How to create a form, step by step

Open the form editor on the PulseFormCreator homepage. It opens full screen with the cursor in the title, so type the form's name first. You need no account or card, and there is no trial period. Until you save it in step 8, your draft stays in this browser.

There are three ways to begin. Start from the empty form. Open a template and press Use this template: a contact us form, a class registration form, a new client questionnaire and a job application template are common first forms, and everything in the form template library works as it stands. Or describe the form to AI drafting in a sentence or two. AI drafting sends only the description you type, and its questions land in the editor like any others, so you can rewrite or delete them.

Press Add your first question, then Add for each question after that, and pick a type. The menu opens on the most used types, has Browse all types at the bottom, and a search box at the top, so typing "phone" or "date" finds the right one. The / key opens it from the keyboard. There are 24 question types, all on the free plan, grouped the way the menu groups them:

• Text: Short answer, Long answer.
• Contact & details: Name, Email, Phone number, Number, Date, Time, Address, Website link, File upload, Signature, Consent checkbox, Booking.
• Choice: Multiple choice, Checkboxes, Dropdown, Yes / No, Picture choice, Ranking.
• Rating & scale: Rating, NPS, Matrix / Likert, Slider.

Layout blocks sit between the questions and collect nothing: Heading, Paragraph, Image, Video, Section, Page break, Divider, Embed.

Click a question to edit its wording in place. The asterisk on its toolbar makes it required; mark a question required only when a response is no use to you without it. The gear opens the question's settings, such as its description and what counts as a valid answer, and Turn into… changes its type and keeps the wording. A file upload takes files up to 10 MB each on the free plan and 5 GB each on PulseFormCreator Pro. That covers a logo on a web design questionnaire, an inspiration photo on a cake request form, proof of income on a lease application form or the photos on a roof inspection checklist.

• Use a typed question for typed data. Email, Phone number, Number and Date check the answer before it is sent, so a mistyped address is caught while the person can still fix it. A holiday request form asks for the first and last day off as dates, and a school t-shirt order form takes a number from 0 to 20 for each size. A new Phone number or Address question starts with a default country: change it in the question's settings to the country most of your respondents live in. A shipping address form shows how the boxes change with the country. A Short answer can check the answer against a pattern you write, or against a few built-in formats, such as an Australian postcode.
• Use a choice question wherever you know the possible answers. Multiple choice, Checkboxes and Dropdown answers can be counted and charted, and each can offer an "Other" option with a box for anything you did not list.
• Use the Name question for names. It is one box by default, because one box takes every kind of name, and nothing is checked against a pattern, so O’Neill and Smith-Jones always go through. Switch it to separate first and last names if your records need two columns. When you ask for someone else's name, such as a guardian or an emergency contact, turn off Let browsers fill it in, or the browser will offer the respondent's own name.
• A Matrix / Likert grid collects one of three kinds of answer: one per row, as in an agree-to-disagree grid or a vehicle safety inspection form; several per row, such as which mornings someone is free; or a short text box in each cell, as in the hours grid of an employee availability template. Add an N/A column so nobody has to rate something that does not apply to them. On a phone each row becomes its own card.
• Checkboxes can have an option that clears the rest. Mark "None of the above" that way, and checking it clears everything else. The server checks it too.
• Use a Consent checkbox for agreement, such as to your terms, to a cancellation policy on a salon appointment request form or, on a photo consent form, to photos being used. It is one checkbox with your own wording, the wording can hold a link, and each response keeps the exact wording the person agreed to.
• Use a Signature question when you need one. People draw or type their name, and each response records how and when they signed, as on a model release form, a tattoo consent form or an employee write-up form.

Add a Page break wherever a new screen should start. A Section is a titled group: everything after it, up to the next section or page break, belongs to it. Give a section a condition and the whole group appears or disappears together. Questions in a hidden section are never required and never sent, so a hidden question cannot stop anyone from submitting. You can also let people fold a section closed.

