DENTAL TECH TUTORIAL

Dentrix Views Tutorial — How to Set Up & Use Custom Views in the Appointment Book

Dentrix Views are one of the most useful — but often overlooked — tools inside the Dentrix Appointment Book. Views allow you to completely customize what you see on your schedule, including:

✔ Which operatories display
✔ Which providers appear
✔ What information shows inside each appointment block
✔ Production totals, alerts, notes, and more

And the best part?
You can create multiple views per workstation — meaning your hygiene room, front desk, and assistants can each see the schedule in a way that makes the most sense for them.

In this post, I’ll walk you through how to set up Dentrix Views, switch between them, and even create a HIPAA-friendly “no-name” view.


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What Are Dentrix Views?

Dentrix Views let you control what appears on your appointment screen — without changing your actual schedule data.

So instead of everyone being stuck with the same layout, you can create dedicated views for:

🦷 Hygiene
🪥 Restorative
📞 Front Desk
🔐 HIPAA-safe scheduling
📅 Month view users

And each workstation can have its own setup.

Dentrix allows up to 12 different views per workstation — and each one can be switched instantly using the function keys (F1–F12).


How to Create a New View in Dentrix

Step 1 — Open the Appointment Book

Go to:
Appointment Book → View (top menu) → New

This opens the View Setup window.


Step 2 — Choose Which Providers Display

On the left, you’ll see a list of providers.

Just select the ones you want included in the view.

Important notes:

✔ Dentrix saves up to 10 providers per view
✔ The provider color bar displays only for those first 10
✔ Appointments will still show even if the provider isn’t selected

So don’t worry — you won’t lose appointments from the screen.


Step 3 — Select Which Operatories Show

Under Operatories, check the rooms you want visible.

You can display up to 10 operatories at once — which is especially helpful for:

🦷 Large offices
🪥 Hygiene-only views
📍 Front desk staff who only want certain rooms

This keeps the screen clean and focused.


Step 4 — Set Practice Start/End Times & Work Days

In the Month View section, set:

⏰ First patient time
⏰ Last patient time
📅 Days your office is open

This helps prevent Month View errors later — so it’s worth making sure these are correct.


Customizing What Shows Inside the Appointment Block

Dentrix lets you display up to nine lines of text per appointment block — but most practices only use 2–4 so the schedule doesn’t look crowded.

Common display choices include:

✔ Patient Name
✔ Appointment Reason
✔ Phone Number
✔ Provider
✔ Production Amount
✔ Preferred Name
✔ Age
✔ Referral Source
✔ Chart Number

Tip:
➡️ Put the most important information on the top lines.
Short appointments won’t always show lower lines.

Also…
If you use Preferred Name — don’t replace the name entirely. If a patient doesn’t have one saved, the field will just be blank.


Optional — But Really Helpful View Settings

Here are some settings I highly recommend turning on:

✅ View Amount

Shows scheduled production total in the top-right corner. Great for daily goals.

✅ View Appointment Notes

Adds a note icon to appointments with notes attached.

Huge time-saver.

✅ View Alerts

Shows a red cross icon if a patient has health alerts.

Very important clinically.

⬜ Provider Color Columns

Adds color-coded provider bars to the left of the appointment book.
Turn off if you prefer a cleaner look.

Once your settings are ready — click OK to save your new view.


Switching Between Dentrix Views

Each view is assigned to a function key (F1, F2, F3, etc.).

You can switch instantly by pressing the key — no menu navigation needed.

Or you can go to:
Appointment Book → View → Select View

This makes it super fast to toggle between hygiene, restorative, and HIPAA-safe schedules.


Creating a HIPAA-Compliant “No-Name” View

This is one of my favorite tips.

If patients can see your monitor — even over your shoulder — it’s smart to have a view where patient names do not display.

All you do is:

🛑 Set Line 1 to “None”
➡ Hide the patient name entirely

That way if anyone glances at the screen — no PHI is visible. I personally switch between:

F1 = normal view
F2 = HIPAA-friendly view

It takes one second.


Remember — Views Are Workstation-Specific

So your:

🦷 Op room
📞 Front desk
🪥 Hygiene bay

…can each have their own customized setup.


Want to Change Colors, Fonts, and Display Style?

Dentrix Views only control what information is shown — not how it visually looks.

Colors, fonts, styles, and appearance live in different settings — and I have a full tutorial on that coming soon. Make sure you’re subscribed if you want to see it.


Final Thoughts

Dentrix Views are one of the easiest ways to:

✔ Clean up your schedule display
✔ Reduce clutter
✔ Improve HIPAA protection
✔ Help each role see exactly what they need

Once you set them up, switching between views becomes second nature — especially using the function keys.

If you like tutorials like this and want more Dentrix + dental tech walkthroughs, subscribe to my YouTube channel — I post new videos every week.

And as always — if you have questions or want me to cover something specific, let me know!

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