Using the Forms Module

The Forms module allows you to collect information from your website visitors, and is flexible and usable in a wide variety of applications. The module will also email you automatically every time someone submits a form response, if you choose.

How to Create Forms

You can get to this part of the system by clicking on Website in the blue Admin Toolbar and then clicking Modules > Forms.

The Forms module will list out any forms you have created so far. You can delete any of them using the X button on the far right. You can click the New Form button to create a new one, or you can click the title of any form in your list to open and edit the form.

Help Is Available: If you are unsure what the best setup might be for your forms, please give us a call! We have years of experience in helping clients set up for a wide variety of form needs. (877) 909-6699.

Here is how to create a Form: Initial Setup

1. To create a Form, click on Website in the Admin Toolbar, and then click on Modules > Forms.
2. You will see any forms you might have already created in the list. To create a new one, click the New Form button.
3. After you have clicked the New Form button, you will see a blank version of the initial Form screen below. Here is what you need to configure:
   • Form Name - (Required) Enter the title of the form as you want it to appear on the website.
   • Internal Title - If you will be creating a lot of forms that are similar, an Internal Title can help you keep them straight. Your visitors will not see this title, and it can be any kind of name or code you might want to use to uniquely identify the form.
   • Description - This is where you can tell your site visitors who the form is intended for and give them instructions on how to fill it out and what to expect after they send you the information.
   • Notification Email - If you wish to receive email notification every time someone fills out the form, enter a valid email address here. You can only enter a single email.
   • Thank You URL - If you wish for the visitor to be forwarded to a Thank You page after they submit their response, you can enter the URL for the page here. You can create the page by going to Website > Pages in the Admin Toolbar and clicking to Create a New Page. Add content to the page in the normal way (click here if you need help with this; you will want to add the Content module at the top of the list) and make sure the page is Published. Click here for more details on creating and publishing pages. The URL only needs to be whatever is after the .com in the full page URL at the top of the browser. It will always start with a forward-slash, see the example below.
     
4. After you have filled out your initial Form information, click Save. The Form Builder page will load. PLEASE NOTE: If you need to get back to this screen, you can click the Edit button at the top of the Edit Form screen. More info below.

On the Form Builder page, pictured below, you have the following options:

1. Edit - This function will open the initial form screen, pictured above.
2. View Form Submissions - Every time someone completes the form, the system will email you (if you have set that up) and it will also save all data in this area, where you can view it on-screen. For invalid entries, you can delete individual line submissions, there is also a Delete All button if you have test submissions you want to remove quickly before launching the form.
3. Download Form Submissions - Clicking this function will download a CSV (simple spreadsheet data file) of all submissions that you can open in your spreadsheet program.

Here is how to add and work with your Form Fields:

1. Add Text Box - This is a simple single-line text box for information such as Name, Email, Phone, etc. The title of the field is called a Label, and if it is something you must have for the submission, you can check the box to make it Required. Any fields set to be required will display with an asterisk on the web page. Click Save to add the field.
   
2. Add Text Area - The Text Area field allows your visitor to enter as much text as needed into a larger, multi-line field. This is typically used when asking for descriptions, details, instructions, etc. In the example above (the fourth field listed), you can see that the Label for any field in the form can be a long, descriptive title, and is not restricted to just a couple of words.
3. Add Check Box - This will always be a yes/no or true/false statement. Checking the box is basically agreeing with whatever the statement is or whatever the question is asking. In web forms, boxes like these are used to allow people to opt-in to email lists, promotional groups, etc. It is highly recommended NOT to set a checkbox to be Required. Unless it refers to a requirement of eligibility or something like that, otherwise you would be forcing people to agree to something in order to complete and submit the form.
4. Add Drop Down Box - This allows the visitor to choose one option from a list of up to 32 choices. 1) It is recommended to have the first choice be a call to action to make a choice, as in this example. This option will be the one that displays on the form itself, so it's better to have something like this than the first item on your list, as that can be confusing. 2) List out as many individual options as are needed. 3) It is recommended, if applicable, to have the final option be a wild card, such as Other. In situations where you would include that option, you might want to make the very next form field you create be a single line Text Box so the visitor can write out what their option would be. For example, the list of Utah counties below is not comprehensive, so creating a follow-up question such as If you chose Other above, please enter your county of residence here.
   
5. Field Title (Label) - You can click on the Field Title for any field you've created so far to edit the way you wrote the Label and/or the Required setting.
6. Sequence Number - If you ended up entering your fields in an order that doesn't work for the final form, you can adjust the numbers in the Sequence fields to put them in the proper order.
7. Update Sequence - Click this button if you adjusted any of the sequence numbers. The page will reload with the fields in proper sequence.
8. Remove - If you no longer need a form field, you can click the Remove function on the right side to delete that form field.

Where's my Save button? The Forms module Form Builder page actually saves everything you do as you do it, so there is no need to click Save when you are done!

Adding Your Form to a Page

It is very easy to add any form you have created to a page. Here is how:

1. After logging into the system, click the Laptop Icon on the left side of the Admin Toolbar and then go to the page where you want your form to display.
2. In the upper left corner of the page, just under the Admin Toolbar, hover your cursor over the triangle with the Plus and then click on Add Body Content in the drop list.
   
3. From the list of modules, find Form and click the Add button.
   
4. Select Existing Form - You'll see a drop list of Forms you have created. Open the drop-list and click on the title of the one you want to add. Click the Add button and your form will appear on the page.
   

Once your form is on the page, if the page is Published, your visitors can begin filling out submissions. Here is how it appears on the page:

When logged in as an Admin, you can edit the form by finding the small gray Module Toolbar to the left of the form Title and clicking on the first button, the pencil. You can also click that button if you need to View Form Submissions. Here are some important points about the form:

1. The Form Title appears as the heading for the module and is editable if you click the pencil in the Module Toolbar and then click the large Edit at the top of the form.
2. The Description from the initial setup screen is also found after clicking the Edit function from number 1 above.
3. Form fields that are Required have an asterisk next to the form title, or Label. If you leave a required field blank, you cannot submit the form.

After clicking Submit, if you haven't set a Thank You URL, the visitor will be taken to the Home page. Below is an example of a Thank You page for the club sign up form example we've been following throughout this article: