SMS Message Templates

Reusable text, sent when you decide to send it

The SMS Message Templates page holds reusable SMS templates that you trigger manually — a quick, pre-written message a staff member picks and sends, most commonly from a patient record, at the moment the situation actually calls for it. Nothing here fires on its own.

That's the key distinction from the automated appointment-lifecycle templates — confirmation, cancellation, reminder, and follow-up messages — which send themselves the instant a matching appointment event happens, with no one deciding in the moment to send them. Manual templates exist for everything that doesn't fit that pattern: a message you want worded consistently and saved for reuse, but where a person, not an appointment status change, decides when it goes out.

What you'll learn

How manual SMS templates differ from the automated appointment-lifecycle templates
How to create and edit a template
Why this page has no Generate with AI button, unlike some other template pages
When a manual template is the right tool, versus an automated template or a broadcast

The SMS Message Templates page, showing a list of manually-triggered templates with options to add or edit a template.

Creating a template

Open SMS Message Templates

Go to Settings > SMS Templates.

Add a new template

Start a new template and give it a clear, recognizable name — this is what staff will see when choosing between templates later, so name it by purpose rather than by date or a vague label.

Write the message body

Enter the SMS text you want this template to send.

Save the template

Click Save. It's now available wherever staff can choose a template for a manual message, such as from a patient record.

Write for reuse, not for one specific patient Since a template is meant to be picked and sent repeatedly by different staff, avoid baking in details that only apply once. If a message genuinely needs to be one-off and specific to a single patient, it's often simpler to write it directly in the SMS modal from that patient's record rather than creating a template you'll only ever use once.

Editing a template

Find the template

Locate it in the SMS Message Templates list.

Open the template

Click it to open the editor.

Update the text

Make your changes to the message body.

Save your changes

Click Save to apply the update.

Editing changes the template for everyone, going forward A template is shared — every staff member who selects it going forward gets the updated wording. If several people rely on a template, a wording change worth making is usually worth a quick heads-up so no one is surprised by different phrasing going out under a name they recognize.

No AI drafting on this page

No Generate with AI button here Unlike some other template and messaging pages in ClinyPal, SMS Message Templates does not have a Generate with AI button. You write and edit these templates by hand. If you're looking for AI-assisted drafting, it's available on the SMS side of the automated appointment-lifecycle templates and in the <a href="/communications/broadcasts-sms-email-campaigns/">Broadcasts Compose wizard</a>, not on this page — so there's no missing button to hunt for here.

Choosing the right tool: manual template, automated template, or broadcast

ClinyPal gives you three different ways to send an SMS depending on who decides to send it and how many people receive it. Picking the wrong one tends to show up later as either a message that should have been consistent but wasn't, or a manual task someone has to remember to repeat that should have just been automatic.

What you need	Use this
A consistent message you send yourself, at a moment you choose, to one patient at a time	A manual SMS Message Template, picked from a patient record.
A message that should send itself automatically whenever an appointment reaches a certain status	One of the automated appointment-lifecycle templates (confirmation, cancellation, reminder, or follow-up).
The same message sent once to a whole group of patients matching some criteria	A <a href="/communications/broadcasts-sms-email-campaigns/">broadcast</a>, built through the Compose wizard.
A message so specific to one situation it will never be reused	Write it directly in the SMS modal from the patient's record — not worth saving as a template.