participant, and the note editor with an arrow pointing to the tick in the top right.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image2-1757993285.png)

## Editing a Case Note

- Open the Shift, select **View Shift**, then select Notes.
- Tap the case note you want to update.
- Select the pencil icon in the top right.
- Make your changes. They save as you type. Select the tick in the top right when you are done.

![Two app screens side by side: a shift's details with the Notes row highlighted under Related, and an opened case note with its tagged Goal and an arrow pointing to the pencil icon in the top right.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image3-1757993315.png)

> **Editing can lock after clock-out**
>
> If your organisation enables **Lock Case Notes After Clock-Out**, a note written during the shift becomes read-only after the configured grace period. A note started after the shift remains editable while it is actively being written, then locks after it has been idle for 15 minutes and the clock-out grace period has also passed. A locked note no longer shows the pencil icon to its author.

## Are case notes saved as drafts?

No. Case notes have no draft state. The note is created as soon as you start typing and every
change is saved as you go, so there is no separate list of draft notes to find and nothing is lost
if you leave the screen part-way through.

The tick in the top right finishes the note and closes it; it is not what saves your text.

What you may be looking for is a shift whose note was never written. Those appear under
the incomplete shifts list, opened from **Needs attention** on the **Overview** tab, showing **Notes required**.

## Attaching Photos and Files

You can attach photos and files to a case note while writing a new note or editing an existing one, including group case notes.

### Attaching a Photo

- Tap **Attach**.
- Choose **Photo Library** to select an existing photo, or **Take Photo** to use your camera.
- The photos you add show above the buttons. Remove any you do not want to keep before finishing the note.

![The note editor for Wendy Heathcote in the Astalty app with the Attach button highlighted beside Templates and Goals.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/case-note-app-attach-buttons.png)

![The Add attachment menu open over the note editor, with Photo Library, Take Photo and Choose File highlighted.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/case-note-app-attach-media-options.png)

### Attaching a File

- Tap **Attach**, then **Choose File**.
- Choose one or more files from your device.
- Accepted file types are PDF, JPG, PNG, CSV, DOCX, DOC, XLSX, XLS, TXT, and ZIP. Each file can be up to 100MB.

### Viewing Attachments

After you finish the note, its attachments appear under **Images** and **Documents**. Select a photo, PDF, video, or audio file to preview it. Other file types are not supported for in-app preview.

> **Attachments can't be removed once the note is finished**
>
> You can remove newly selected photos and files before you tap the tick. No attachment can be removed after the note is finished.

> **Attaching from the web app**
>
> The web app has its own attachment flow, with different accepted file types and a larger size limit. See [Notes](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/participants/notes) and [Adding Documents to a Task](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/tasks/task-documents).

## Adding Goals to a Case Note

Tag the Participant Goals a shift worked towards against the case note itself.

- While writing or editing a note, tap **Goals**.
- Tap each Goal you want to tag. A tick marks selected Goals, and the button shows the count, such as **Goals (2)**.
- Swipe the picker down, or go back, to return to the note.

![The note editor for Wendy Heathcote in the Astalty app, with an arrow pointing to the Goals button beside Attach and Templates.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/case-note-app-goals-button.png)

![The Select Goals picker listing Increase Employment Opportunities and Enhance Social Skills, both Short Term, with Enhance Social Skills ticked and highlighted.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/case-note-app-goals-picker.png)

![The note editor for Wendy Heathcote with the Goals (1) button highlighted after a Goal is selected.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/case-note-app-goals-button-count.png)

The picker lists the Participant's Goals by name and shows the Goal type, such as Short Term, Medium Term or Long Term, where one has been set. When no Goals are available it reads *"No goals available for this participant."*

When you are editing an existing note, each tap saves straight away. On a new note the Goals are attached once the note itself has been created, so finish the note rather than leaving the screen part-way through.

### Removing a Tagged Goal

Tap **Goals**, then tap the ticked Goal again to untick it.

### Viewing Tagged Goals

A finished note shows a **Goals** heading with a chip for each tagged Goal. Tap a chip to read that Goal's Description, Achievement Strategy and Barriers. In note lists, a goal icon shows how many Goals the note has.

> **Why a Goal may not be listed**
>
> A Goal has to be available to you before it will appear in the picker: it must not be archived, and its **Support worker visibility** must be **Visible**. A Goal left unset falls back to your organisation's default, which is **Not Visible** until an Admin changes it. See [Visibility for Support Workers](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/participants/goals#visibility-for-support-workers).

> **Group case notes**
>
> Group case notes have no **Goals** button while you are writing them. Finish the note, then edit it. **Goals** appears once the note is for a single Participant. A note left on **All Participants** cannot have Goals tagged.

> **Goals can only be tagged from the app**
>
> The web platform shows a note's Goals as read-only labels. They cannot be added or removed there. Attaching a Goal to the shift is a separate action. See [Support Goals and Documents](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/support-goals-and-documents).

A Goal tagged on a case note is also linked to the shift, so it appears on that Support's **Goals** tab.

