> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getrivet.ca/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Reviewing and editing notes > The hands-free dictation flow, the snippet library, and how to work the note overlay during and after a session. The note overlay is designed to keep your hands free while you're still present with the client, and to type fast when the session is over. Three things make that work: voice-to-text dictation on every text field, a snippet rail of one-tap clinical phrases, and a docked-sidebar layout that lets the note sit alongside the video tile instead of covering it. ## Open the note from the picker Click **Clinical templates ▾** in the top-right corner of your session (host-only — your clients don't see this button). The picker groups templates by category; **Your notes (private)** sits at the bottom of the list. Pick SOAP, DAP, or Treatment plan. The note opens in your overlay. Your client's screen doesn't change — no notification, no overlay, nothing. The note is rendering on your device alone (see [How documentation works](/documentation/overview) for the full picture). ## Dictate hands-free Every text field in a SOAP or DAP note has a small microphone icon at the corner of the textarea. Tap it to start dictation. The icon turns red. As you speak, the text streams into the textarea — interim words in light grey, finalized phrases in normal text. Tap again to stop. Dictation uses the browser's built-in voice-to-text — the same engine that powers iOS keyboard dictation, Chrome's voice typing, and Android's keyboard mic. A few things follow from that: * **Mobile Safari times out after \~30 seconds** of continuous use. Rivet auto-restarts the recognizer if you haven't tapped stop, so you can keep talking through the timeout. * **Browser support is uneven.** Chrome (desktop + Android), Edge, and Safari all support it. Firefox does not — the mic button won't appear there. * **First use prompts for mic permission.** Once granted, the browser remembers it for the site. If you denied accidentally, look for the mic-blocked icon in your address bar. * **Rivet never receives the audio.** The browser sends recognized *text* into your textarea. The audio goes to the browser's dictation engine (which may use the vendor's cloud for processing — same posture as keyboard dictation on your phone). Rivet's servers see neither. Dictation is especially useful for the Subjective and Data fields — longer narrative content. The Plan section is usually short and bullet-shaped; typing is often faster there. ## Use snippets for the phrases you write every time When your cursor lands in a text field, a row of chips appears below the field — the **snippet rail**. Each chip is a quick-insert clinical phrase. Tap a chip and the phrase appends at your cursor. The default snippets are: * `+ congruent affect` → *Client presented with affect congruent to content.* * `+ euthymic mood` → *Mood appeared euthymic.* * `+ safety plan reviewed` → *Safety plan reviewed; client denied SI / HI / intent / means.* * `+ homework assigned` → \*Homework assigned: \* * `+ good rapport` → *Therapeutic rapport remained strong.* * `+ engaged` → *Client was engaged and collaborative throughout the session.* * `+ no SI/HI` → *No suicidal or homicidal ideation reported or observed.* These are starting points. Click **⚙ Manage** at the end of the rail to edit, delete, or add your own. The list lives in your browser's local storage — it persists across sessions on the same browser, and it never leaves your device. Practitioners build up a personal snippet library over a few weeks of use. Phrases like *"continued progress on grounding skills"* or *"reviewed values-clarification work from last session"* or *"recommend bridging to mood diary between sessions"* — anything you find yourself typing more than twice. The snippet rail makes the second-and-third use a tap instead of a sentence. ## Dock the note alongside the video tile By default the note opens as a centered overlay covering the video area. On a desktop screen you can flip it into a **docked sidebar**: the note slides to the right edge of the window and the video tile shrinks to fit alongside it. Click the dock toggle in the note's header (top-right corner of the overlay). Docked mode is the right shape for the second half of a session, when you're typing the note while the client is still on screen. You can see them, they can see you, and the note has its own column. Dock vs centered is a per-template, per-session preference. It doesn't persist across sessions — open the note, dock it if you want it docked. ## Pause mid-note: minimize Click the minimize button (top-right of the overlay) to tuck the note into a small docked card without losing your in-progress text. The field values stay in browser memory. You can open another template (a worksheet, a screening scale) and come back to the SOAP note when you're ready. Tap the minimized card to restore. Minimizing also leaves the snippet rail's session preferences in place, so the snippets you've used most recently stay handy when you reopen. ## Edit fields like any browser form Fields are regular browser textareas. All the editing affordances you expect work — cursor positioning, copy, paste, undo (Cmd/Ctrl+Z), find (in long fields), and so on. There's no "save" button: changes apply to the in-memory draft as you type. The fields that auto-filled from earlier templates (see [Auto-fill from templates](/documentation/auto-fill-from-templates)) arrive with content already there. Edit freely — append, prepend, delete, restructure. The note saves automatically to the client's record as you type; there is no separate Save step. Once you sign the note the body is locked. After signing, corrections go in as dated addenda — use the **Add addendum** button on the note rather than editing the original. This keeps the record auditable. ## Add a private per-field annotation Every field has a **✎ note** button beside its label. Click it to open a small textarea below the field. Type a private practitioner-only observation — something for your clinical reasoning that you don't want in the main field, but you want preserved when you export. Private annotations land in the exported PDF as italic *Therapist note:* paragraphs indented below the field. They never go to the client (practitioner-private notes don't go to the client in the first place, but the annotation pattern works the same way it does on every other template — see [Private annotations](/documentation/private-annotations)). ## Finish the note after the call ends When the video call ends, your in-progress note is still in the overlay. The session-summary footer appears with a **Download session summary** button. You can: * Keep typing — the note doesn't disappear when the call ends. * Export the individual note (Copy or Download — see [Exporting notes](/documentation/exporting-notes)). * Export the session summary (every template + your note as a single PDF). * Close the overlay (the X button in the top-right) — the note remains saved as a draft on the client's record. The note body saves to the client's record automatically, so closing the overlay won't lose your progress. Per-field ✎ annotations are local — those are gone when you close. Export before you close if you need the annotations in your clipboard copy or PDF, or if you want the note in your EHR right now. ## Related articles The per-field practitioner-only notes that travel with the export. The three export paths — clipboard, per-note PDF, session-summary PDF. What lands in the fields automatically when you open the note.