Creating a Form - The basics

This article walks you through creating a basic form in Umbraco Forms and adding it to your site. You’ll learn how to access the Forms section, build a form with pages, groups, and fields, and publish it on a content page.

Accessing the Forms Section

You can manage the Forms in the Forms section of the Umbraco backoffice. You need access to the section to see it.

If you cannot see the Forms section, ask an Administrator to grant you access from the Users section.

Forms Section

Creating a new Form

To create a Form, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Forms section in the backoffice.

2. Click ... next to the Forms folder.

3. Select Create > New Form. The Form Designer opens in the editor.

4. Enter a Name for the Form. For example, Our first form.

5. Click Add new page.

6. [Optional] Enter a Page Name. For example, The first page.

7. [Optional] Enter a Group Name. For example, General Information Group.

8. Click Add Question.

9. Select Short Answer in the Choose field type dialog.

10. Enter the following values in the Edit field window:

Field Name	Value
Enter a name	Name
Enter help text	Enter your name here

1. Click Submit to add the field to the form.

2. Click Save.

Similary, you can add other fields to the form.

Create new Form

Editing a Field

To edit a field:

1. Click the cog icon next to the field.

2. Edit the desired field.

3. Click Submit.

Copying a Field

Click the Copy icon to duplicate the field and all its settings. The copied field is added below the original.

Deleting a Field

To delete a field or a group:

1. Go to the field or group you wish to delete.

2. Click the Trash icon.

3. Click Delete.

Structuring the Form

Ordering Fields

Once you've added a few fields to your Form, you might want to change the order of questions.

To change the order of fields:

1. Click Reorder in the top-right corner of the Form designer.

2. Drag and drop the fields into the desired order.

3. Click I am done reordering to get back to the Form designer.

Form Fields Reordered

Form Pages

Forms can be grouped into pages. When rendered, each page will be presented one at a time to the user. They will need to complete the first page before moving onto the second and can navigate back and forth between pages.

To add a new page at the start or end of the form, use the buttons in the top right corner of the editing view.

Add new page button at the top of Form

You can also add a new page directly to the bottom of the form via the Add new page button. This will appear below other pages when at least one exists.

Form Groups

Within a page, form fields can be arranged into groups. These will display all together on a single page but can be styled so the fields are appropriately grouped in fieldsets.

New groups are added via the Add new group button.

Add new Group button

Form Columns

The last level of structure are columns that can be created within a group. To set the number of columns, click the cog icon next to the Group Name. You can now add or move fields to the new columns created.

Form Columns

Saving the Form

Once you have created the Form, save the design by clicking the Save button.

Form save Form

Importing a Form

Import Form Definition allows you to import a form into your Umbraco site using a predefined JSON file. This file contains the form’s structure, fields, validations, workflows, and settings.

When you import a form definition, Umbraco uses the JSON structure to recreate the form as it was defined, enabling you to:

• Reuse existing forms across multiple projects or environments.

• Migrate forms between development, testing, and production environments.

• Restore forms from backups or previously exported definitions.

Using the Import Form Definition option, you can manage your forms without having to recreate them.

Import a Form

Organizing Forms in Folders

If the product installation is set up to store form definitions in the database, you will be able to store forms within folders. This can help with organization and makes it easier to locate the forms for modification, especially if you plan to create many Forms.

To create a folder:

1. Go to the Forms section.

2. Click + next to the Forms folder.

3. Select Create > New Folder.

4. Enter a Folder Name.

5. Click Create Folder.

You can create folders within folders, rename, move, import forms, delete, or reload children.

Folder Options

To move or copy forms into folders, click the ... next to the Form and select Move.

Move Form in Folder

Adding the Form to the Umbraco Site

To add the Form, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Content section of the Umbraco Backoffice.

2. Open the content page where you want to display the form.

The page you choose should have a Form Picker Data Type which you can add in the Settings section under Document Types.

1. Click Choose and select the Form you want to insert.

You will be able to select from the full list of forms. If available on your installation, you can select using a folder based view, which can be quicker to navigate when many forms have been prepared.

Content page add macro

1. Click Choose.

2. Click Save and publish.