Overview
Fieldwire offers a "Forms" module for the Business and Business Plus tiers. Within this module, we do offer the option to create your own Custom forms on the account and add the five default form templates. You can also push any custom forms from your project to your account to distribute these across your projects. Similarly, you can push any forms from your account to your projects.
(Take a look at this article on Account Form Templates for more information)
The Custom Form Template Builder allows Fieldwire users to customize Fieldwire’s existing forms, or create customized forms, tailored to their specific workflows. Once the form template is created, users are able to fill out, sign off, and submit their forms on both the Web and Mobile Versions of Fieldwire.
You can use the Custom Form Builder to edit Fieldwire’s daily reports, timesheets, inspection requests, Safety Audits, and Time and Material Tags, or create brand new types of forms like job hazard analysis, change orders, QA/QC inspections, and many more!
Note: Any forms you export from Fieldwire will include the Logo and color header a Project Administrator has specified under the Project Settings tab. (For more information about Project Settings, check out this article: The Project Settings Tab on Web and Mobile)
Table of Contents
- Default Form Templates
- Create a Custom Form Template
- Links on Forms
- How to Clone your Custom Form Templates
- Recovering Deleted Forms
- 1-Way Sync
- Video on the Custom Forms Builder
Default Form Templates
The five default form templates mentioned above no longer automatically appear in each new project. If you are creating a new Business Account with Fieldwire, you'll see these default form templates automatically in the "Templates" tab on your project dashboard. If you've already created a Fieldwire Business Account, none of your existing projects will be affected. Rather, you'll only see these changes on newly created projects.
In addition, you can add any of the five default form templates at any time regardless of whether or not they are in your Account Form Templates by following this workflow:
- Click the blue "+New form" button
- Hover over "+New template"
- Click "Create new"
- Select one of the five default form templates under the "Start with..." dropdown
- (Optional) Update the name of the template
- (Optional) Toggle whether or not you want it to be a "Dated template"
- Click "Create"
Create a Custom Form Template
On the Forms tab, select +New Form, then select +New Template, and finally click "Create new". If you want to edit an existing Form template, you need to select the "Manage templates" button in the upper right-hand corner, and then choose which form template you'd like to edit.
If you're an Admin on the project, from the '+New template' option, you can import Account Form Templates into your project.
Template Types
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The Default type includes a description, assignee, and status. You would create a Default template if the form requires multiple, unique date entries, rather than one overall date. For example, Fieldwire’s Daily Report form has a due date for the form rather than 1 creation date. This can be useful if multiple people need to view and approve the form.
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The Dated type will include a description, assignee, status, and date. You would create a default template if your form requires information generated on, or pertinent to, one specific date. For example, Fieldwire’s Daily Report form contains automatic weather based on the date selected on the Form.
Note: Only the ‘Dated’ template type will allow you to add a ‘Weather’ section. Notice that a "Daily Report" template be a "Dated template".
Statuses
After you select the type of Form, you can adjust the different Statuses the form can be in. Choose to 'Manage' Permissions & Statuses to adjust this:
This is especially useful if different parts of the form need approval. You are able to add more statuses as you see fit by selecting the +New status option.
Can enter status and Can exit status is a way to designate which permission levels are able to change the status of the form at that given moment. By default, only Admin-level users can set the Form as Submitted. (For more information about project permissions, check out this article: Introduction to Project Permission Levels: Administrators, Members, and Followers)
Note: You can customize at which stage of a form it is editable or not in the Form is editable column. All required fields must be filled before the form is moved into a 'non-editable' state.
Note: All statuses that are marked as 'Yes' under "Form is editable" will show with a yellow dot next to it:
If the status is marked as 'No' under "Form is editable", then the status will show with a green dot:
Note: When the status of a form is changed, the form creator, assignee, and last editor will all get notified on the web and will receive a push notification on any mobile device associated with a Fieldwire account.
Permissions
Only the Assignee can edit the Form attributes - these include the Form Description, Status, Assignee, Date, and Due date. This setting cannot be adjusted:
Sections, or the fillable entries within the Lists and Tables in a form, can be adjusted - Admins can choose whether only the form Assignee or if All users can edit fillable entries within a form.
Due Date Notifications
Email and in-app notifications are sent to the Form Assignee 48 hours prior to the due date.
In order for the Form Assignee to receive the Email and in-app notifications, the form must have an ‘Assignee’, a ‘Due Date’, and be in the ‘Draft’ or another ‘Editable’ status.
If the Status of the form has not been changed to ‘Submitted’, or another non-editable status, 48 hours prior to the Due Date, the assignee will be sent an Email and In-App notification to inform them that their assigned form is approaching the due date.
Note: If the Form Due Date is changed, then the notification resets, and will be sent 48 hours prior to the new Due Date.
Note: If the 'Assignee' is changed then a new email is sent.
Add New Sections
After you designate the Statuses of your Form, you can now start to build out the form. Select ‘+New section’ to add a new section. There are five different sections you can add to a Form
The List and Table Sections and Entry Types
The List is organized as a list of Fields designed to request specific information from users. You can have as many entry types as you'd like within a list.
