Forms
Build form templates for a project, fill forms in from them, send them for review and download them as PDF.
Forms replace the paper checklists and reports a site runs on: a daily inspection, a handover sheet, a permit to work. Each project keeps its own set of templates, and every form is one filled-in copy of a template, numbered in the project as #1, #2, #3 and so on.
A template comes in one of two kinds:
- Native (Built here) — you lay it out in the app from sections and fields. The app shows it as a page to fill in and generates a PDF from it.
- PDF (From a PDF) — you upload a fillable PDF. The fields drawn in the PDF are what people fill in, on top of the PDF's own pages, and the download is that same PDF with the answers in it.
You find both under Forms in the project menu: the list of forms, and Templates next to it.
A typical day: a site manager builds a "Daily site inspection" template once. Each morning an inspector starts a form from it, fills it in on site, adds photos, links an issue for anything wrong, and submits it. An approver then signs and approves it, or rejects it with a reason.
Who can do what
What you can do with forms comes from your permission profile on the project, which grades Forms and Form templates separately: No access, View, Create, Edit or Full control. Each level includes the ones before it. Organization owners and admins can always do everything.
| Task | Level needed |
|---|---|
| See templates and their versions | Form templates: View |
| Create templates and folders | Form templates: Create |
| Edit a template, save a new version, archive it, rename or move folders | Form templates: Edit |
| Delete a template or a folder | Form templates: Full control |
| See forms and download them as PDF | Forms: View |
| Start a new form | Forms: Create |
| Fill in, submit and withdraw your own forms (started by you or assigned to you), add photos and files to them, archive or restore them | Forms: Create |
| Do the same with anyone's form | Forms: Edit |
| Delete a draft, archive or restore anyone's form | Forms: Full control |
| Reopen a submitted form | Forms: Full control |
| Approve or reject a form in review | Named as an approver on the template (and Forms: Edit), or Forms: Full control when the template names no approvers |
If your profile is set to "own company only", you see the forms people in your company created, and forms assigned to you. Templates are visible to everyone who can view them.
Build a native template
Open Forms › Templates, click New template and choose Built here. If you are inside a folder, the template is created there.
Give it a name (for example "Daily site inspection"), and optionally a description and a folder. Names must be unique in the project.
Lay out the form. A new template starts with one section holding one text field. Use Add section and Add field, and move items with Move up and Move down. Each field has a Label, a Type, an optional description shown under the label, and a Required switch.
Click Create. The layout becomes version 1.
The field types are:
| Type | What it holds | Options you can set |
|---|---|---|
| Text | Free text | Several lines, Maximum length |
| Number | A number | Minimum, Maximum, Decimals |
| Date | A day | Earliest, Latest |
| Yes / No | A yes or no answer | Response actions |
| Select | One option from a list | Options, response actions |
| Multi-select | Several options | Options, Pick at least, Pick at most |
| Signature | A signature drawn on screen | — |
| Photo | Photos taken or uploaded | Most photos (up to 50) |
| Table | Rows with fixed columns | Columns (up to 20, text, number, date, yes/no or select), Fewest rows, Most rows |
A template can have up to 50 sections and 200 fields in total.
Conditional requirements
Under Also required when, you can make a field required only when earlier answers match. Pick All of these or Any of these, then add conditions such as "Defects found is Yes". A condition can only look at an earlier text, number, date, yes/no or choice field, and a group holds up to 10 conditions. The field is always shown; the condition only decides whether it must be filled in before submitting.
Response actions
On a Yes / No or Select field you can attach an action to a specific answer, under When answered:
- Require a photo / Suggest a photo — the person filling in must (or is nudged to) attach a photo to that answer.
- Require an issue / Suggest an issue — they must (or are nudged to) link an existing issue of the project.
For example, "Is the scaffolding tagged?" with No set to Require an issue: a "No" cannot be submitted without a linked issue.
Create a PDF template
Open Forms › Templates, click New template and choose From a PDF.
Pick a fillable PDF of up to 50 MB and fill in the name and other details.
Click Create template. The file becomes version 1, and its fields are read out of it.
Text fields, checkboxes, dropdowns, radio buttons and signature fields are picked up; buttons and multi-select list boxes are skipped. A field the PDF marks as required is required in the app too.
Review and approvers
In a template's details, turn on Requires review to send submitted forms to In review instead of straight to Submitted. Under Approvers you can pick people and companies on the project. A company approver means anyone working for that company at the time of review.
