Build a form
Add questions of every kind, arrange them side by side, and fix what's missing before you publish. Payment questions are coming soon.
The form builder is where you write a form's questions. Every form starts with the three questions Mokanata needs to turn a response into a contact, and you add the rest from a palette of question kinds, from short answers to file uploads. The payment question is coming soon.
- Who can use it: Owners, admins and members can create and edit forms. Viewers, and any role without Edit forms, can open a form to read its questions and settings and preview it: the builder shows a View only notice and every field is locked. A role without Create forms that opens New form sees Can't create forms with a Back to forms button. See Roles and permissions.
- Before you start: Nothing.
Start a form
Click New form
On the Forms tab of Forms & Links, click New form (or press N). The builder opens on its Questions tab, with the status Not saved yet.
Name the form
Type a Form title, the heading respondents see, and an optional Description: what the form is for and how long it takes.
Check the contact questions
Every form asks for Full name, Email and Phone number, so each response can become a contact. They're always required and can't be deleted, and their type is fixed, but you can reword them (for example "Work email" or "WhatsApp number") and add help text. Their cards say Every form asks for this, so it stays required and can't be deleted.
Add questions
Pick a kind from the palette
The Add a question palette lists every kind, grouped into Text, Choice, Date and time and More. Click one to add it at the end, or drag it into place between other questions.
Write the question
Each question has a card headed Question N · Kind. Fill in:
- Question: what you ask, as respondents see it.
- Type: change the kind here at any time.
- Help text (optional): a line under the question that helps people answer.
- The kind's own settings, if it has any (see below).
- Required: switch it on and the form can't be submitted without an answer.
Question kinds
| Group | Kind | What respondents get | Settings | Message when an answer is wrong |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Short answer | A one-line box | None | Answer this question. (when required) |
| Text | Paragraph | A larger box for longer answers | None | Answer this question. |
| Text | An email box | None | Enter an email address, like name@company.com. | |
| Text | Phone number | A phone box with a country picker, starting on your workspace's country | None | Enter a phone number with its country code, like +62 812 3456 7890. |
| Text | Number | A number box | None | Enter a number, like 12 or 4.5. |
| Choice | Multiple choice | Round buttons, one answer | Options | Choose an answer. |
| Choice | Checkboxes | Tick boxes, any number of answers | Options | Choose at least one. |
| Choice | Dropdown | A list to pick one answer from | Options | Choose an answer. |
| Choice | Linear scale | A row of numbered buttons | Range (1 to 5 or 1 to 10) and a label for each end | Choose an answer. |
| Date and time | Date | A date picker | None | Answer this question. |
| Date and time | Date and time | A date and time picker | None | Answer this question. |
| Date and time | Time | A time picker | None | Answer this question. |
| More | File upload | A Choose a file button | Allowed files, Largest file, Allow more than one file | Attach a file. (when required), or "name is over N MB. Choose a smaller file." |
| More | Payment (coming soon) | The amount and a Pay button | Amount, Currency, What it's for, Payment gateway | Pay to continue. |
| More | Section heading | A heading and description that start a new part of the form | Heading, Description | None: it isn't a question |
See What respondents see for how each one looks on the public form.
Choice questions
For Multiple choice, Checkboxes and Dropdown, type each answer under Options. Press Enter in an option to add the next one, or click Add option. Click × beside an option to remove it (a question keeps at least one).
Linear scale
Pick a Range of 1 to 5 or 1 to 10, and optionally label each end, such as "Not likely" and "Very likely". Respondents see the labels under the first and last number.
File upload
Choose Allowed files: Any file, Images, PDF or Documents (PDF, Word, Excel), and the Largest file: 5, 10 or 25 MB. Switch on Allow more than one file to let people attach several.
Payment
Coming soon
Payment questions aren't available yet: they need a payment gateway, and payment gateways are coming soon. The palette says so and doesn't add one. A payment question already on a form is skipped on the public form: its settings say Payments aren't available yet, so the public form skips this question. Respondents see "Payments aren't available on this form yet.", it takes no answer, and it doesn't stop them submitting.
Once available, a payment question will charge respondents before they can submit, with an Amount, a Currency, What it's for and the Payment gateway. A form will take one payment, and it will always be required.
Section headings
A Section heading splits a long form into parts. Give it a Heading (such as "About you") and an optional Description. It always takes the full width, and has no Required switch because it isn't a question.
Arrange questions
Use the question menu
Click ⋯ on a question's card:
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Move up, Move down | Moves the question one place. |
| Half width / Full width | Puts the question beside its neighbour, two to a row, or back on a row of its own. Section headings always take the full row. |
| Duplicate | Adds a copy below it. Not offered for payment and contact questions. |
| Delete question | Removes it after you confirm. Answers already given to it stop showing in responses once you save. For a section heading the item is Delete section, and the questions under it stay. |
Or drag
Drag a question by its grip (the dotted handle on the left of its card). Drop it above or below another question to move it, or on the side of another to put the two side by side. While you drag, a Drop here to put it last box appears at the end.
Collapse the cards
Click Collapse all above the questions to fold every card to one line: its number, kind, wording and Required (or how many things it has to fix). Click Expand all, or one card's heading, to open them again.
Fix problems before publishing
When you click Publish (or Save changes on a live form) and something would stop a respondent from finishing, the builder shows a red alert listing each problem instead. Click a problem to jump to the field that fixes it; the card or field with the problem is outlined in red.
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| Give the form a title. | Fill in Form title. |
| Question N needs a title. | Write the question's wording. |
| Question N needs at least one option. | Add an option to the choice question. |
| Question N has an empty option. Name it or remove it. | Fill in or remove the blank option. |
| Question N needs an amount above zero. | Enter the payment's Amount. |
| Choose the WhatsApp number respondents message, or enter one with its country code. | Set the number on the Settings tab (Continue in WhatsApp). |
| Fix the custom link: … | Change the custom link on the Settings tab (Give the form a readable link). |
A draft can be saved with unfinished questions, but not with an invalid custom link.
Preview the form
Click the Preview tab to see the form as respondents will, with your unsaved edits. You can fill it in: nothing you enter in the preview is saved, and finishing it shows the confirmation with This was a preview, so nothing was saved.
Save your work
- Publish saves a new form or a draft and starts taking responses. The form then opens on Settings with its link: see Publish and share a form.
- Save draft, in the ⋯ menu, saves a new form or draft without publishing it. It's greyed out when nothing has changed.
- On a live form the main button is Save changes. Until you save, the header says Unsaved changes · respondents see the saved version until you save.
If you leave the builder with unsaved edits, Mokanata asks Discard unsaved changes? Click Keep editing to go back, or Discard changes to leave without saving. Switching between the builder's tabs never asks.
Troubleshooting
Payment questions are coming soon, so the palette can't add one yet.
It's one of the contact questions (name, email, phone) every form asks. You can still reword it.
Your role can read forms but not change them. The View only notice under the header says why. Ask an owner or admin for the Edit forms permission.