Shepherd lets you tag staff members in notes and Task descriptions to send them a notification. Tags keep communication tied to the relevant client, patient, or Task without requiring a separate message.
If a tag is made within the patient's SOAP or history, the tag will be exported as part of the medical record.
What You Need to Know
Tagging someone does not assign a Task to them.
A tag sends a notification but does not add the Task to the tagged person's Assigned to Me view. If a staff member needs to own a Task and receive a notification about it, assign them to the Task and tag them in the Task description.
Editing a saved note or Task does not send a new notification to already-tagged users.
Notifications are sent when a tag is first saved. If you add a new tag during an edit, that person will be notified — but users who were already tagged will not be notified again.
Tagging in Notes
To tag a user in a note, type @ and a menu of all current Shepherd users will appear. Continue typing the person's name to filter the list, then select the user you want to tag.
When the note is saved, the tagged user receives a notification.
Note tagging is available in any note field in Shepherd, including invoice notes, client notes, patient notes, and SOAP notes.
Tagging in Tasks
To tag someone in a Task, type @ in the Task description field and select a user or team from the lookup menu.
You can tag:
Individual users
User Teams
Yourself
Multiple users and teams within the same Task
Tagging is available when creating or editing a Task from the main Tasks area, or from a Client or Patient profile.
Tags remain visible wherever the Task description appears, including Task lists and previews. Tags are included as plain text in applicable exports.
In multisite groups, you can only tag users and User Teams associated with the current clinic.
User Notifications
When a tag is saved, the tagged user will see a red badge next to their name in the left panel. They can click their name and select My Profile to open their notifications.
From the Notifications tab, clicking a notification takes them directly to the related record — the client, patient, SOAP, or Task where the tag was placed.
User Team tags: When a User Team is tagged, each current member of that team receives an individual notification.
Deduplication: Each person receives only one notification per Task, even if they are tagged multiple times or both individually and as part of a tagged team.
Deleted Tasks: Deleting a Task removes its associated tag notifications from the Notifications tab.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does tagging someone in a Task assign it to them?
Tagging and Task assignment are separate actions. Tagging a user sends them a notification, but it does not add the Task to their Assigned to Me view. To ensure a staff member both owns the Task and receives a notification, assign them to the Task and tag them in the Task description.
Why didn't a tagged user receive a notification?
If a tagged user did not receive a notification, check the following:
Was the note or Task saved after the tag was added? A tag only triggers a notification when saved.
Was the user already tagged before an edit was made? If the tag existed before the edit, the previously tagged user will not receive a new notification. Only newly added tags trigger notifications on edit.
In a multisite group, is the tagged user associated with the current clinic? Users and teams from other clinics cannot be tagged from a different clinic.