Forms
The Forms module lets you build forms such as surveys, requests, contact or application forms. A form can have several pages and questions that only appear when earlier answers match. You share it with the members of your organization or with anyone through a public link, then review the responses in the app or export them to a spreadsheet.
Before you begin
- The Forms module must be enabled for your organization.
- Building and publishing forms needs Create, edit, publish and delete forms. Viewing and exporting responses needs View and export responses. By default, only administrators have these.
- Members have Fill in internal forms by default, so they can answer forms shared with the organization.
- Public links work only while the organization setting Allow forms with a public link is on.
Key concepts
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Question | Something people answer, such as a short text, a date or a choice. Each question has an Answer name used in exports and workflows. |
| Text | A Section title or a Paragraph that explains the form. Texts are not answered. |
| Page | A group of questions. Answers on a page are checked before people can go to the next one. |
| Logic | Rules that show a question, a text or a whole page only when earlier answers match. |
| Who can answer | Members of the organization (signed in) or Anyone with the link (public, no sign-in). |
| Version | Changing the questions of a form that already has responses creates a new version. Each response keeps the questions it answered. |
The forms list
Select Forms in the main menu (/m/forms).
- If you can manage forms or read responses, you see every form with its Status, number of Responses and Last response. Public forms are marked Anyone with the link.
- Otherwise, you see cards for the forms currently open to you, with Fill in (or Answer again, marked You answered, if you have already responded).
Create a form
- On the Forms page, select New form. You can also choose Create a form in the command palette.
- Enter a Title (for example
Customer feedback) and, optionally, a Description. - Select Create. The form opens on its Questions tab with a first question, Your name, ready to edit.
New forms are drafts: nobody can answer them until you publish them.
Design the questions
The Questions tab has the outline of the form on the left and the Properties of the selected question or page on the right.
Add questions, texts and pages
- Add a question opens a menu of question types (see the table below). The question is added to the current page.
- Add text adds a Section title or a Paragraph.
- Add a page adds a new page at the end (up to 20 pages).
| Group | Question type | What people enter |
|---|---|---|
| Text | Short text | One line of text. |
| Text | Long text | Several lines of text. |
| Text | An email address. | |
| Text | Phone number | A phone number. |
| Text | Link | A full web address, such as https://example.com. |
| Choices | Single choice | One option, shown as Buttons or a Dropdown list. |
| Choices | Multiple choice | Several options, with optional At least / At most limits. |
| Choices | Yes / No | Yes or no. |
| Choices | Rating | A score on a 5 stars or 1 to 10 scale. |
| Numbers and dates | Number | A number, with optional Minimum, Maximum and Decimal places. |
| Numbers and dates | Amount | A number in a chosen Currency. |
| Numbers and dates | Date | A date. |
| Numbers and dates | Time | A time of day. |
| Other | File upload | One or more files. |
A form can have up to 200 questions and texts.
Question properties
Select a question in the outline to edit it:
- Question: the text people see.
- Type: change the kind of question.
- Answer name: a short name in lower case, such as
company_size, used in exports, the API and workflows. It must start with a letter and use only lower case letters, digits and_. - Help text: shown under the question.
- Required: an answer is needed to continue.
- Limits that depend on the type: Placeholder, Maximum length, Minimum and Maximum, Decimal places, Currency, the Choices list (Add a choice), Show as, Scale, and for file uploads Number of files, Size of each file (MB) and Accepted files (Images, PDF, Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Text files, Archives).
Renaming the Answer name of a question that already has answers splits it into two columns in exports and breaks workflows that use the old name. Renaming a choice's label is safe: answers already given keep their value.
Use Move up, Move down and Duplicate in the properties panel, or drag questions in the outline, to reorganize the form. Select a page header to edit the page's Page title and Introduction, move it, or Delete page (its questions move to the previous page).
Show questions or pages only under conditions
In the Logic section of a question, a text or a page, add rules under Show this question only if… (or Show this text only if…, Show this page only if…):
- Choose whether All rules match or Any rule matches.
- Select Add a rule, then choose a Question, a Comparison and a Value.
Rules can only use questions placed earlier in the form (for a page, questions on earlier pages). The comparisons offered depend on the type of question:
| Question type | Comparisons |
|---|---|
| Text, email, phone, link | is, is not, contains, does not contain, is answered, is not answered |
| Number, amount, rating, date, time | is, is not, is more than, is less than, is answered, is not answered |
| Single choice | is, is not, is answered, is not answered |
| Multiple choice | contains, does not contain, is answered, is not answered |
| Yes / No | is, is answered, is not answered |
| File upload | is answered, is not answered |
Hidden questions are never required, checked or saved, and hidden pages are skipped. In the outline, items with conditions are marked Shown only under conditions.
Preview and save
- Preview lets you fill in the form exactly as people will see it, including pages and logic. Nothing is saved; Try again restarts the preview.
- Problems (for example a question without text, or two questions with the same answer name) are counted at the top and marked in the outline. Fix them before saving.
- Select Save to save the questions, or Discard changes to go back to the last saved version.
