Creating a Form from a List

You can create a form to distribute a link to; form submissions will add new items to the list. Each field on the form corresponds to a column in your list. Forms are customizable; columns can be hidden or can have different labels in the form.

Form fields by default directly match your list

 

Forms can be filled out by anyone at Tufts with the form link. They:

  • Don't need to go to the List itself or log in to MS Lists, MS Teams, or MS Sharepoint
  • Don't need to be granted extra permissions to access the form
  • Can only see the form. They cannot view the list or list entries (unless they otherwise were granted permissions to do so)

You can have multiple forms per list, which can have different fields. For example:

  • You can have a form for your team to quickly add items to the list as above; this form might have the fields ToDo Task, Task description, Assigned to, Current Status, and Due Date.
  • You can have a second form for the same list where anyone at Tufts can request a change to the website; this form might only have the fields questions "What needs to be done?" and "Tell us in more detail". This would create a list entry populating only the ToDo Task and the Task Description columns.
    Forms can have added introductory and helpful text

There are two ways to create a form. The recommended way is using the Forms button from the list. The form created is accessible, meeting the Tufts Digital Web Accessibility requirements.

This form does not accept file uploads to add attachments to the list item. If you need the form to accept file uploads, see the section Creating a Form With Attachment Uploads below.

To create a form:

  1. Above your list, click Forms in the top menu.
    Forms is usually the fourth icon across the top menu
  2. Choose New Form
    New Form is a form icon with a plus sign
  3. Give your form a brief title that users will see when they open the form. This is only shown on the form and does not affect your list.
    A title might be "Create a New Task for the Website Project"
  4. Add a Description underneath the title. This is only shown on the form and does not affect your list. Include:
    • More details on what the form is
    • A contact if users need help filling out the form
    • Any other instructions the user may need
      For example "The form creates a new task in the TTS Website Revamp project. If you need help with this form, email john jumbo at Tufts.
  5. In the top right, click Preview to see what the form will look like to respondents or click X to close the form screen.
    Preview and X are adjacent in the top right
  1. Above your list, click Forms in the top menu.
    Forms is usually the fourth icon across the top menu
  2. Click the form you'd like to edit.
    After New Form, your existing forms will be listed.
  3. Make changes as necessary.
  4. In the top right, click Preview to see what the form will look like to respondents or click X to close the form screen.
    Preview and X are adjacent in the top right

Note: There is no Save button – your changes are live upon clicking the X to close the form screen.

Each field on the form corresponds to a column in your list. By default, the form text is the column name and the column description from the list.

Both the title and description for each form field can be rewritten. For example, you might change the form text for “ToDo Task” to a more friendly, “What needs to be done?” on the form. This does not change the column names on your list.

Any text on the form can be customized

  1. When creating or editing your form, click the field you would like to customize.
    Clicking the form field "ToDo task" allows you to edit that text
  2. Change the question text and/or the description below it.
    After clicking the field, type your new text
  3. Repeat as needed for other form fields.
  4. In the top right, click Preview to see what the form will look like to respondents or click X to close the form screen.
    Preview and X are adjacent in the top right

Note: There is no Save button – your changes are live upon clicking the X to close the form screen.

By default, after submitting the form, respondents will see the message Your response has been submitted! To customize this:

  1. When creating or editing your form, in the right panel, under Customize, expand Settings.
    Settings is the third option in Customize
  2. In the Message when form is submitted field, replace the existing text with your own message.
    Enter your message in the form field.
  3. In the top right, click X to close the form screen.
    Preview and X are adjacent in the top right

Note: There is no Save button – your changes are live upon clicking the X to close the form screen.

  1. When creating or editing a form, in the top right, click Send form.
    Send form is under preview and next to customize
  2. Click Copy Link.
    Copy link appears after you click Send Form
  3. The link to the form is now copied. You can paste it into an Outlook email, Microsoft Teams, a Word document, or any other application where you can paste text.
  4. In the top right, click X to close the form screen.
    Preview and X are adjacent in the top right

Each form can be customized to only show some list columns, not all list columns. If a column is not shown in the form, then the created list item will have that column as blank unless a default value is set. To change what columns are displayed in a form:

  1. When creating or editing your form, in the right panel, under Customize, expand Show or hide fields.
    Show or hide fields is the first option under customize
  2. Check columns that should be shown in the form. Uncheck columns that should not be shown in the form. The form preview on the left updates appropriately.
    • Tip: If you have fields that aren't shown, reload the page.
      All fields from your list are here
  3. In the top right, click Preview to see what the form will look like to respondents or click X to close the form screen.
    Preview and X are adjacent in the top right

Any changes to the list columns (column name, column description, adding a new column, etc) do not automatically update corresponding forms. When you finish making changes to your list columns, check your form.

  • Changed column types update in forms automatically.
  • Changed column names and descriptions don't update text on existing forms, as this text can be separately customized in the form itself (see Customizing Form Text on this page).

New columns are not added to existing forms by default. Only checked fields are shown on a form (see Showing and Hiding List Columns in a Form on this page). If you create a new column in a list and want it to display in a form, you will need to open the form and check this column.

  • Tip: If you have fields that aren't shown, reload the page.
    All fields from your list are here

In the top right, click Preview to see what the form will look like to respondents or click X to close the form screen.
Preview and X are adjacent in the top right

There are two ways to create a form. If you do not need your form to accept attachments, see the section Creating a Form above.

To create a form that accepts attachments:

  1. In the top left of your list, click Add new item.
    Add new item is the leftmost option on the list screen in purple
  2. To change what columns are shown in the form, in the form window that appears, click the layout pencil icon on the top right, then Edit columns.
    Edit columns is the first option under layout
  3. In the right panel, uncheck columns that shouldn’t be shown in the form.
    You can hide any columns that are not set as required.
  4. When finished, click Save at the top of this panel.
  5. In the top right, click Copy link.
    Copy link is to the left of the X and the layout pencil.
  6. Click Copy.
    Copy will copy the link to this form to your clipboard
  7. The link to the form is now copied. You can paste it into an Outlook email, Microsoft Teams, a Word document, or any other application where you can paste text.
  8. In the bottom right, click Save to close the form screen and save your changes.