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Build and send a form

Make a document people fill in and sign, from a template or from scratch, then send it by link or to named people.

A form is a document: a leave request, an onboarding pack, an expense claim, an incident report. People fill it in on a phone or a computer, sign it, and it goes to someone who approves it. Forms are on every plan. Open Forms in the navigation and choose New form.

Start from a template

Pick one of the templates (job application, new employee onboarding, policy acknowledgement, leave request, expense claim, equipment request, incident report, vendor onboarding) or a blank form. A template is an ordinary form: change anything in it. On plans without review workflows a template keeps its first review step and drops its deadlines.

Build it

  1. Add fields from the list on the side: short and long text, email, phone, number, date, multiple choice, dropdown, checkboxes, yes or no, file upload, photo, signature, consent, a block of information and a table of rows people add.
  2. Click a field to set it up: its label, a hint, whether it is required, how wide it is, and the rules that fit its kind (the shortest answer, the allowed domains, the earliest date, how many files).
  3. Group fields into sections. Switch on New A4 page for a section that should start a fresh page when the form is printed or saved as a PDF.
  4. Use Show only when to show a field only after an earlier answer (a reason when someone chose Other). A condition can only look at fields above it.
  5. Under After submit, choose whether people see one section at a time or the whole form on one page, write the thank-you they read, and choose who reviews each submission.

A table can add up a number column: in the column's settings choose Add up this column, and the person sees the total as they type. It is printed on the PDF and on the review page. Save a group of fields you use again with Save for reuse and add it to any form from Saved fields.

Changes save as you type, and Undo and Redo work as you would expect. Preview shows the form as people will see it; nothing you enter there is sent.

Encrypted fields, for things like national ID numbers and bank details, are on the Enterprise plan. Their answers are stored encrypted and only people allowed to read sensitive answers see them.

Choose who reviews

Under After submit, add a review step for each person or group who must decide: name the step (Manager approval), choose a person or everyone who holds at least a role, and optionally a deadline in days. A submission goes through the steps in order. More than one step, and deadlines, are on the Enterprise plan.

Publish

Publish checks the form first. Anything that stops it (a field with no label, a condition on a field that no longer exists) is listed under Fix these first, with a Show me button that takes you to it. Publishing opens the form. Later changes are published as a new version; submissions already received keep the version they answered, and History lists every version and what changed. You can use an earlier version as the draft.

Send it

Open the Send tab. Anyone with the link can fill the form in, and the page shows a QR code you can print. Switch that off to let only the people you add fill it in:

  1. Choose Add people and paste email addresses, or names and addresses, one person per line (up to 500 at a time).
  2. Choose Add and send, or send later with Send to the people not sent yet.
  3. Each person gets an email with a link that is theirs. Remind the people who have not sent it in, or copy a new link for someone. A new link replaces the old one.

A personal link fills in a person's name and email for them. The Send tab shows who has been sent a link and who has opened it, and the Submissions tab shows who has sent it in.

Settings

  • Stop taking submissions on a date, or after a number of them.
  • List up to ten addresses to be told about every new submission. The email names the form and the reference and links to it; it never carries the answers.
  • Choose how references start (LR-0042).
  • Keep submissions only for a number of days (Enterprise). A submission under a legal hold is always kept.

Form status closes a form (its link then says it is closed) or archives it. You can print a blank copy of any form as a PDF from the Send tab, for people who prefer paper.

Still stuck? Talk to us and we’ll help you sort it out.