What new features do you want to see in Forms?

Nish

Hey!

We run a form-building service at FormCrafts (https://formcrafts.com/) and have been considering building a native integration for Smartsheet.

I'd love to get some feedback and suggestions on what people are looking for that's missing in Smartsheet forms.

Some ideas we have so far:

1. Being able to add custom text, images, and such on the form
2. A more powerful dropdown field - limit selections, add images to options
3. More powerful conditional logic. Maybe use logic to send emails, trigger redirects?
4. Restrict form access by password
5. Use math calculations in forms
6. Create multi-step forms
7. Allow form to update an existing row (is this already possible?)

I'd love to hear some thoughts and suggestions.

coby

We have a big issue that Smartsheet only allows a maximum of (8) conditional logic branches for each field. We have a complex form we are looking to implement that would need dozens of branches for each field. Going in the direction of jsonschema form on an external site that sources the schema from Smartsheet API data but would be sweet if there was an easier way.

skarkhoff

All of your ideas are great! I'd love to see something that could filter dropdown options based on a previous response, currently I have to use 2 columns and combine using a formula.

Being able to format text and add images would be helpful as well.

Also, being able to select calendar options for date selections (i.e. exclude weekends, or only show dates over 2 weeks out, etc.)

Nish

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/284159#Comment_284159

We have no limits on the number of branches you can have for a field, or the number of fields it can affect. We have tons of users who have 50+ logic steps, each with their own set of 'actions'.

I am curious though - why does the form require dozens of branches for each field? If you have more info I'd love to see ways it can be done more easily.

Nish

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/284162#Comment_284162

We have the features that allow text and images, and the ability to customize the date field.

We don't have a feature where you can edit the options list of a dropdown field based on a selection. Our users usually create two dropdown fields in this case and show the one with the correct option set via logic.

coby

Could go into more detail if you wanted to discuss further. Looking at your business model/service it looks solid, but I guess we are looking for a more malleable solution.

Melitta

We use forms to collect information from specific people in roles at the university. We don't have an enterprise license so - there may be some things that are precluded due to that.

2, 3) I'd love a more powerful dropdown field and conditional logic.

4) I'd have some questions about the restrict form access by password. I can see where that would be helpful but right now, getting everyone on board with what we're building - that people don't have to log in to use the form is important.

6) Multi step forms? YES!

7) And if the form could update an existing row - sounds complicated to implement but I would love that.

Thanks

Melitta

1. Being able to add custom text, images, and such on the form
2. A more powerful dropdown field - limit selections, add images to options
3. More powerful conditional logic. Maybe use logic to send emails, trigger redirects?
4. Restrict form access by password
5. Use math calculations in forms
6. Create multi-step forms
7. Allow form to update an existing row (is this already possible?)

Nish

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/284376#Comment_284376

Thanks for the feedback! And yes, of course, requiring an access code for the form would be an optional feature.

Nish

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/284310#Comment_284310

Yes, I like to know more about your use-case. We are trying to make FormCrafts work with varied requirements, and it would help to know about your workflow. We can trade feedback - you can email me at nish at ncrafts dot net.

Mark Salamon

I have been struggling with some similar requirement re form security and came up with a solution that partly fits the bill.

It would be great to have a true password requirement in order to access a form, to ensure that not just anyone can complete it. But, obviously, SS does not support this yet.

Instead, do the following:

1 - Create a sheet and corresponding form. In the sheet add a Password column (simple text) and also add that to the form as a required field.

2 - In the form, make the display of every other field conditional on the value of the Password column matching a specific value, by using conditional logic. Optionally, add a description to the form or field that explains what the Password is used for.

3 - Create a copy of the sheet.

4 - Create a rule in the original sheet to copy a record to the copy sheet if the password matches that same value.

5 - Share the password value separately with the people who need to access the form.

This approach will NOT stop a user from completing the form, but without the password they will not be able to fill out any fields except for password itself. That's the reason to have a copy of the sheet, so that you can use the copy to limit the records to ones where the user had the password and completed the rest of the form.

If you have an existing sheet, then make a copy of that sheet, base the form off of the copy and when a record has the right password, copy the record to the existing sheet.

Note that you can create different forms for different groups of users, with different passwords (and possibly different fields available to each group), and share each form link and password with each group. You can store the passwords in its a separate sheet, identifying which group of users it corresponds to (Sales, Marketing, Clients, etc.) and insert that group identifier in the sheet via VLOOKUP.

If a password gets shared too broadly, you can alter the form to require a different password value and reshare that to the identified recipients.