FastForward for Practice Fusion

Installing FastForward

Six steps, done once. FastForward runs inside Chrome as a side panel next to your Practice Fusion chart.

About 5 minutes Google Chrome required Windows & Mac
  1. 1

    Download FastForward

    Download FastForward.zip — a single file, saved to your Downloads folder.

    Chrome may ask you to confirm the download. Choose Keep.

  2. 2

    Unzip it somewhere permanent

    Create a folder you will not move or delete, then unzip FastForward into it. Documents is a good home.

    Windows Right-click FastForward.zipExtract All… → change the destination to Documents\FastForwardExtract.
    Mac Double-click FastForward.zip, then drag the folder it creates into Documents.

    This folder is the program. Chrome loads FastForward from this exact location every time it starts.

    If you leave it in Downloads and later clear that folder, FastForward will disappear from Chrome. Put it somewhere you keep things.

  3. 3

    Turn on Developer mode in Chrome

    Open a new tab, type chrome://extensions in the address bar, and press Enter.

    In the top-right corner of that page, switch Developer mode on.

    This is what lets Chrome install an extension that came from us directly rather than from the Chrome Web Store. Nothing else about Chrome changes.

  4. 4

    Load the folder

    Three buttons appear once Developer mode is on. Click Load unpacked.

    Select the FastForward folder you created in step 2, then click Select Folder (Windows) or Open (Mac).

    FastForward for Practice Fusion now appears as a card on the extensions page.

    If Chrome says “Manifest file is missing or unreadable”, you picked the wrong level. Unzipping sometimes creates a folder inside a folder.

    Open the folder you chose. If you see another folder with the same name, go into it and select that one instead. The correct folder has manifest.json sitting directly inside it.

  5. 5

    Pin it to your toolbar

    Click the puzzle-piece icon to the right of Chrome's address bar. Find FastForward for Practice Fusion in the list and click the pin beside it.

    The FastForward arrows icon now stays visible in your toolbar. That icon is how you open the panel.

  6. 6

    Sign in

    Open Practice Fusion and go to a patient's chart with an unsigned SOAP note.

    Click the FastForward icon in your toolbar. The panel opens along the right-hand side.

    Sign in with your email address and the password you chose when you subscribed. Your encounter types load automatically.

    That's the whole installation. From now on, click the icon whenever you want the panel.

    Next: Using FastForward walks through every part of the panel.

What FastForward can access

Chrome lists what any extension is allowed to reach, and you can check it yourself at any time: open chrome://extensions, click Details on the FastForward card, and look under Site access.

static.practicefusion.com
Practice Fusion itself. This is how the panel reads the note you have open and fills it in.
api.fastforwardclicker.com
Our server. It holds your sign-in, your subscription, and your saved encounter types, so they follow you from one computer to another.

Those two are the whole list. FastForward cannot see any other site you visit, and it does nothing at all on Practice Fusion until you click the icon — nothing runs in the background watching your charts.

Your patient notes stay in your browser. Your encounter types are saved to our server so they follow you between computers. The contents of the notes themselves are not — copying an encounter happens entirely on your own screen.

A message you will see from now on

Each time you start Chrome, you may see a small box that says “Disable developer mode extensions.”

This is normal, and it appears for every extension installed outside the Chrome Web Store. Close it with the ×, or click Cancel.

Do not click Disable. That switches FastForward off, and you would need to turn it back on from chrome://extensions.

Installing an update

FastForward does not update itself. When a new version is released, we will email you.

  1. Download the new FastForward.zip.
  2. Unzip it and replace the contents of your existing FastForward folder — keep the same folder in the same place.
  3. Go to chrome://extensions and click the circular reload arrow on the FastForward card.

Reusing the same folder keeps you signed in. Your encounter types are stored on our server, so they are safe either way.

If something goes wrong

FastForward vanished from Chrome
The folder was moved, renamed, or deleted. Put it back where it was, or repeat steps 2 through 4.
The icon is not in my toolbar
It is hidden behind the puzzle-piece icon. Go back to step 5 and pin it.
The panel says I must be on an unsigned SOAP note
FastForward only works on a note you can still edit. Open a chart with an unsigned SOAP note and click the icon again. It will not write to a signed chart.
My email and password are not accepted
Use the password you set after subscribing, not your Practice Fusion password. If you never set one, or cannot remember it, use Forgot password? in the panel.
It says I am signed in on another device
A FastForward account works on one computer at a time. Signing in here signs you out there. Just sign in again.
Developer mode will not switch on
Your Chrome is managed by your practice's IT policy, which blocks it. Ask whoever administers your computers to allow FastForward, and contact us — we can help them.

Still stuck? Reply to your welcome email and tell us which step you reached — that is usually enough for us to spot it straight away.