❖ Heads up! This article is only intended for Center Site Managers.
With Custom Forms, you can easily collect information from visitors and volunteers on your site. While they're commonly used to ask custom questions during volunteer sign-up or participation, there are many creative ways to use forms for your organization.
For example, you can use Custom Forms to:
Create a “Contact Us” page
Gather consent for updated terms and conditions
Collect feedback on specific Agencies
Once your Custom Form is live, volunteers can begin submitting their responses immediately. When creating the form, you’ll choose the email address to which submitted responses will be sent.
Getting Started
Before creating a Custom Form, you’ll need to build a Custom Page that will act as the Form Landing Page—the destination where users will complete and submit the form. Once your form is built, you’ll return to this page to add the form and publish it to your site.
How to Create a Custom Form
Navigate to Content > Custom Forms
Click Add New Form
Enter a Form Name
Add the Email Recipient (where responses will be sent)
Use the dropdown to select your Form Landing Page
Click Submit Form
Once submitted, you're ready to build the content of the form by adding elements.
Adding Form Elements
Click Add Element
Use the Select Type dropdown to choose an Element Type
Fill out the appropriate fields depending on the element
Different fields appear for you to complete depending on the element you select, including:
Type | Description |
Copy | This appears at the top of the form and can be used as an introduction. You can use the text editor to personalize your Copy text. |
Header | This is a larger font than the Copy text. |
Text | This is for single-line text answers to open-ended questions. The default width for a Text element is 225px, but it can be changed. |
Textarea | This is for multi-line text answers to open-ended questions. The default for a Textarea element is 260px x 45px, but it can be changed. |
Select | Use this option if you want a user to select one option from a list of possible answers. |
Multi-select | Use this option if you want a user to select multiple options from a list of possible answers. |
Check | Use this option to create an item that can be answered by marking or clearing a checkbox. |
Hidden | When someone submits a form, an email is sent to the site manager. The information here is shown in the body of that email. |
Captcha | Use this element if you want users to prove they aren't robots before submitting a completed form. |
Let's Set Up a Form Element Together!
Click Add Element.
Select Multi-select for the Element Type.
Enter a Field Name (this won't appear on the front end to users).
Enter a Display Name (this does appear on the front end to users). This is typically the question you want to ask.
Leave the Default Value field blank.
Enter the answers you wish for them to select from in the Key and Value fields and click Add.
If you want to move them around, just click the answer and click Up or Down. You can also delete them if you've made an error or changed your mind about the answer options. Just highlight the one you wish to delete and click Delete.
Check the box beside Required if you want to require users to answer this question.
Click Submit Entry when finished.
Here's what it looks like on the form to the user:
How to Assign a Custom Form to a Custom Page
Once you've created your Custom Form, you can assign it to a Custom Page. To do this, you must edit an existing Custom Page.
Go to Content > Custom Pages.
Select the Page Name you wish to assign the Custom Form to.
Click More Options.
Use the Page Form dropdown to select the Custom Form you wish to assign to that page.
Be sure to click Submit Page to save your changes!
Custom Form Results
When someone responds to your Custom Form, the results are sent to the email recipient listed at the time the form was created:
Please check your spam or junk folder to see if you have received any emails with the Custom Form results. If you don't see the email or if you are unsure of who the email recipient is, then:
Go to Content > Custom Forms.
Select the Custom Form.
Check and/or update the email recipient listed.
Click Submit Form to save any changes as applicable.
If you're still not seeing the emails after verifying the email recipient, you can also access these results by exporting them:
Go to Content > Custom Forms.
Click the Export button under the Options column.
The Volunteer Perspective
When a volunteer visits the page that you've assigned the form to, they see this:
