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Migration guide

Leaving SimplePractice: what its data export contains

SimplePractice's data export gives you the clinical and billing record as per-client folders, but its own help centre says it leaves out appointments, and that contact details come only as vCards. A departing practice needs three pulls: the Complete export, the Client details report and the Appointment status report, then one parallel billing cycle.

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Three pulls, because one export is not enough

SimplePractice’s data export lives under Settings, Practice, Data export, and only the Account Owner, or a practice manager given export permission, can run it. You choose the scope (all clients, one client, or, in a group, all clients of one clinician) and one of three types:

Export typeWhat SimplePractice says it contains
CompleteProgress notes, psychotherapy notes, mental status exams, diagnosis and treatment plans, chart and administrative notes, appointment memos, contact details, insurance claims, invoices, statements, superbills, intake questionnaires, secure messages and stored documents
SessionsThe clinical documents from that list, without contact information
ContactsClient contact details as vCard files, for address-book programs

The Complete export arrives as a zip with a folder per category and a sub-folder per client. The download link, and the password if you keep password protection on, expire after a week, and SimplePractice says it cannot recover a password for an expired export.

Two gaps matter for a migration, and SimplePractice’s help centre names both:

  1. Appointments are not in the data export. Run the Appointment status report and export it, or the future schedule has to be rebuilt from memory.
  2. There is no contact spreadsheet in the export. The Contacts type is vCard only; for a CSV or Excel file, export the Client details report. That spreadsheet is the one that becomes your client import.

Data you can bill from, and files you keep

Nearly everything moves, but not in the same form. The Client details spreadsheet becomes structured client records you can schedule and bill from. The Complete export’s notes, plans and assessments become documents on each client’s chart: readable, retained, and not searchable the way the originals were. Set that expectation with clinicians before they discover it in month two.

That raises the real decision: how much history needs to be one click away. Most practices settle on the last two years attached to the chart, with the full Complete export held in reserve, and find that attempting more is effort spent on records nobody opens. How rows and documents land on this side is described once in how the import centre works.

Claims, portal messages and the overlap month

Claims filed through SimplePractice finish there; SimplePractice notes that claim processing happens on the payer’s side, so moving data does not change a claim’s status. Keep the account active until the last one posts. Secure messages are in the Complete export, so a separate message export is not needed, but telehealth session history stays with SimplePractice.

Solo practices often compress the switch to a fortnight; groups should plan a month. Either way: run the three pulls, import, reconcile client balances against your last statement run, then pick a Monday. From it, sessions schedule and document here, card payments run here, and superbills or biller exports replace in-app claim filing.

If you have not decided yet, the SimplePractice comparison is honest about which practices should stay put. The destination depends on your discipline: behavioral health, speech therapy and occupational therapy each have their own page.

Common questions

Will clients notice the switch?
The visible changes are payment receipts and any portal access. Tell clients the week before, move stored payment arrangements deliberately, card data never migrates between processors automatically, and expect one month of "where do I pay this" questions.
Who in a group practice can run the SimplePractice export?
Only the Account Owner, or a practice manager who has been given data export permission. A clinician leaving a group cannot run it themselves; they ask one of those two, who can export all clients for that clinician.
Can we keep our SimplePractice notes accessible?
Yes, they import as documents on each client chart, so the clinical history stays one click away even though it is not structured data here. Export complete records for every client, not just active ones.

Document a test session here before you run the export

14 days, no card required. Use made-up patients while you evaluate: real patient information waits until a business associate agreement is in place.

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Sources

  1. SimplePractice help centre, "Exporting client information through data exports", who can export, Complete/Sessions/Contacts types, folder contents, one-week expiry, appointments not included, contacts as vCard (checked October 14, 2026)
  2. SimplePractice help centre, "Transferring client data FAQs", transfer has no effect on claim status, which is processed on the payer's end (checked October 14, 2026)