Build a Contact Form

Forms in Subflow are digital questionnaires delivered to contacts via SMS link, email, or broadcast message. Each form is assembled from contact fields that already exist in your account and can be organized into one or more steps. This guide walks you through creating a new form and configuring its settings.

Before you begin

Make sure your contact fields are set up. Every new form includes default fields like the first name and last name, but any additional fields must exist in the contact field library before you can add them. See Create a Contact field guide to learn how to create contact fields.

Get started

Follow the steps below to build your own custom form:

1. Select Contacts from the dropdown application menu on the left sidebar.

2. Select Contact Forms from the sidebar on the Contacts dashboard. The Contact Forms page opens and lists all existing forms.

3. Click Create Form at the top right corner of the. The form builder opens with a live form preview in the center and a configuration panel on the right.

The new form automatically includes a set of default fields which include:

• First Name

• Last Name

• E-mail

• Mobile Phone Number

• Consent fields for text and email notifications. You can add fields from your contact field library alongside these defaults.

Configure form settings

The right panel in the form builder has two modes. The Form settings mode and the Form fields mode. Form Fields mode is for adding and organizing fields. Form Elements mode is for the form's title, description, and submission settings. Configure the form settings first.

Form Settings

The form settings mode allows you to set the form’s title, the description, the button label, adding tags, and the submission settings.

1. At the top left of the right panel, click settings to open form settings mode.

2. In the form title field, enter the name of the form. The title is visible to contacts when they open the form link.

3. Enter a brief description of the form in the form description field. The description is shown below the title in the form.

4. Enter the text you want to display on the form’s submit button. The default button label is “Submit”.

5. Click the Tags dropdown and select one or more tags to organize this form with a tag.

6. Under Submissions Settings, confirm that the Create or Update Contact's Fields toggle is on. When enabled, submitting the form creates a new contact record if the contact does not exist already, or updates the existing record with the submitted answers.

7. Under Access Controls, set the form's visibility. Select Public to allow anyone with the link to submit the form, or Private to restrict access to authenticated contacts only.

8. Click Save to apply changes to your form settings.

Add fields to the form

With settings saved, switch back to the fields panel to add contact fields to the form.

1. Click Fields at the top left of the right panel to return to the fields mode.

2. Enter a field name in the Search fields bar at the top of the panel to find a specific field.

3. Browse the field library. Fields are organized by their property group. Each field shows one of two badges:

   • Not Used means the field is available but not yet on the form;

   • A step badge such as Step 1 means the field has already been added to a different section of the form organized by steps.

4. Add a field to the form in one of two ways:

   • Click the field row (or the Not Used button) to add it to the bottom of the form

   • Drag the field from the panel onto a specific position on the form canvas using the drag handle on the left side of the field row

5. Once on the canvas, you can rearrange fields by dragging them to a new position.

6. Repeat steps 2–5 for each field you want to include.

Manage steps

Steps group fields into logical sections and show contacts a progress indicator as they move through the form. The fields mode has two tabs, Fields and Steps.

1. Click the Steps tab at the top of the right panel.

2. In the Step Name field, replace the default name with a descriptive label for this step. The step name appears as the section heading in the form.

3. In the Step Description field, enter a brief description to help patients understand what to complete on this step.

4. To add another step, click + Add Step at the bottom of the Steps panel. A new step card appears.

5. Repeat steps 1–4 to name and describe each new step.

After adding steps, navigate to each step in the form canvas and drag the relevant fields from the right panel onto that step.

Save and share the form

The Unsaved Changes badge at the bottom of the screen indicates there are edits that have not yet been saved. Click Save at the bottom of the screen to save the form.

Form actions

From the All Forms page, each form has an actions menu with options for sharing and managing that form. The following options are available:

• View Submissions: open the submissions list for this form.

• Edit Form: return to the form builder to make changes to the form.

• View Form Page: preview the form exactly as contacts see it.

• Copy Form Link: copy the shareable URL of the form.

• Submit for Contact: submit the form on behalf of a specific contact.

• Duplicate: create a copy of the form.

• Archive Form: remove the form from the active forms list.

Related articles

• Contact fields reference: Browse all available contact field types, their descriptions, and examples to help you choose the right fields to include in your form.

• Create a contact field: Learn how to create a new contact field so it becomes available to add to your forms.

• View and Manage Form Submissions: See how to open submitted form responses, identify alarming answers highlighted in red, and follow up with patients whose responses require clinical attention.