Forms
A form takes requests from outside the desk: a contact form on your website, a page the desk hosts for you, your own backend posting on behalf of its users, or a portal. Every submission becomes a case in the unit you choose. You manage forms under Settings → Forms.
You build a form once and use it wherever it's needed: on a website, on one or more portals, or both. The list's Used on column shows where each form is used: Website when browser or server mode is on, and the name of each portal it's on. A form that is in neither place says Nowhere yet.
Creating a form
- Choose New form.
- Give it a Name (only your team sees it) and a Unit.
- Pick Create form.
The form opens in its editor with one required question, "How can we help?", and browser mode turned on, so it works on the hosted page straight away. A form made with New form here on a portal starts with browser mode off, its name as its title on the portal, and the portal's unit or one below it.
Each form gets a public ID (frm_…) that the snippets and the API use. Copy ID next to it in the header copies
it. The header also shows the form's status:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Live | Accepting requests. |
| Paused | It reached its hourly cap (see Rate limits). |
| Off | Turned off by an admin. |
The editor has four tabs: Build, Where it's used, Security and Submissions. Opened from a portal, the editor's back link is Back to that portal.
[!IMPORTANT] Changes on Build, Where it's used (the title, description and icon) and Security are kept as a draft until you pick Save changes in the bar at the bottom; Discard throws them away.
In this section
- Building the fields: Field types, their settings and conditions.
- Settings: Where cases go, who may submit, and the confirmation email.
- Browser mode and server mode: Embedding a form on a website, or sending from your own server.
- Where it's used: The hosted page, the embed snippet and portals.
- Submission log, turning off and deleting: What was sent and refused, and retiring a form.