Setting up a new clinic

By the end you'll have answered the welcome questions, created (or joined) your clinic, brought across your existing clients, patients and price list, and checked the handful of settings that matter before your first real day.

The app pre-loads sensible settings for you, so a lot of "setting up" is really just reviewing what's already there.

If you're brand new and just want the absolute quickest start, read Your first 10 minutes first, then come back here when you're ready to do the proper setup.

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Part 1 — The welcome wizard

The very first time you sign in with a new account, Wattle shows a short setup wizard. It's a friendly form in the middle of the screen with little dots across the top showing how far along you are. You can't skip it — but it's only three quick steps and you can change everything later.

Tell Wattle about you

Usually: whoever signs in first (often the owner/admin).

Step by step

1. Sign in with your email or single sign-on.
2. Fill in your First Name and Last Name. These two are required.
3. Add a Professional Title if you like — this is optional.
4. Choose your Role: Veterinarian (full access) or Staff (standard access).
5. Click Continue.

A couple of things people get caught on

• Professional Title is just a label, like "Veterinarian" or "Vet Nurse". It is not your credentials (BVSc, DVM, registration number). Those live in your profile later — see Settings tour.
• Your Role decides what you can do. A Veterinarian can change clinic settings, manage the team and see everything. Staff can work with patients, clients and appointments but can't change the clinic's configuration. If you're the person setting the clinic up, choose Veterinarian so you can reach the settings screens. Roles can be changed later, so don't worry if you're unsure.

Create or join a clinic

Usually: the owner/admin creates; everyone else joins.

This step asks "How would you like to get started?" with two big buttons.

• Choose Create a new clinic if you're the first person from your practice setting Wattle up.
• Choose Join an existing clinic if a colleague has already created your clinic and given you an invite code.

The Back button returns you to the "About you" step if you need to fix anything.

Create your clinic

Usually: owner/admin.

Step by step

1. Enter your Clinic Name. This is the only required field — the little asterisk (*) marks it.
2. Optionally add a Legal Name — your registered entity (e.g. "… Pty Ltd") if it differs from your trading name. Leave it blank if they're the same.
3. Optionally fill in Street Address, City, State and Postcode (these sit in a three-across row), plus Phone, ABN and Contact Email.
4. Click Complete Setup.

Wattle confirms your clinic is ready and takes you to your home screen.

Join an existing clinic

Usually: a nurse, receptionist or vet joining a clinic someone else created.

Step by step

1. On the clinic choice step, click Join an existing clinic.
2. Type the Invite Code your clinic administrator gave you.
3. Click Complete Setup.

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Part 2 — The Getting Started checklist

Once the wizard finishes, a small Welcome message appears explaining that Wattle has pre-loaded some settings for you. Read it, then click Get Started.

After that you'll see the Getting Started checklist — a floating panel with six steps and a progress ring. There's also a little rocket button in the bottom-right corner of the app; that's how you open and close the checklist any time.

Work through the checklist

Usually: owner/admin, but anyone can follow along.

Step by step

1. Click the rocket button in the bottom-right to open the panel.
2. Click a step's link to jump to that screen — Clinic Settings, Appointment Types, Schedule, Catalogue or New Patient. If your clinic holds controlled drugs, you'll also see an Enable the Schedule 8 register step.
3. As you visit each screen, its checklist item ticks itself off automatically.
4. The "Create your first patient" step is different — it only ticks once you've actually filled in and saved a new patient, not just opened the form.
5. You can also tick or untick any box by hand if you want to override what Wattle detected.

Hide or bring back the checklist

Usually: anyone.

Step by step

1. Open the panel with the rocket button.
2. At the bottom, click Skip for now (or Dismiss if every step is done). The panel closes and the rocket button disappears.
3. Changed your mind? An Undo option appears as a small message for about 8 seconds.
4. To bring it back later, click your avatar (top-right) and choose Getting started. The panel and rocket button return, right where you left off.

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Part 3 — Bring across your existing records (CSV import)

If you're moving from another system, you don't have to retype everyone. Wattle can import your clients, patients and catalogue (price list) from CSV spreadsheet files.

Get your spreadsheet ready

Usually: admin.

Before you start, save your data as a .csv file (not Excel .xlsx). In Excel or Google Sheets, choose File > Save As / Download and pick CSV.

A few rules that save headaches:

• File must be .csv and under 10 MB.
• It needs at least one row of real data, not just column headings.
• For clients, you must have first name and last name columns.
• Patients are always imported together with their owners in one combined file — there's no patients-only import. Each pet row carries its owner's first name and last name (the same columns used for clients), plus the pet's details (name, species, breed, sex, desexed status). Wattle groups rows with the same owner into a single client.
• Very large files (over 2,000 rows) will warn you that the import may take a minute or two. That's normal — keep the page open.

Import clients, patients or catalogue

Usually: admin.

The import runs as a four-step wizard: Upload → Map Columns → Review → Import. The same steps apply whether you're importing clients, clients-and-patients together, or catalogue items — Wattle auto-detects which kind your file is and you can override it if it guesses wrong.

Step by step

1. Go to Settings > Import & Export (the Import tab).
2. Upload — drag your CSV onto the drop zone, or click Browse files. Wattle shows the filename, what kind of import it detected (Client Import, Catalogue Item Import, or Client + Patient Import) and the number of data rows. If the detected type is wrong, change it in the Import type dropdown. Click Next.
3. Map Columns — for each column in your spreadsheet, choose which Wattle field it matches (or Skip this column). Green dots mean Wattle is confident about a match, yellow means it's a guess — glance over the yellow ones. A live preview of your first few rows updates as you go. Required fields are marked with an asterisk and must all be mapped. Click Next.
4. Review — Wattle checks every row and shows a summary: green (rows ready), red (errors), orange (warnings). Fix anything red. Resolve any duplicates (see below). On this step the bottom button reads Import — click it once it's enabled to start the import.
5. Import — watch the progress bar fill. Keep this page open until it finishes. When it's done you'll see how many records were created.
6. Click Done to close, or Import More to bring in another file.

