Administrators have the ability to build forms tailored to their organization's specific needs with Apricot's Form Designer tool. By customizing how you collect data in Apricot, you can ensure you're capturing the exact information required to run your programs effectively and generate meaningful insights. Well-crafted Apricot forms also improve the experience for end users entering data. Positive user experiences lead to more accurate, complete data being captured - which in turn supports better decision-making for your organization.
Follow the steps listed below to learn how to build an Apricot form.
Step 1: Access the Form Designer
First, click the Administrator tab at the top of the page. Then, expand the Form Designer category of the navigation bar and select "Standard Forms" to view all forms that currently exist in your database.
Each Tier 1 form will be collapsed on this page by default. To see any Tier 2 forms associated with a Tier 1 form, click the black arrow next to the Tier 1 form name.
The Form Actions palette on the right side of the page allows you to create a new form from scratch or from a template. In other words, you can choose to start with a blank form and manually add each section and field, or view the template library with a selection of pre-designed, generic form types that can be edited to suit your particular needs.
Step 2: Create a Tier 1 form from a template
Select "+ Tier 1 From Template" in the Form Actions palette to navigate to the template library. Then, click the black arrow to expand any of the displayed form categories (ex. "Clients"). The gray arrow next to a template name allows you to view a short description of what the form can be used for.
Hover your mouse over the Actions menu next to the template you'd like to use. You can select "Preview" to open a pop-up window with a blank copy of the form.
Once you've found the template you want to use, close the pop-up window and select "Use" from the Actions menu. This will generate a copy of the template that you can edit. All items in the Requirements section to the right of the form must be completed before the form can be published.
Select "Publish Form" in the Form Actions palette to add it to the Standard Forms page and allow users to begin collecting data.
Step 3: Create a Tier 1 form from scratch
On the Standard Forms page, select "+ Tier 1 From Scratch" to be taken to a blank form. To read more about the components of a form, click here.
The name of your Tier 1 form is displayed at the top of the page. You can change the name by clicking the top-most gear icon and editing the form properties. To learn more about form properties, click here.
Note: Before publishing a form, you must choose a Record Name within the Form Properties. Read more about the Record Name field here.
Each blue bar indicates a form section. To learn more about section properties, click here.
The Field Choices palette to the right shows the available fields that can be added to your form. You can also click "+ Add Section" to build another form section.
The Form Actions palette shows the actions available once you're finished creating your form.
To add a field to a form, click the black arrow to expand a category in the Field Choices palette and view the available fields. Drag and drop the field you want to use into the body of the form section.
To learn more about field properties, click here.
The Requirements palette shows which requirements must still be met before the form can be published for users to complete. Tier 1 forms must include at least one "Duplicate Check" field, one "Searchable" field, and one field that is both "Quick View" and "Required."
Click the gear icon at the top-right corner of the field box to open the field's properties. These settings govern the individual field.
You can edit the displayed field name.
The Standard Properties determine how users interact with the field.
Click "Apply" to save your field settings.
Once you've finished building your form, click "Publish." This will make your form available to users for data entry.
Step 4: Create a Tier 2 form
To build a new Tier 2 form, click the Actions menu next to the name of the Tier 1 form it should be associated with. In the dropdown, you'll have the same choices to create a new Tier 2 form using the template library (similar to Step 2) or starting from scratch (similar to Step 3).