If you pick no approvers, anyone whose profile gives Full control over Forms can approve — organization owners and admins always can.
Change a template
Click a template in the list to open its sheet, with Details and Versions tabs.
- Details (name, description, folder, review, approvers): edit and click Save. No new version is made.
- A native layout: click Edit layout, change it and click Save. Each save is a new version.
- A PDF file: click Replace PDF. The new file is the next version.
Forms already started keep their version; only new forms get the new one. Under Versions you can open any earlier version read-only.
To stop a template from being used, click Archive. Archived templates keep their forms but take no new ones. Restore brings it back. Turn on Show archived in the list to see them.
Organize templates in folders
Use New folder to group templates (for example "Inspections") and Rename or move to change one. Folders can be nested and only sort templates. Only an empty folder can be deleted.
Start a form
Open Forms and click New form.
Choose a template. Optionally set a title (by default the template name and number, such as "Daily site inspection #14"), an assignee on the project and a due date.
Click Create form. It opens as a Draft, using the template's latest version.
Fill in and submit a form
Open the form from the list. A native form shows its sections as one page; a PDF form shows the PDF's pages with its fields on top.
Fill in the fields. To sign, click Sign, draw in the box and click Use signature. In a table, use Add row.
Add photos with Add photo on a photo field, and link issues with Link issue where an answer asks for one. Photos and links are saved as soon as you add them.
Click Save draft to keep your answers without submitting. A draft can be saved half-finished.
Click Submit. Any unsaved changes are saved first. If something is missing or out of range, the form scrolls to the first problem and each field shows what is wrong.
While a form is a draft you can also change its title, assignee and due date, and add general files under Attachments in the side panel. Once it is submitted, it is read-only.
Fill a PDF form offline
You can download a PDF form's file, fill it in another program, and bring the answers back with Import PDF › Choose PDF in the form's menu. The file's answers replace the form's, except signatures, which are kept as they are. The app tells you how many fields it imported and how many were not in the file.
Review a form
When a template requires review, a submitted form waits as In review.
- Approve — the form becomes Submitted. You can sign the approval; the signature, your name and the time are stamped on the PDF.
- Reject — enter a Reason. The form goes back to Draft and the reason is shown at the top of the form to whoever fills it in.
- Withdraw — the person who submitted it (or someone with Full control over Forms) can pull it back to Draft before it is reviewed.
When a form goes into review, the template's approvers who are on the project are notified; when the template names none, everyone who may approve it is: organization owners and admins, and anyone on the project whose profile gives Full control over Forms. Approving or rejecting notifies whoever submitted the form, with the reason for a rejection.
After submitting
- Reopen puts a submitted form back to Draft so it can be changed. Any approval is cleared, and it has to be submitted (and approved) again.
- Archive moves a submitted form out of the way as Archived; Restore brings it back to Submitted.
- Delete draft is only for drafts. The draft leaves the list but is not gone: turn on Include deleted to see it, with its history.
Find forms
The forms list shows the newest number first. Search by title or number (12 or #12), filter by status, template and assignee, and hide or reorder columns. Your filters are remembered per project.
Each form's Activity tab lists who did what to it and which values changed.
Good to know
- Downloading as PDF. Use Open PDF in a native form's menu, or Download in a PDF form's toolbar. The PDF is built on request from the current answers. A native form's PDF has every section, signatures and up to 24 attached images; other files are listed by name. Its wording is in your language, laid out right to left for Hebrew, Arabic and Persian.
- File sizes. A PDF template can be up to 50 MB. Attachments on a form are up to 25 MB each, or 50 MB for a PDF attached to the form as a whole. Photos on a field must be images.
- Files only on drafts. You can add or remove attachments and photos only while the form is a draft.
- Deleting a template. A template can only be deleted if no form was ever started from it, deleted forms included. Otherwise, archive it. Deleting removes every version and its files, and cannot be undone.
- Emails and notifications. People get a notification under the bell and an email when a form is assigned to them, sent to them for review, or, for the person who submitted it, approved or rejected. Nobody is told about their own action. How often the emails go out is set per project in its notification settings, under Form assigned to you, Form sent to you for review and Your form approved or rejected (instantly or as a digest; Never turns off the notification too). If the form is reassigned before a digest goes out, the previous assignee is not told about it.
- Disconnected storage. If your organization keeps files in its own storage and it is disconnected, PDF templates and attachments stored there cannot be opened until it is connected again.
- API. Everything here is also available through the API reference for forms, form templates and their folders.