If a date column is involved (patient dates of birth)

• A date format dropdown appears on the Map Columns step once you map a date column. Set it to match your file — DD/MM/YYYY (AU) for most Australian spreadsheets, or MM/DD/YYYY (US). If you don't see the dropdown, you probably haven't mapped the date column yet. Getting this right now saves a trip back later.

If you see errors on the Review step

• Rows with a red marker have a problem — usually a required field is empty, or a value doesn't match what Wattle expects. The Details column tells you what. Errors block the import, so you'll need to fix them in your spreadsheet and upload again.
• Orange warnings don't block anything — they just tell you Wattle tidied something up (like turning "Yes"/"No" into a tick-box value).

If a value like species or category is rejected

• Some fields only accept set values, but Wattle is generous about everyday wording. Species is stored as one of: canine, feline, avian, equine, bovine, ovine, caprine, porcine, rabbit, rodent, reptile, amphibian, fish, mustelid, marsupial or other — and common words map across automatically, so "dog" becomes canine, "cat" becomes feline, "horse" becomes equine, and so on. Only genuinely unrecognised values are flagged. Catalogue Category is stored as one of: consultation, procedure, medication, vaccine, diagnostics, imaging, hospitalisation, supplies, discount or other; friendly words map too, like "surgery" → procedure, "lab" or "pathology" → diagnostics, "x-ray" → imaging, "vaccination" → vaccine. Capitalisation doesn't matter. When a value can't be matched, Wattle often suggests the right one ("Did you mean canine?"). Fix the value in your spreadsheet and re-upload.

If Wattle finds possible duplicates

• When a row looks like someone (or something) you already have, Wattle shows a Potential Duplicates section and asks you to choose, for each one: Link to existing (use the record you already have — this row won't be added again) or Create new (add it anyway). You must decide on every duplicate before the Import button turns on — there's no skip. If there are a lot, work down the list one at a time. This is Wattle being careful, not a fault.

Check what you imported

Usually: admin.

The wizard clears itself after a successful import, so to see your new records, head to the relevant list: Clients, Patients or Catalogue. They'll be there.

Undo an import

Usually: admin.

Made a mistake, or imported a test file? You can reverse a whole batch.

Step by step

1. Right after importing, you can click Undo Import on the success screen.
2. Or later: go to Settings > Import & Export (Import tab), scroll to Import History below the wizard, and expand it.
3. Find the batch and click Undo next to it. Confirm in the dialog.

Other ways to do this

• ⭐ Import History (recommended): more context — date, type, record count — and it checks for things that depend on the records before deleting. Best for tidying up later.
• Success screen Undo Import: quickest right after an import, while you're still on the wizard.

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Part 4 — The must-do settings before your first day

Wattle pre-loads working settings, so you don't have to build everything from scratch. But there are a few worth checking before you open the doors. All of these live under Settings in the sidebar.

Check your clinic details

Usually: admin.

Step by step

1. Go to Settings > Clinic Settings.
2. Confirm your practice name, address, phone, email and ABN. These appear on invoices, estimates and emails, so it's worth getting right.
3. There's no Save button — each field saves on its own the moment you click away from it.

Set up billing and GST

Usually: admin (often with help from your bookkeeper).

This is the setting most people are unsure about, so take it slowly. It's all in the Tax & GST section of Clinic Settings.

Step by step

1. On Settings > Clinic Settings, find the Tax & GST section.
2. Turn on GST Registered if your practice is registered for GST.
3. Two new fields appear once you do — this is normal, not a glitch. Set the Default Tax Rate (usually 10%) and choose your Pricing Mode: tax-inclusive (your prices already include GST) or tax-exclusive (GST is added on top).
4. While you're here, set your Default Dispensing Fee in the Dispensing section if you charge one (enter 0 for none).
5. Everything autosaves.

Review your appointment types

Usually: admin.

Wattle comes with 8 ready-made appointment types (Consult, Vaccination, Surgery, Dental and so on). You can use them as-is, tweak them, or add your own. These control what staff can book on the calendar.

Step by step

1. Go to Settings > Appointment Types.
2. Look through the list. Each type has a name, colour, default duration and active status.
3. To add one, click Add Type, fill in the Name (required), pick a Colour, set a Default Duration (HH:MM), add a description if you like, and save.
4. To change one, click the three-dot menu on its row and choose Edit.
5. To switch one off (so it can't be booked), click its Active badge — it toggles instantly.

Quick tour of the other settings

You don't need these for day one, but it's worth knowing they're there:

A few things people ask about

• I can't change my own email or role. Those are deliberately locked — they're managed by support. To change them, contact your practice manager or email hello@wattlevet.com.
• Clicking "Change password" logged me out. That's expected. The button sends you to Wattle's password reset page, which signs you out first. Save any unsaved work before clicking it.
• The Integrations page shows a "More coming soon" card. That's the placeholder for future integrations — the Zenbooker card is live, as are Subscription and Security. Nothing is broken.
• I clicked Import & Export / Audit Log and got bounced back home. Those are admin/vet-only. If you don't have that role, Wattle sends you back. Ask your practice manager if you need access.

For the full walk-through of every settings screen, see Settings tour and Team and permissions.

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Where to next

• Ready to see a patient? Your first 10 minutes and The consult.
• Setting prices? Catalogue and prices.
• Unsure what a word means? Glossary.
• Want to know what a button does? Buttons and symbols.