Form Builder
The form builder is where you design and configure your forms. It provides a visual editor with a live preview, drag-and-drop reordering, and field-level settings.
Form Names
Each form has two names:
- Form Name — Displayed to respondents at the top of the form.
- Internal Name — Visible only to you in the dashboard and forms list. Useful for organizing forms when you have many.
Field Types
RapidForm supports the following field types:
| Field Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Text | Single-line text input |
| Textarea | Multi-line text input for longer responses |
| Email address input with built-in format validation | |
| Phone | Phone number input (renders a tel field) |
| Number | Numeric input with optional min/max value validation |
| Dropdown | Select menu with customizable options |
| Radio | Single-choice selection from a list of options |
| Checkbox | Multiple-choice selection from a list of options |
| Date | Date picker input |
| File Upload | File upload with drag-and-drop (Pro and Business plans only) |
| Hidden | Invisible field with a default value, useful for tracking data |
Field Settings
Click any field to open its settings panel. Available settings include:
- Label — The text displayed above the field.
- Placeholder — Hint text shown inside the field before the user types (available for text, textarea, email, phone, and number fields).
- Required — Toggle whether the field must be filled out before submission.
- Width — Choose between Full (spans the entire form width) or Half (takes up half the width, allowing two fields side by side).
- Options — For dropdown, radio, and checkbox fields, you can add, edit, and remove options.
- Default Value — For hidden fields, set the value that is submitted automatically.
- Validation Rules — Add custom validation such as min/max length, min/max value, or regex patterns. See Validation Rules.
- Conditional Logic — Show or hide this field based on another field's value. See Conditional Logic.
Drag-and-Drop Reordering
Rearrange fields by dragging them to a new position in the field list. The live preview updates in real time as you reorder.
Form Settings
In the builder, you can configure:
- Form Title — The heading displayed on the form.
- Description — Optional text shown below the title to give respondents context.
- Heading Alignment — Align the title and description to the left, center, or right.
- Display Mode — Choose how questions are presented. See Display Mode below.
- Submit Button Text — Customize what the submit button says (default: "Submit").
- Thank You Message — The message shown after successful submission (default: "Thank you for your submission!").
Display Mode
Display Mode controls how respondents see your form:
- Standard (default) — All fields appear on a single page. Respondents fill everything out and click Submit once.
- One per step — Quiz-style. One question is shown at a time with a progress bar, a Back button, and a Next button. The Submit button appears on the final question.
When One per step is selected:
- Each question is validated as the respondent clicks Next, so they cannot advance past a required or invalid field.
- Hidden fields are still submitted with the form but never shown as a step.
- Conditional fields whose conditions aren't met are skipped from the step sequence, and the total step count updates as the respondent answers earlier questions. See Conditional Logic.
You can switch between modes at any time without losing fields or settings.
Live Preview
The right side of the builder shows a live preview of your form. Every change you make — adding fields, editing labels, adjusting theme colors — is reflected immediately in the preview.
Saving and Publishing
- Save — Saves your form as a draft. It is not publicly accessible until published.
- Publish — Makes the form live and accessible via its public URL and embed codes. You can unpublish at any time to take the form offline.
When you publish a form for the first time, the embed codes modal opens automatically so you can copy embed snippets right away.