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The dashboard has a setup checklist. In order: add your practice details and banking under Settings, set up your session types and fees, then add your first client — by hand, or by sharing an intake link. You can run a full session on day one.

Yes, in your phone's browser — there is nothing to install. Checking your day, writing and signing notes, and recording payments all work well on a phone. Longer work like reports and settings is easier on a laptop.

Settings → Session types. Each type carries its own duration and fee, and the fee is snapshotted onto a session when you book it, which is what drives the automatic draft invoice.

It is the consent gate: there is no signed POPIA consent on file for that client. You can still add them and book sessions, but you cannot sign a note or send them a document until consent is recorded. The dot clears once a signed consent is in place.

Open the case file, filter the thread to Consent, then Record consent. You can mark it as signed in person, or send the client a secure e-signature link they sign on their phone — it lands back in the file automatically. If they signed on paper, upload the scan and record it as the consent.

A secure link you send before a first session (New intake → Copy intake link). The client opens it, fills in their own details, and gives consent — no login, no password. When they submit, it arrives as a case for you to review before the file opens.

Yes, email is optional — but a client needs at least a phone or an email so they can be contacted. Without email you cannot send that client an intake link or an online invoice, so you would capture consent in person and record payments by hand. A mobile number is enough for SMS reminders.

Open the case file and choose Export. It builds their full record — details, session history, signed notes and documents. Under POPIA a client has a right of access to their personal information, so review the export before you send it.

A session closes only when both of these are true: a signed note is attached to it, and a payment is recorded against it (or it is marked no charge). Open the session and it shows which half is still outstanding.

“Booked” means you have scheduled it but the client has not confirmed yet. Send them the confirm link from the session — once they confirm, the badge changes to “Confirmed”. It never claims a confirmation the client has not actually given.

No — signing locks the note, because it is the clinical record and has to stay defensible. If something is wrong or missing, add an addendum: it is timestamped, sits below the original, and the original stays exactly as it was.

A draft is yours to change or leave half finished, and it does not count towards closing the session. Signing makes it the record: it locks, carries your name and the date, and satisfies the note half of session closure.

Open the session and choose Cancel. If nothing is attached, it is removed cleanly. If a note or payment is already attached it cannot be deleted — cancelling keeps the record and marks it cancelled with your reason.

Yes. Use the Notes tab in the case file for anything that is not a session — a phone call, a collateral contact, a supervision note. These sign and lock the same way, they just do not affect session closure.

PDF, JPG, PNG, DOCX and XLSX, up to 25 MB each. Scanned consent forms and ID copies are the most common. Everything is stored encrypted.

On the document choose Send secure link. It sends an expiring link to the file, not the file itself, and it is gated on the client having signed consent. We never attach a client document to an email, and never put client names or case content in an email body.

Yes — upload your signature under Settings and it is embedded into the reports and notes you finalise. (Clients signing documents inside CaseThread is not available yet; consent e-signature links are.)

Open the session, choose Record payment, pick the method, and enter the amount and date. That satisfies the payment half of session closure, so the session closes as soon as the note is signed.

Directly, by EFT. Add your banking under Settings → Billing and every invoice you send carries those details, on the PDF and on the link the client opens. CaseThread never handles money between you and your clients — your fees are yours, they go straight into your account, and we never sit in the middle of them. When the payment lands, record it against the invoice and the case file follows.

On the session choose Record payment, then either mark it no charge or record a partial amount. No charge closes the payment half without money moving, which is what you want for pro bono work.

Settings → Plan & billing shows current pricing and your plan. When you subscribe you choose how many seats to buy, and never fewer than the people already in your practice. After that your price follows your team: add or remove a practitioner and the subscription moves to match, from your next billing period. On monthly, nothing is charged mid-cycle for a seat added part-way through. On annual, a seat added mid-year is charged for the whole months left in your term, because an annual seat is paid a year at a time. Switching between tiers on an active subscription is not self-service yet — send us a message and we will action it.

We retry the debit and email you, and your practice keeps working during the retry window. If it stays unpaid, access becomes read-only — nothing is deleted and no data is lost. Full access returns the moment the payment goes through.

When a session with a fee is confirmed, CaseThread drafts an invoice for it automatically under the client's billing. You review it, adjust if needed, and send. The client gets the amount, the PDF and your bank details; when they pay you, you record it against the invoice.

They are automatic, not a per-session toggle. Turn on the SMS reminders add-on under Settings, record the client's SMS opt-in on their consent tab, and keep SMS credits topped up. Then every confirmed session texts the client roughly 2 hours before it starts.

A reminder only sends when all of these are true: the SMS reminders add-on is on, the client has recorded SMS consent, the client has a valid mobile number, they have not replied STOP, and you have SMS credits. Check each of those.

There are two roles. A practitioner sees and edits the full case file for their own clients, including notes. The owner sees the whole practice for oversight, plus subscription and settings, but still edits only what they own. You pick the role when you invite someone.

Team & load → Invite member. Enter their email and pick a role; they get a secure link and set their own password. On the Practice plan each person is a seat, so an invite adds to your monthly bill.

Yes. Assign the second practitioner on the case file — both then see the full file and both can write notes. Every note carries the name of whoever signed it, so the record always shows who wrote what.

Remove them on Team & load; access ends immediately and the seat is freed. Their signed notes stay where they are — they are the practice record and cannot be removed. Reassign their clients to another practitioner.

On encrypted, EU-hosted infrastructure, under a data processing agreement that meets the POPIA section 72 requirements for cross-border transfer. South African law requires an adequate level of protection and a binding agreement, not that the data sit physically in South Africa. You can request the DPA from us.

Email is not a secure channel and leaves your control the moment it is sent. So: no client names in anything sent to a third party, and no clinical or case content in any email at all. A client's own appointment date, time and amount sent to that client is fine — it is their information. Everything else is a secure link back into the app.

Record the withdrawal on the case file. The consent gate closes again, so no new notes can be signed and no documents shared. Existing signed notes are not deleted — you have a separate obligation to retain the clinical record for the statutory period, and withdrawing consent to process does not cancel a retention duty.

Yes — the case file keeps a timeline and access log of what happened on the case (status changes, note activity, exports, shares). Signed notes are immutable and prior versions are never destroyed, which is what keeps the record defensible.

Choose Forgot password on the sign-in screen. You get a secure link by email to set a new one, and it expires after an hour.

Yes, under Settings → Security, using an authenticator app on your phone. If you hold clinical records, turn it on.

Cancel under Settings → Plan & billing. Cancelling stops the next debit and you keep full access to the end of the period you have already paid for. Nothing is deleted when you cancel — ask us for a full export of your practice's data at any time.