Exporting your records: one client, or your whole practice

At a Glance

There are three ways to get records out of TherapyLock: a summary of one client's notes over a date range, a complete archive for one client, and an archive of your entire practice. All are free, all come out in open formats that any computer can read, and nothing is ever locked in.

Before you start

The two per-client exports are on the client record. The whole-practice export is in My Account.

Everything arrives as plain text, CSV spreadsheets, and your uploaded files in whatever format you uploaded them. There is no PDF option. The point is that your records open anywhere, years from now, without TherapyLock or any particular software.

A summary of one client's notes

Use this when you need the notes alone over a particular period, for a report or a handover.

1. From Your Clients, open the client and scroll to Data Export.
2. In the Notes Summary Export panel, click Generate Notes Summary.
3. The Generate Notes Summary Report box opens. Set the date range you want.
4. Generate it. You get a plain text file covering the sessions in that range.

Everything for one client

This is the one to use for a subject access request, a transfer to another practitioner, or your own copy of a closed file.

1. From Your Clients, open the client and scroll to Data Export.
2. In the Full Record Export panel, click Export Full Client Record.
3. The button reads Preparing Export... while it gathers everything. Larger records with many attachments take longer, so let it finish.
4. A ZIP archive downloads.

What is inside the archive

This is the part people most want to know before they rely on it.

• Complete Notes, as a text file. Every session note, each with its date, session number, duration and the template you used, and every amendment recorded against it. Amendments appear with the note they correct, so the record reads in full
• Client Details, as a text file. Everything held on the record itself, including dates, contact details, session arrangements and your retention setting
• Payment History, as a CSV spreadsheet. Appointments with their date, time, duration, mode, attendance status, fee and whether it was paid
• Clinical Measures, as both a text file and a CSV, where you have recorded any
• Documents, as a folder holding your uploaded attachments as the original files. A photograph is still a photograph and a letter is still the letter you uploaded

Your whole practice in one archive

From My Account, you can download the entire practice rather than one client at a time. Use it for a yearly backup, when you are moving between systems, or when you are closing a practice down.

Click Export all records. The archive holds one folder per client, each containing the same files described above, plus a Practice_Documents folder with your own practice paperwork and a MANIFEST listing what the export contains.

Depending on the size of your practice and your browser, this may arrive as one archive or as several numbered parts. Where it comes in parts, every part is needed for a complete record, and an unfinished run stays resumable for 30 days, so a failed download or a closed tab is not a disaster. There is also a verification file you can download to check the archive against.

Checking what you got

Before an archive goes anywhere, open it and read it.

An export tells you when something is missing rather than leaving a quiet gap. If an attachment could not be retrieved it is named in a missing files note inside the archive, and a whole-practice export lists any removed clients separately. The notes, details and histories are always complete; only uploaded attachments can ever fall short, and the archive says so when they do.

If something's not right

• You are answering a subject access request. Read the archive through before you send it. A client is entitled to their own records, not to information about anyone else, and third parties are sometimes named in session notes
• The download seems to be taking a long time. A record with many attachments genuinely takes time to gather, because each file is fetched and added in turn. Leave the tab open and let it finish
• An attachment is missing from the archive. Check the missing files note inside it, which names anything that could not be retrieved. Contact us with that list and we will look into it
• You need a PDF. TherapyLock does not produce one. The notes are plain text, so they open in any word processor, where you can save or print as a PDF yourself
• A part of a whole-practice export failed. Come back to My Account and download that part again. Runs stay resumable for 30 days, and parts you have already saved are marked

Related articles

• What the client record holds — The client record
• Correcting a note before you export it — Why session notes cannot be edited, and how amendments work
• Where your attachments live — Organising worksheets and attachments
• What your executor can export — Setting up your clinical will in TherapyLock

Still Need Help?

If you have any other questions about TherapyLock, our support team is here to help.

Email us at support@counsellingtutor.com and we will be happy to assist.