The Design tab sets the layout: All questions on one page, the default for new forms, or One question at a time. With one question at a time, Auto-advance (next to the layout) moves on a moment after a single choice, yes or no, rating, scale or picture is picked.

The ending is the screen people see after they submit. Settings, under Submission, sets one thank-you message, or a redirect to a page of your own. For more than one, add an Ending from the Add menu. Each ending has its own title, message and button, or its own redirect, and a rule decides who sees which. The pre-exercise screening form works this way: a yes on its health questions ends on a screen asking for a doctor's clearance letter. An ending can also offer Email me a copy of my answers, Submit another response or a Book a time button; buttons on the thank-you screen explains each one.

Logic keeps a long form short for each person. On a question's toolbar, open Add logic and choose one of two things:

• Only show this question when… The question stays hidden until an earlier answer matches.
• After this question, if… A rule that runs once the question is answered. It can jump to another question, go to an ending, make other questions required, or add to a score.

The program registration form uses the first kind. Answer that the person attending is under 18 and the parent or guardian questions appear, required. Answer no and they never show. A theater audition form opens its parent section the same way, and a golf day entry form skips the golf questions for anyone sponsoring only. Once a form has logic, a Flow button in the top bar draws every path, so you can check where each kind of respondent ends up. Conditional logic, calculations and scoring covers the rest.

The Design tab starts with ready-made themes and gradients. From there, set your own colors, font, background (a solid color, a gradient or an image), corner radius and logo, and choose the layout. All of that is free.

Two changes need Pro: custom CSS, in the Design tab, for anything the theme editor cannot do, and removing the "Made with PulseFormCreator" badge, in Settings, under Branding. The pricing page lists what each plan adds.

The Settings tab holds everything that is not a question. Look at these before anyone sees the form:

• Responses. Saving respondents' progress on their device is on by default, so someone who leaves part-way can pick up where they left off on the same device.
• Access and limits. A password, a response limit, opening and closing times, duplicate prevention and a shuffled question order. Use a closing time for a deadline, such as on a memorial scholarship application, and a response limit when the stalls run out, as on a craft fair vendor application. Controlling who can respond explains each one.
• Spam protection. A hidden bot trap is on for every new form, and you can add a minimum time to complete. Anything caught waits in the Spam tab of your results, out of your counts and your inbox.
• Privacy. Anonymous responses, as on an online suggestion box, stops us recording IP addresses and device details, from the moment you turn it on. See what anonymous mode stores.
• Hidden fields. Values that arrive with the link, such as a campaign tag or a customer number. See hidden fields and piping.

Choice questions can also shuffle their options for each person, in the question's own settings. Once the form is saved, Version history in the top bar restores an earlier version. It keeps 7 days of edits on the free plan, 30 days on Pro and 90 days on PulseFormCreator Business.

Press the eye icon in the top bar to see the form as a respondent will. Try it on a phone as well as a laptop, and take every path your logic creates. Until the form is saved, nothing submitted in the preview is recorded.

When it is ready, press Save in the top bar. Enter your email, press Send sign-in code, then type the code from the email and press Verify and save. That signs you in, or creates your account if you are new; there is no password to remember. The form moves to your account and is live at once at its own link, with its QR code and embed snippets on the Share tab, and any workflows you set up come with it. If the email does not arrive, see signing in with an email code.

From then on every edit goes live as soon as it saves, and the eye icon opens the live form, so a test submission counts as a real response. To try out a big change, duplicate the form from its menu in your dashboard, test the copy, then delete the copy. To stop taking answers, set a closing time or a response limit, or choose Close from the form's menu. Reopen brings it back.

Send the link, print the QR code, or put the form on your own website in one of 8 embed styles. How to share and embed a form covers each one, and walks through adding a contact form to a website.

Responses arrive in Results with a chart for each question and a table of every response, and download as CSV or Excel on every plan. To get each one by email, turn on Email me in the Workflows tab, where Slack, Google Sheets and webhooks are too. See exporting your responses, form integrations and what Workflows can do after someone submits.

Responses are unlimited on every plan, within the published fair use thresholds.