Creating new online forms and form pages – Finalsite Enrollment

Online Forms can be used to collect information from applying/enrolling families or even for inputting internal notes from your team. Within Finalsite Enrollment, you have access to create your own online forms. This article will walk you through the process of doing so.

Please note: You can only create new ad-hoc forms (i.e. custom admissions, enrollment, or appointment forms, teacher recommendations, and document request forms). You cannot create additional versions of the inquiry, application, or contract.

Who has access to add and edit forms?

Types: System Admin and Admins
Permissions: Any

The following items can be edited by admins:

Creating new forms and pages
Adding a section (field, heading, comment box)
Changing the Map-To value
Deleting a section
Changing page name
Changing text for prompts, headers/subheaders, or comments
Rearranging order of form fields
Adding, editing, or removing Show/Hide Dependencies
Filtering option lists
Linking or unlinking associated calendars
Field options, required fields, read-only fields, hidden fields, default values for fields
Editing field options within the Fields page
Creating new fields within the Fields page

How-To: Create a new online form

To get started with creating a new online form, go to Settings > Forms and select the type of form you would like to create. Once you are on the page, click the green (+) Add Form button near the top of the page.

The Custom Form details window will appear. Here, you can enter the Name and Canonical Name for your new online form:

Name: The display name that appears at the top of the online form when it is being filled out. This can be updated at any time by clicking into the form.

Canonical Name: The internal name used on the backend of the system to identify the form. A best practice for the canonical name to replicate the display name of your form in all lowercase letters and with underscores in place of spaces (e.g. parent_interview_notes). Avoid ending it in an underscore. Please note: The canonical name cannot be changed once the form is created.

Click the blue Submit button to proceed with creating the new form. The page will refresh and a message will appear at the top of the screen notifying you that the custom form was successfully created.

How To: Add a new page

To begin adding pages and content to your new online form, click on the form name in the list of forms on the page. On the form details page, you should see the following information:

Display name of the form. This can be edited by typing into the box, then clicking the grey 'Save' button.

Canonical name of the form. This will be read-only, since it cannot be edited.

Back to custom forms link in the upper right. This will take you back to the previous page with the list of all forms of that type.

A draft version of the form with a list of actions (i.e. show, clone, publish, delete).

A form comment box. This is useful for tracking changes made as you publish new versions of the form. Type into the box and click the blue 'Save' button.

To add the first page to your newly created form, click the Show link within the Actions column, then click the green (+) Add Page button next to the form name.

Within the Add Page window, you can input a name for this page. If the form only has one page, you may use the form name as the page name. For forms that have multiple pages, a best practice is to use different names for each page based on the content (e.g. Applicant Information, Household Information, etc.).

Click the blue Submit button to save the page you just created. Page names will always display at the top of the page in the format of a header.

Now that your form and its first page have been created, the next step is to add content! For the page you just created, click on the Edit link within the Actions column along the right.

Once the page opens, you can click on Add Field to add content, such as fields, comments (text), and headers/sub-headers. To learn about the different types of form fields and their options, click here.

Continue adding as many pages and fields as needed. Remember to click the blue Save button at the bottom of the page after making any edits. When you're ready, you can Publish the form from the main form page. Once you have published a form, you can add it to the checklist for students or your internal team.

Retiring a form

Please note that custom forms cannot be deleted once they are created in the system. As a workaround, we recommend following these steps:

Retire the checklist item. If the form is being used on the checklist, add an End Term in the item's settings so it no longer shows on future checklists.
Rename the custom form. To make it clear that the form is no longer in use, navigate to the custom form under Settings > Forms and rename the item to include "RETIRED" or "NOT IN USE."

How-To: Connect forms to checklist items

To interact with an online form as a parent or an admin/user, you will need to tie the form to your Admissions or Enrollment Checklist as an online form-type checklist item. Click here to learn how!

Once the form is tied to the checklist, you can also set who can fill out the form (parents only, admins only, or parents and admins).

Additional Resources