## Incomplete Case Notes

If a required case note is missing at the end of a shift, the shift is counted in the incomplete shifts row under **Needs attention** on the app's **Overview** tab.

![The Overview tab of the Astalty app with the 14 incomplete shifts row under Needs attention highlighted, below Today's shifts, On call now and Remote work.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image1-1757993347.png)

## Completing an Incomplete Case Note

- On **Overview**, select the incomplete shifts row under **Needs attention**.
- Find the shift marked with a red chip showing what is still outstanding.
- A shift with no case note shows **Notes required**.
- Tap the entry, then tap **Write Note**.
- Enter your case note, then tap the tick in the top right to finish it.

Once completed, the shift will disappear from the Incomplete Shifts list.

![Two app screens side by side: the Incomplete Shifts list with the Notes required chip highlighted on a shift, and that shift's action sheet with Write Note highlighted below Clock In, View Shift and View Participant.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image4-1757993373.png)

## Templates

When writing case notes, you may have access to templates if your organisation has set them up. Templates provide a pre-structured format for notes, helping you remember what details to include and ensuring consistency across all case notes.

### Accessing Templates

- When writing a note, tap Templates.
- Select the relevant template.
- The template content is added after any note content already entered. Complete it with the shift-specific details.

![Two app screens side by side: the note editor with an arrow pointing to the Templates button beside Attach and Goals, and the Templates list with the Support Note template highlighted.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/image5-1757993413.png)

## Which Case Notes a Support Worker Can See

By default a Support Worker sees every case note on the Participants they work with. Admins can narrow this from the worker's **Permissions** tab using **Can view all case notes** and **Can only view case notes written by users in their user groups**.

When a Support Worker is restricted, the notes they see on a Participant are:

- Notes they wrote themselves.
- Notes written by someone who shares a Team or Custom User Group with them, if the user-group option is on.
- Notes on any shift they personally worked, whoever wrote them.

Notes written by workers outside their user groups, on shifts they didn't work, are hidden.

> **The App and the Web Platform Differ Here**
>
> The filtering described above applies to the app only. On the web platform, a restricted user still sees every support note in a Participant's note history. For the full explanation, see [Role Permissions](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/settings/role-permissions#notes--tasks-visibility).

## Case Noting Group Supports

If you are scheduled to a group support, there may be times where you need to write notes that need to be applied to all Participants in the group, or write notes specifically for each individual Participant.

### Completing Group Case Notes

To complete case notes for a group support:

- Once you've selected your group shift, tap **Write Note**. When the blank note page opens, it will be automatically defaulted to **All Participants**.
- If you are intending to write a case note for all Participants attached to this group support, complete your case note and then tap the tick in the top right.

![The Overview tab of the Astalty app with an in-progress group shift opened, and Write Note highlighted with an arrow in the action sheet below Clock Out, Record Travel During, View Shift and View Participants.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/group-case-notes.png)

![The note editor for a group shift, with the All Participants selector highlighted at the top of the screen.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/group-case-notes-2.png)

- However, if you need to write a note for a specific Participant - tap the **All Participants** button and tap on the **Participant** that you would like to write the case note for. Write your case note and then tap the tick in the top right.

![The Who is this Note for? sheet over the note editor, with a participant search, All Participants ticked, and the individual Participants Theodore Buckridge and Simone Brakus highlighted.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/group-case-notes-3.png)

![The note editor for a group shift with Theodore Buckridge selected and highlighted at the top of the screen in place of All Participants.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/group-case-notes-4.png)

### Viewing Group Case Notes

All case notes completed for this group support, can be viewed from the shift.

- Once you've selected your group shift, tap **View Shift**.
- Then tap on Notes - where it displays the number of notes already completed for this support.

![The Overview tab of the Astalty app with an in-progress group shift opened, and View Shift highlighted with an arrow in the action sheet below Clock Out and Record Travel During.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/group-case-notes-10.png)

![The details of a group shift in the Astalty app, listing the Group Support, Participants, Details, Location, Clock In, Clock Out, Travel and Action Items, with the Notes row showing 3 highlighted under Related.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/group-case-notes-9.png)

The notes page lists the notes already completed for the Group Support, including:

- The date and time
- Who it was written by
- Which Participants were assigned to that note - all or specific Participants.

If a note is selected, it will open up where it can be viewed and if you are the user who wrote the note it can also be edited.

![The Notes page for a group shift listing three notes with their date, time and author, each with a highlighted tag for All Participants or a single Participant, and an arrow pointing to a note chevron.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/group-case-notes-8.png)

![A case note opened from the Notes page of a group shift, titled with its Participant Simone Brakus, with the note text highlighted and an arrow pointing to the pencil icon in the top right.](https://docs.astalty.com.au/assets/group-case-notes-11.png)

## Case Noting in the App - Video Overview

The following video provides a walkthrough of how to create, edit, and complete case notes in the Support Worker app.

Video walkthrough: case noting in the app support workers.