This guide explains what you are looking at on a client's Client record tab — how the timeline is laid out, and how to read a single record card.
Once you can read the timeline, see How to view a record for opening one and reading everything inside it, and How to create a record for adding a new one.
Where the tab sits
Open a client and look along the tabs at the top of their page: Summary, Profile, Cases, Client record, Outreach, Services, Wellbeing, Forms, Medical record.
Client record is the client's whole activity history in Joy — every contact, appointment, note, action, uploaded file, wellbeing tracker and profile change, newest first.
The same timeline appears inside a single case: open a case from the Cases tab and its first tab is Records. There you only see the records linked to that one case.
Client record is not the same as Medical record. The Medical record tab shows information read from the GP clinical system. The Client record tab shows what your organisation has recorded in Joy.
The controls along the top
Search records... with a Search button — filters the timeline by words in a record.
Key events only — a switch that hides everything except records marked as a key event.
Templates — manage the saved record templates you can prefill from.
Create new — adds a record. See How to create a record.
Upcoming and Past
Records are grouped into two sections:
Upcoming (2) — records dated in the future, usually booked appointments. The number in brackets is how many there are.
Past (137) — everything that has already happened, newest first. The number is the total across every page, not just the page you are on.
The Past heading only appears when there is also an Upcoming section. If nothing is upcoming, the timeline simply starts with the most recent record.
This is a card timeline, not a table. Each record is its own card, and each card carries its own badges, so two records of different types look different at a glance. Longer entries are trimmed to three lines on the card — open the record to read it all.
While the tab is fetching, you will see Loading records....
How to read a record card
Reading left to right along the top of a card:
The title — what was typed into Title when the record was saved. If there is no title, the record type is shown instead.
The type badge — one of Contact, Appointment, Note, Action, File upload, Wellbeing or Profile update. Each type has its own colour.
Direction — on a contact, Outbound or Inbound. Appointments do not show a direction.
Method — how the contact happened: In person, Phone, Video chat, Email, Message or Letter.
Attendance — on an appointment: Attended, No show, Cancelled by staff or Cancelled by client.
Consultation — the record came from a structured consultation template. A Draft badge next to it means the consultation was saved as a draft and has not been completed.
Key event — a starred badge on records someone marked as significant. This is what the Key events only switch filters on.
A clinical status badge, when the record has been sent to the GP clinical record. See below.
Waiting to sync — a dashed badge, described below.
View in Services — on a referral record, jumps to the Services tab.
Underneath the badges:
The content — the first three lines of what was written.
Attachment links — each attached file as a chip with its name and size. Select one to open it.
The grey summary line — the date and time of the record, then the recorded minutes as , 30 min, then , 2 attachment(s), then the record's own reference as , Record ID: 4821-99310. Quote that reference when you ask Support about a specific record.
The case chip — a coloured dot and the name of the case this record belongs to. A record with no case chip is filed against the client rather than against one of their cases.
On the right of each card are three icons: a history icon (opens the record), a pencil (edits it) and a bin (deletes it). Selecting anywhere on the card body also opens the record.
Clinical record wording on a card
When a record has been sent to the client's GP clinical system, the card carries one of these badges:
Sending to clinical record — queued, not yet transmitted.
Sent — awaiting confirmation — it reached the practice device, and Joy is waiting for the clinical system to confirm it was filed.
Filed to clinical record — confirmed in the GP record.
Sending failed — it could not be delivered. Open the record and use Retry.
Sending cleared — the queued send was cancelled and will not be retried.
If anything has failed, a warning banner appears above the timeline reading "Clinical systems: 2 items failed to send. Open the failed record and use Retry to send again."
Under the banner, each failure is listed with the clinical system it was headed for and a link reading Open "the record's title". Where the system has not been worked out yet you will see Clinical system not resolved yet, and if the record has since been deleted, record no longer available.
"Waiting to sync"
A dashed Waiting to sync badge means the record has been saved in Case Management but has not yet reached the Joy clinical record system. Hovering over it says "This message record has not reached the Joy clinical record system yet. It will keep retrying automatically."
There is nothing to do. Joy keeps retrying on its own, and the badge disappears once the record has landed. It is not the same as a clinical send failure.
Empty states
No records yet. — nothing has ever been recorded for this client.
No records on this case yet. — the case timeline is empty. An Add the first record button appears with it, which opens a new note already linked to that case.
No records on this case match. — the case has records, but none match your search or the Key events only switch. Clear the search and switch them off to see everything.
No past records yet. — everything on this client is in the future; only the Upcoming section has cards.
Notes and troubleshooting
A record I expected is missing. Check whether Key events only is switched on, whether a search is still applied, and whether you are on a case's Records tab rather than the client-wide Client record tab.
The Past count looks bigger than the list. The count is the total across every page. Use Previous and Next at the bottom to page through.
A colleague sees a record I cannot. Records follow case and client visibility. If a client or case is hidden from you, so is its timeline.
A staff name reads "Former staff". The person who created the record has been removed from your organisation. The record itself is unchanged.