Getting started

A 30-minute walk-through of your first day on SmileDesk. By the end, your staff will be in, a few patients will be loaded, and your first booking will be on the day board.

Before you start

You should already have:

• A confirmation email from SmileDesk with your clinic address — something like darlingdental.smiledesk.in.
• An owner login (the email you signed up with).
• Your list of staff — names, mobile numbers, and what each person does (doctor, receptionist, assistant).
• Optionally, an Excel/CSV of your existing patients — name, phone, DOB, gender, address. Anything missing can be filled in later.

Step 1 — Sign in

Open https://<yourclinic>.smiledesk.in/login in Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox. Enter the owner email and the password you set at sign-up. You will land on the Dashboard — today's appointments, pending requests, outstanding balance, low-stock count.

Step 2 — Add your staff

Open Staff from the sidebar (only Owner / Admin see it). Click Add user, fill in name, email, mobile and role, and choose a starter password (they can change it later from Profile).

1. Go to Staff → Add user.
2. Type the person's name. Use their real name; it appears on receipts and audit rows.
3. Enter email and mobile in +91 9xxxx xxxxx format.
4. Pick a role: Doctor, Receptionist, Staff, Admin.
5. Set a starter password and click Create. Share the password with the person via SMS or in person — never over email.

Step 3 — Set your chairs and doctors

Every appointment sits on a chair (an operatory) and is assigned to a doctor. Both are simple lists.

• Chairs — under Admin → Chairs. Give each chair a short label ("Chair 1", "Ortho room"). Two chairs = two parallel columns on the day board.
• Doctors — anyone with the Doctor role automatically appears in the doctor dropdown.

Step 4 — Import patients from Excel

If you already have patient records in a spreadsheet, you can bring them in one at a time or ask us for the bulk-import CSV template.

Manual entry — fastest if you have fewer than ~50 patients:

1. Open Patients → New patient.
2. Type the name and mobile (mandatory), plus DOB, gender, blood group, address (all optional).
3. Under Medical history, note allergies, chronic conditions and current medications — these are surfaced at the top of every chart.
4. Click Save. SmileDesk assigns the next P-code (P0001, P0002, …).

Bulk import — for larger lists:

1. Email support@poruz.com asking for the patient-import template.
2. Fill the CSV: name, phone, alt_phone, dob, gender, blood_group, address, medical_history.
3. Send it back — we will load it into your tenant and confirm the P-code range.

Step 5 — Load your procedure catalogue

Under Procedures, add every procedure you offer with a price. This drives the treatment plan and the invoice line items.

• Short procedures ("Scaling", "RCT — molar", "Composite filling — Class II") plus a price in ₹.
• You can edit the price later without breaking old invoices — issued invoices freeze the price at the time of issue.

Step 6 — Book your first appointment

1. Open Appointments. You land on today's board.
2. Click New appointment.
3. Search the patient by name or phone. If they are new, click Register new patient in the same dialog.
4. Pick a chair, a doctor, the start time (IST) and duration.
5. Choose the procedure(s). SmileDesk warns you if the chair or doctor is already busy in that slot.
6. Save. The appointment goes to Confirmed and — if WhatsApp is on — a confirmation is queued to the patient's mobile.

Step 7 — Switch on WhatsApp (optional but recommended)

WhatsApp reminders cut no-shows dramatically. It takes about 15 minutes to set up your Pulse number — see the WhatsApp page for the exact steps.

Common pitfalls on day one

• Typing the phone with spaces. Use +91 9xxxx xxxxx or just the 10-digit number — SmileDesk normalises it but if you paste from Excel, remove hidden non-breaking spaces first.
• Skipping the chair setup. Without at least one chair the appointment form cannot save.
• Using the same login for multiple staff. Don't. The audit log will show one person doing everything, and deactivating that account logs everyone out. Give each person their own login — it takes 30 seconds each.
• Forgetting the browser tab is per-user. If you switch users on the same PC, sign out first from the footer — otherwise the next person is signed in as you.