What are Patient Labels?
Patient Labels allows your clinic to configure pre-formatted label templates for printing patient information directly from Digitail. Labels can be attached to cages, kennels, carriers, or medication packaging — keeping your team informed at a glance without manually re-entering patient details.
Digitail includes two default Patient Label templates (2.125 × 2.75 and 2 × 3) that are ready to use or edit. Admins can also create additional custom templates to pull in the exact patient and visit fields your team needs.
ℹ️ Looking for our old Cage Cards? The traditional Digitail Cage Card (full 8.5 × 11 sheet) is a separate feature and remains available from the Flowboard and Appointment Card. This article covers the small, customizable Patient Label templates only.
Before you start
You must have Administration permissions to create or edit label templates. All staff can print using existing templates.
Your clinic uses a label printer compatible with the label stock size you plan to use.
Your printer is connected and accessible from the computer you'll be printing from.
If creating a custom template, decide in advance which patient fields you need.
Where to Manage Templates
Label template configuration is handled in Certificates & Forms. This is an admin-only area. Clients → Certificates & Forms → Labels tab
How to Set Up your Label Templates
Using the Default Templates
The two default Patient Label templates are ready to use without any changes. If your printer stock matches either of the default sizes, your team can start printing immediately. You can also edit the defaults if you'd like to adjust the fields or layout.
Patient Label (2.125 × 2.75) — Small thermal format. Ideal for cage tags, carrier labels, and individual medication packaging.
Patient Label (2 × 3) — Small thermal format. Same use cases — use whichever matches your printer's label stock.
Creating a Custom Template
If you need a different size or a different field layout, create a new template from scratch or duplicate an existing one as a starting point.
Go to Clients → Certificates & Forms → Labels.
Click + Add New Template in the top right.
Enter a Name for the template — use something your team will recognize at print time (e.g., "Medication Tag" or "Large Cage Label").
Set the Document type to Patient Label.
Set the dimensions to match your label stock.
Build the label content using the available shortcodes to insert patient and visit fields.
Click Save. The template is immediately available to all staff.
Duplicating an existing template
To save time, you can duplicate an existing template and modify it — useful when you want a variation of the default layout for a different label size.
Go to Clients → Certificates & Forms → Labels.
Find the template you want to duplicate.
Click the actions menu (three-dot icon) and select Duplicate.
A copy is created with the same name and content. Click the actions menu on the new copy and select Edit to rename it and make your changes.
Click Save when done.
Editing or deleting a template
Go to Clients → Certificates & Forms → Labels.
Click the actions menu (three-dot icon) on the template you want to change.
Select Edit to update the name, dimensions, or content, or Delete to remove it.
⚠️ Deleting a template removes it for all staff immediately. If it's a default template you've customized, consider duplicating it first as a backup before making changes.
How to Verify it Works
Open a patient's Health Card and click the print icon in the patient header bar (top right of the patient strip, next to the three-dot menu).
Confirm your label templates appear in the list — select one to print.
Repeat from the Flowboard: click the three-dot menu on an appointment card → Print Patient Label → select a template.
Check that the printed label shows the correct patient information and fits your label stock.
Where staff can print labels
Once templates are configured, staff can print from four places in Digitail. The Flowboard's Scheduled column supports bulk printing across multiple appointments at once — all other access points print one patient at a time.
Flowboard — Scheduled column (Bulk print)
Click the print icon at the top of the Scheduled column → select a template → prints labels for all appointments matching your current Flowboard filters.
💡 Tip: Before bulk printing, apply Flowboard filters to narrow down the appointments — the print action will only include what's currently visible. For example, filter by room or vet to print labels for a specific subset of the day's schedule.
Flowboard — Appointment Card (Single)
Three-dot menu on any appointment card → Print Patient Label → select a template.
Appointment Card (Single)
Open any appointment from the Calendar, Flowboard, or Health Card → Print Patient Label → select a template.
Health Card (Single)
Open a patient's Health Card → click the print icon in the patient header bar (top right, next to the three-dot menu) → select a template.
📌 Administration permissions are only required to create or edit templates in Certificates & Forms. Any staff member can print using existing templates from any of the access points above.
Related settings
Certificates & Forms → Documents — Manage other printable templates like discharge summaries and consent forms.
Certificates & Forms → Headers — Configure the clinic header that appears on printed documents. Relevant if your label templates include a clinic name or logo.
Cage Cards — The traditional Digitail Cage Card (8.5 × 11 sheet) is a separate feature available from the Flowboard and Appointment Card. It is not configured in Certificates & Forms.
FAQ
Why don't I see the Labels tab in Certificates & Forms?
The Labels tab is only visible to users with Administration permissions. Ask your practice manager or clinic owner to configure templates, or to update your permissions if you need admin access.
Can I create a label for a different paper size than the defaults?
Yes — use + Add New Template and enter the exact dimensions of your label stock. You can also duplicate a default template and adjust the size, which saves time if the field layout is similar.
Can all staff print labels, or only admins?
Any staff member can print a label from the Flowboard, Appointment Card, or a patient's Health Card. Administration permissions are only needed to create, edit, or delete templates in Certificates & Forms.
What's the difference between Print Patient Label and Print Cage Card in the Flowboard menu?
Print Patient Label uses the thermal label templates configured in Certificates & Forms — these are the small-format stickers your team can attach to cages, carriers, or medications. Print Cage Card is a separate Digitail feature that prints a full-page (8.5 × 11) summary sheet, separate from the label template system.
What information prints on the label?
The fields that print depend on the content configured in the template. Your admin controls this when creating or editing a template in Certificates & Forms using the available shortcodes.