If the form already has responses, saving creates a new version. Earlier responses keep the questions they answered and are always displayed with them.
Form settings
The Settings tab of a form has these sections. Select Save changes when you are done.
| Section | Fields |
|---|---|
| General | Title, Description (shown at the top of the form), Message after submitting (default: "Your response has been recorded."). |
| Who can answer | Members of the organization or Anyone with the link. For public forms, Create a new link replaces the public link. |
| Limits | Close on (no responses after this date), Maximum responses (empty: no limit), One response per person (per member for internal forms, per browser for public forms). |
| Notify of new responses | People who can view responses and should be notified of each new response. |
Delete form, at the bottom of the tab, deletes the form and all its responses and their files, permanently.
Publish, close and reopen
The buttons at the top of a form's page control whether it accepts responses:
| Status | Meaning | How to get there |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Not published; nobody can answer. | New forms; Back to draft in the More menu (⋯). |
| Accepting responses | Open for answers. | Publish (from a draft) or Reopen (from closed). |
| Closed | Closed by hand; no new answers. | Close. |
| Closing date passed | The Close on date has passed. | Automatic. |
| Response limit reached | Maximum responses has been reached. | Automatic. |
You cannot publish while the questions have unsaved changes. The More menu also has Duplicate, which copies the form as a new draft named "title (copy)".
Share a form
Select Share at the top of the form's page:
- For Members of the organization, copy the Link for members (
/m/forms/<id>/fill). Members who can fill in forms open it after signing in; open forms also appear on their Forms page. - For Anyone with the link, copy the Public link (
/p/forms/<token>) or open it in a new tab. Visitors don't sign in. The public form is shown in the organization's default language when one is set, otherwise in the visitor's browser language.
If the form isn't accepting responses, the Share panel reminds you to publish or reopen it first.
:::tip Replace a public link If a public link has been shared too widely, open Settings → Who can answer and select Create a new link. The old link stops working immediately. :::
Public forms are protected against abuse: limits on how often one address can open, upload and submit, a hidden field that catches bots, and a minimum time to fill the form in. There is no CAPTCHA.
Fill in a form
- Open the form from Forms (Fill in), from a shared link, or with Fill in on the form's page.
- Answer the questions. Required questions are marked required. On forms with several pages, a progress bar shows Page n of total; you move on once the answers on the page are valid.
- For file questions, drop files on the upload area or click to browse. Files are uploaded right away and kept with your answers when you submit.
- Select Submit.
After submitting, you see Thank you! and the form's message. Unless the form allows only one response per person, Submit another response starts a new one.
A form cannot be answered when it is a draft, closed, past its closing date, full, or when One response per person is on and you have already answered. The page explains which.
Responses cannot be edited after they are submitted, and there are no partial saves: the whole form is submitted at once.
Review responses
The Responses tab (for people with View and export responses) lists responses newest first: the response number, when it was Submitted and by whom (or Public link), and the answers to a few of the current questions.
- Search answers finds responses containing a text in any answer.
- Select a response to open it. The panel (titled, for example, Response #12) shows who submitted it and when, the answers page by page, the uploaded files (download them from there), and any custom fields or attachments added by other modules. Responses to an older version show Answered version n of the questions.
- Delete response (needs Delete responses) deletes the answers and uploaded files permanently.
Export responses
Select Export CSV to download every response as a CSV file that opens in spreadsheet programs. Columns list the current questions first, then questions that only exist in older versions. Values that a spreadsheet would run as formulas are neutralized.
Notifications and workflows
- Notifications: people chosen in Notify of new responses get the Form responses notification, in the app and by email by default. Each person can change how they receive it; see Notifications.
- Workflows: responses are the record type Form response. A workflow can start when a response is created, and use its fields (Form, Form title, Response number, Source, Submitted by, Submitted at) and each answer as
answers.<answer name>in conditions and templates, for example{{record.answers.email}}. See Workflow automation.
Settings
Administrators set these on Administration → Settings, Forms tab:
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Allow forms with a public link | On | When off, public links stop working and forms cannot be made public or published as public. |
| Largest file a question may accept (MB) | 10 | Upper limit for file questions, between 1 and 100. |
| Delete responses after (days, 0 = keep) | 0 | Responses older than this are deleted automatically. 0 keeps them. |
Permissions
| Permission | What it allows | Granted by default to |
|---|---|---|
forms.form.submit — Fill in internal forms | See open forms under Forms and answer them. | Admin, Member |
forms.form.manage — Create, edit, publish and delete forms | Create, design, share, publish, close, duplicate and delete forms. | Admin |
forms.response.read — View and export responses | See all forms, open the Responses tab, export CSV, be chosen for notifications. | Admin |
forms.response.delete — Delete responses | Delete individual responses. | Admin |
Limitations
- No CAPTCHA, payments, signatures or email confirmation to the person who answered.
- No calculated fields or scoring, and answers cannot be prefilled from the link.
- Logic shows or skips pages in order; it cannot jump to a given page.
- Uploaded files are not scanned for viruses. Uploads that are never submitted are removed after a day.