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Mastering Custom Forms: A Step-by-Step Guide
Mastering Custom Forms: A Step-by-Step Guide
Updated over 3 weeks ago

Why Custom Forms?

Click here to find out how it can save you time and streamline your workflow.


Enabling Custom Forms

Contact us for pricing! To begin using, you'll need to enable the feature. Start by clicking on Company Settings and selecting Features & Plugins. Navigate to Custom Forms and select Enable. Now you're ready to begin customizing forms to streamline your operations!


PDF Filler

Within our Custom Forms you have the ability to import PDFs and image files to use as a background on the custom forms you desire to create. This is useful if your company has existing forms that you've seen great success with or forms that must be in a specific format for regulatory purposes.

After enabling Custom Forms, navigate to Company Settings then select Custom Forms. From here, select the green Import PDF button.

After selecting the green Import PDF button, a screen may pop up asking if you'd like to replace the current pages you have open or if you would like to append, or add, new pages to the page that it currently open. Choose which options makes the most sense for you, your company, and the form you are wanting to import/create.

Once your PDF has been imported, you can easily click and drag fields from the right-side menu onto your form. Once a field is placed on a form, you can resize and reorder each field to your liking. To remove a field, click and drag it back to the right hand side, select the field and hover over the green Actions button at the bottom right then select Delete, or select the field and simply press the backspace button on your keyboard to initiate the removal of the field.

Modes:

Use the various mode options to view your form in different scenarios. You can also preview the appearance of your form from a Mobile or Desktop view.

  • Design Mode - You can create and edit a form by dragging and dropping fields.

  • Preview Fill Mode - You can preview how the form will look when someone is filling it out. You can also choose if a field is editable by a customer or not in this view.

  • Preview Completed Form - You can preview how the form will look once it has been completely filled out.

    The PDF form with overlay fields will translate well to Mobile! It can be viewable either in its full size with the ability to zoom in/out (pictured in the example above) or as fields one-by-one. This all will depend on what the user chooses.


Create a New Form

After enabling Custom Forms, navigate to Company Settings then select Custom Forms. On this page you can view Custom Forms you've previously created or select Create New.


Form Settings

Begin personalizing your custom form by navigating to Form Settings.

Click on Form Settings

General Settings:

Begin by naming your form and adjusting the font size. Next, toggle on/off the following settings:

  • Form is Active - This will activate the form for use in FieldPulse.

  • Allow Template Creation - This will allow this form to be used as a template for future forms.

  • Enable Status Workflow - This will enable custom status workflows for the form, allowing you to update statuses instantly based on your actions.

Connect Forms to Records allows you to specify which records (standalone, customer, job, estimate, invoice, project, maintenance agreement, asset) your newly created form can be attached and related to. Select all records on which you'd like this form to be used. For example, if Job is selected, then within a job record you can navigate to Forms and then Create New. Here your Custom Form template (in this example titled: SAMPLE CUSTOM FORM) is available for use. If it was NOT selected, that individual form template would NOT be available to use.

Custom Status Workflows:

You can create your own Custom Status Workflows and assign them to the different forms you create within Custom Forms. Custom Status Workflows are an internal tool. You can utilize them to keep all of your forms organized by knowing the current status of them. For example, is the form you created new or has it been sent by the customer? All of these can be tracked by the Workflow Status that you create.

To create a Custom Status Workflow, first head to Company Settings. Locate Custom Forms then click on Custom Status. From here, press Create Custom Status and begin creating a unique workflow specific to your Custom Form.

After creating the workflow above, return to the Custom Form Settings. After checking the box to Enable Status Workflow you can now select the status workflow you'd like to use for this individual form.

Click on —

From here, you can set up Status Automations. In this example, when the form is sent to the customer, it will automatically change to the Sent status. If the form is filled out by the customer, it will automatically change to the In Progress status. If the form is signed, it will automatically change the Custom Workflow Status to Complete.

Click on Sent to Customer…

Permissions:

Adjust the permission settings for both visibility and creating/editing. Select specific users, teams, and/or roles to whom you'd like to give visibility and creating/editing permissions to.

Click on Permission Settings for Visibility…

Email & SMS Configuration:

Here you can customize the default email and SMS messages used when sending a Custom Form out to a customer.

Click on Email Configuration…


Building a Custom Form

After you've adjusted your form settings, it's time to begin building your Custom Form! Easily click and drag fields from the right-side menu onto your blank custom form. (Note: Be sure you're not still in Form Settings. To close the settings, click on Form Settings again.)

Once a field is placed on a form, you can resize and reorder each field to your liking. To remove a field, click and drag it back to the right hand side, select the field and hover over the green Actions button at the bottom right then select Delete, or select the field and simply press the backspace button on your keyboard to initiate the removal of the field.

