You are viewing documentation on our legacy Workflow Forms Feature. Click here for help with our Workflows Product instead.
Workflow Forms allow you to create a single form where multiple submitters can participate in filling it out.
When building out a workflow form, you get to customize what sections each person assigned can edit and even view. Workflow forms are a great tool to use for employee and manager feedback loops. For example, a workflow form can enable an employee to complete the first section, upon submitting their section is viewable by their manager who completes the second section, and then passed to People Ops for final approval. All the submitted data from each participant are combined into a single record and saved within the workflow's Submissions section.
Note: Workflow Forms are only available as an Add-on. When using our Formstack GO app to collect offline submissions, it's only possible to complete the first step of your workflow form, while any subsequent steps would not be supported and would need to be complete online.
Build a Workflow Form
Step 1: Begin a Workflow form. Within Forms, you have two options. You can copy a form or already created workflow form by selecting the form from the list. Hover over Copy, and select "Copy as a Workflow Form" from the dropdown:
Note: Workflow forms and standard (non-workflow) forms can be copied into a new Workflow form. Existing workflows forms may not be copied into a standard form.
Or create a new workflow form by selecting Create and select Workflow from the given options:
Then follow the prompts to name your workflow form, create the URL, and save the workflow form, and its submissions, to a certain folder.
Step 2: Build your Workflow form. Workflow forms are built like non-workflow forms by dragging and dropping the desired form elements. Sections are used to map out the steps in the Workflow Form Editor.
Customize the Workflow
Once you have finished building the form and appropriate sections; next, create the workflow form steps.
Step 1: Navigate to Workflow. When you have finished building out the form including the sections, select Workflow within the Build tab.
Step 2: Create the Entry Step. The Entry Step initiates the workflow flow and will be editable by the first person who fills out the form to set the workflow form into motion.
Under Settings, choose whether this person needs to be authenticated (has a Formstack account) or non-authenticated.
In Sections, assign the Section(s) by dragging and dropping from the created sections or using the dropdown.
Tip: Open the Logic tab after you have created the following steps to customize where the workflow form should go next. ie: The employee may select a specific manager from the dropdown. When logic is applied, Step 2 will go to only that specific manager.
Step 3: Create the remaining steps. Once the Entry Step is complete, move to the next section by selecting the plus (+) icon. Each of the steps requires you to:
- Under the Settings tab:
- Name the step.
- Toggle on or off Authentication (must be a Formstack user).
- Select the participant who is filling out the form. This could be any Formstack User or an individual assigned from a field on the previous step (all persons assigned to Step 2 and forward, must be a Formstack Participant user).
- Under the Sections tab:
- Drag and drop section(s) from the Workflow Form Editor box or select the section(s) from the Sections to Include dropdown.
- Choose whether the assigned step can view or edit the section(s) selected.
- Under the Logic tab (optional):
- Check the box that allows the participant to 'send step back' to the previous step with an optional comment.
- Add if this/then that logic to steps.
- Note: Logic can only be added when there is a step created after the one you are currently working on. ie: Logic for Step 2 can only be created when Step 3 has been added.
Delete a step
Select the trashcan icon to delete a section.
Publish Your Workflow Form
Once you have added your workflow form steps, you can publish the workflow form.
Step 1: Select Save Settings. You will receive a prompt that the workflow form steps are saved or prompted to review a section for incompleteness.
Step 2: Select Publish Workflow to finalize workflow.
Note: Once a workflow form is published, you may not be able to edit the form or workflow without first un-publishing the workflow form.
Share Workflow Form Submissions
Submissions can be shared in multiple ways.
1. Shared Link or RSS Feed. Formstack users, with permission to view the Workflow form's submission information, may share completed submissions. From the Submissions tab of the Workflow form, navigate to the "Completed Workflow" tab. Here you can share via Shared Link or RSS Feed.
Note: In-Progress submissions may not be shared.
2. Export Submissions. Alternatively, Formstack users with permission to view the Workflow form's submission information may export all or some submission entries by selecting them and choosing an option under the Export dropdown.
3. Notification and confirmation emails and integrations. These will trigger like a non-workflow form once the form has gone through the entire workflow form and is submitted as a completed workflow Form.
Workflow Form FAQ
Do approvals work? The Approvals add-on does not currently work with Workflow Forms.
Are there certain fields I cannot use on a Workflow form? The Event and Credit Card fields are not available. This also includes the inability to use 'on-form' payment processors.
Are there certain features I cannot use on a Workflow form? Yes, you cannot use the multi-page, Save & Resume, Progress Indicator, or Skip Validation on a Workflow form.
What happens if I move an in-progress submission to Complete status? Integrations are not run for submissions manually moved to the Completed tab. Select an individual submission to force-run the integration.
If Data Encryption is turned on, is this enabled on the first step or all steps? When Data Encryption is enabled on the Workflow form, a workflow form step containing viewable data from a previous step will require the participant to enter the encryption password.
Have any further questions? We’re here to help! Please reach out to support@formstack.com for additional assistance with your use case.