We've designed the form builder to be as flexible and powerful for you as possible. You can gather the volunteer information you need with complete control over your form fields. The Timecounts form builder uses three kinds of form fields:
Database fields link directly the profile card.
Standard fields are fully customizable for additional questions.
Formatting fields give your form shape and structure.
Formatting fields are fairly straightforward. You can drag and drop titles, paragraph text, line dividers, and page breaks into your form to give it structure.
When it comes to Database and Standard fields, things get a bit trickier. All fields are drag-and-drop, but the field type (Database or Standard) will determine what happens to the information when a form is submitted by someone and accepted by you. On top of the different types, each field has different qualities and some have additional options.
Database Fields
Database fields are saved to the profile card. These fields are for information that won't readily change, such as birthdate, address, social media usernames, and emergency contacts.
Database fields update in the profile card automatically as new form submissions are accepted. If someone in your community fills out a form with a new address, the address will update in their profile card.
If the volunteer filling out your form is logged-in, known database fields will automatically hide for that volunteer. For example, if you add birthdate and address to a form but you already have that information from a logged-in volunteer who fills it out, the volunteer won't see the birthdate and address fields. They will only see the questions they haven't answered before, and any questions that have the 'Ask Every Time' checkbox checked.
Because database fields are more easily searchable and update without manual data entry, always look to see if there is a database field that will suit your question, instead of creating a custom Standard field. Keep in mind that you can always edit the title of database fields in the form editor. Just click on the text and type.
Standard Fields
Standard fields are flexible, custom field types that allow you to ask any kind of question in your forms. Standard fields don't save to the profile card directly - instead they appear in the volunteer's form responses, which can be viewed in the 'Forms' tab of the profile card. Because of this, try to use standard fields only when you need to ask questions that don't need to be searched or referenced more than a few times. It's easier to search database fields.
The one exception is for checkboxes or multiple choice fields. Organizations or Communities on the Premium Plan are able to link tags to checkbox or multiple choice answers, so you can easily sort and track your applicants within your community database.