Field types that can be added to your Custom Form:

  • Section Labels - Section header for names and titles

  • Text Fields - Here you have the option to add "free text", allowing you/your customer to write/type freely in their own words

  • Drop-down Field - Select a single option from a dropdown list

  • Multi-select Dropdown Field - Select multiple options from a dropdown list.(Note: You have the ability to specify minimum/maximum number of selections someone can make here)

  • Quick Select - Multiple choice - you can add up to 5 options here

  • Checkbox - Select (yes) or leave blank (no)

  • Date - Collect the date and/or time. You have the option to check the box for autofilling the current date/time upon when the form is filled out

  • Image/Video - Upload jpg, pdf, mp4, and png files. You have the ability to specify the minimum/maximum number of files allowed (1-10 files permitted)

  • Signature - Easily collect a signature with this field

  • Related Record Fields - Import data from related records within FieldPulse. See examples of these fields below:

    • Field Value from Related Customers

      • Here you can pull any of the following information from the Customer record: name, notes, job notes, email, phone, billing address, location (Note: if a customer has multiple locations or contacts, you can specify which user's information to fill the form with), status/type, pipeline status, lead source, tags, and any other custom fields you may have added to your Customer records.

    • Field Value from Related Jobs

      • Here you can pull any of the following information from the Job record: title, location name, location, job notes, field notes, status, assigned team members, scheduled date/time, customer arrival window, created by, tags, and any other custom fields you may have added to your Job records.

    • Field Value from Related Estimates

      • Here you can pull any of the following information from the Estimates record: title, estimate notes, internal notes, estimate date, author, status, location, reference, expiration date, tags, and any other custom fields you may have added to your Estimate records.

    • Field Value from Related Invoices

      • Here you can pull any of the following information from the Invoices record: title, invoice notes, internal notes, invoice date, author, status, location, reference, due date, tags, and any other custom fields you may have added to your Invoice records.

    • Field Value from Related Projects

      • Here you can pull any of the following information from the Projects record: title, notes, job notes, start date, end date, completion percentage, and any other custom fields you may have added to your Project records.

    • Field Value from Related Maintenance Agreements

      • Here you can pull any of the following information from the Maintenance Agreements record: title, job location, status, price per bill, total annual fee, agreement notes, job notes, and any other custom fields you may have added to your Maintenance Agreement records.

    • Field Value from Related Assets

      • Here you can pull any of the following information from the Assets record: asset tag, title, asset notes, install date, location, location details, category, manufacturer, model, model number, serial number, model year, model details, warranty, condition, warranty information, and any other custom fields you may have added to your Asset records.

Required Fields:

You have the option to require a field to be filled out by your employee and/or your customer by simply checking a box.

Untitled step

Editable Fields:

You can also choose if a field is editable by a customer or not. To see this, instead of being in Design Mode, select Preview Fill Mode. Next to each individual field you will see a lock or unlock icon. This allows you to give your customer and/or employee the right to edit the field or not.

Conditional Logic:

Conditional logic allows certain fields to appear or change based on the responses the individual interacting with the form provides. This helps the form gather only relevant information.

In the example below, we want to create conditional logic for the field titled "Gate Code", so it only appears for the user when certain criteria are met in the field titled "Gate Code Required for Entry?". When you're ready to create conditional logic for the "Gate Code" field, click on the "Gate Code" field and select Add New Condition.

If you want the "Gate Code" field to only display if the "Gate Code Required for Entry" contains a certain value, select the "Is Gate Code Required for Entry" field and your desired value. The desired value will depend on the kind of field you added. In this example, our condition is: "Gate Code Required for Entry? = Checked". This means if the box is checked indicating that YES a gate code is required for entry, then the field to enter the gate code will pop up for the user filling out the form.

Modes:

Use the various mode options to view your form in different scenarios. You can also preview the appearance of your form from a Mobile or Desktop view.

Click on Design Mode…
  • Design Mode - You can create and edit a form by dragging and dropping fields.

  • Preview Fill Mode - You can preview how the form will look when someone is filling it out. You can also choose if a field is editable by a customer or not in this view.

  • Preview Completed Form - You can preview how the form will look once it has been completely filled out.


Using the Custom Forms You Created

To attach a custom form to a record, begin by clicking on/entering the record where you want to insert and include the form. This could be a customer, job, estimate, or invoice. Once you click on the record, select Forms from the top menu, then Create New.

You will now see a list of all of the custom forms you've created. You can choose which form to attach to this record. In this example, you can see the Custom Form we created titled "SAMPLE CUSTOM FORM" is available to be attached.

Now, you can complete the form or save it to the record to be completed at a later date.

To view the form attached to the record, navigate to the Forms tab and click on the applicable form to open it.

After clicking into the form, you have the option to attach files, send it to be filled out by your customer, or send it to be viewed by your customer. You can view important details about the form on the right-side of the screen. These details include: the name of the related customer, job, project, who the form was created by, the date it was created, when the form was sent to be viewed, when the form was actually viewed, when the form was sent to be filled, when the form was actually filled, and a signature date.


Video Tutorial


Have additional questions?

Contact us at support@fieldpulse.com or use the chat feature in the bottom right corner of your screen.

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