The Table section is organized in a more compact manner and allows users to combine different entry types. The max number of columns that can be included in a form table is 10, and the max number of rows per table is 150 (100 if the table exists in a default form template). Long text and Date & Time column types count as 2 columns, each, towards this limit of 10.
There are several different entry types for both Sections.
|
Short Text |
Free-form text Field (A few words) |
Useful for Short Descriptions and quick thoughts. |
Available on both List and Table |
|
Long Text |
Free-form text Field (A paragraph) |
Useful for long descriptions and more detailed notes |
Available on both List and Table - this counts as two entries in a table. |
|
Integer |
A whole number |
Designate the amount of material or hours. |
Available on both List and Table |
|
Decimal |
A decimal number |
Designate a price or more precise hours. |
Available on both List and Table |
|
Date |
A date |
Indicate the date of when work was completed |
Available on both List and Table |
|
Date & Time |
The Date & Time |
More precise documentation of when work was completed. |
Available on both List and Table- this counts as two entries in a table. |
|
Checkbox |
A box, with 'yes', 'no' and 'n/a' options. This mirrors the checkbox in a checklist |
Useful for inspections and documentation. |
Available on both List and Table |
|
Checkbox & Notes
|
A checkbox with 'yes', 'no' and 'n/a' options, and a section for notes |
Allows for more precise documentation. |
Available on List Section |
|
Attachments
|
Allows users to attach files and photos. |
Easily reference files. | Available on List Section |
|
Users
|
A list of users on the project. |
Useful to document all necessary parties. |
Available on List Section |
|
Plans
|
Attach existing plans from the project to the form. |
Helpful in designating specific locations. |
Available on List Section |
|
Calculations
|
Use existing 'Integer' and 'Decimal' entry type variables to provide the sum or product of a custom expression |
Perform automatic calculations directly in the Form. |
Available in Form Tables |
|
+ New entry type |
Create different fields in a drop-down list. |
Useful for custom entry fields not listed above. |
(custom lists) |
You’re able to make any of the fields in this table required or not required (aside from the 'Checkbox', and 'Checkbox & Notes') when creating your form. That way, you can ensure that users are recording the necessary fields on your job site.
You’re also able to add hints or default values to any text or integer field to save time or communicate to team members what the field should contain
Note: You can have up to 150 rows in a table section of the form. (The limit is 100 if the table exists in one of our default form templates).
Note: Regarding the Date & Time entry type, when entering the time, please keep in mind that the time shown on the form in Fieldwire will be determined by each individuals' device's timezone. For instance, a user on EST might see 12pm, but a user on PST, looking at the same exact form, will see 9am in Fieldwire. However, this is not the case for Form PDF exports. The time displayed on PDF exports is determined by the timezone chosen on the Project in the Project Settings tab.
Note: Short/Long text fields can store up to 1 billion characters. This 1 billion limit is for text entered into a form for these fields. However, it's not the character limit for the name of the field that's configured in the template editor; there's a different limit for that. Since they have the same character limit, the main differences between Short/Long text fields is Long text fields wrap, Short text don't (both in lists and tables) and Long text columns in tables are wider than Short text columns.
Note: For the "Integer" and "Decimal" entry types, you can enter nearly infinite characters. For the Checkbox and Notes entry type, you can enter up to 1 billion characters.
Form Calculations
In ‘Tables’, the ‘Calculation’ entry type leverages Integer and Decimal entry type variables to provide the sum or product of a custom expression, defined by Project Admins. In a table that has at least one Integer or Decimal, choose to add a ‘Calculation’ entry type - after providing a name for the entry, choose to ‘create [an] expression…’:
Note: Any expressions that have already been created will be stored in the form.
After selecting ‘Within the ‘Calculation’, the integer and decimal entry types appear as ‘Variables’ - the entries in the table use the letters ‘A-I’ to reflect the order of the entries.
In the ‘Expression’ field, use Algebraic operations in conjunction with relevant variables to create automatic calculations relevant to the form. You can also enter relevant numbers, outside of the variables in the table - (ex: 12, 24, 48) - this can help with any time-based calculations, or if you’d like to determine the ‘average’ in the calculation.
In the example above, the Expression will calculate the total number of hours worked across the week. After saving the Expression, it will be saved as a ‘Calculation’ entry type in the table.
Select the calculation Entry type in the table in order to adjust the ‘Name’, ‘Expression’ and ‘Unit [of measurement]’ to display this in the form:
Note: The Units that are supported are ‘Temperature (Fahrenheit or Celsius - dependent on project settings, units of measurement)’, ‘Currency’ (dependent on selection under project settings), and ‘Time (hours)’.
The results of the example above are detailed below. The Expression adds the ‘Decimal’ entry types of each day of the week, and the calculation will adjust, dependent on the relevant entries within the Form:
Depending on the form (and variables within the entries in the table), many different use-cases can be supported - including, but not limited to:
- Calculate the total ‘Man-hours’ worked across on-site craftworkers.
- Calculate the average units per day in a T&M form.
- Calculate the total number of workers
'Total' Row
Once you have your expressions determined, Project admins can add a 'Total' row to summarize the form table entries.
Example 1:
Example 2:
Form contributors will see the calculations dynamically update based on their inputs as they fill out their forms in the field.
In order to add this 'Total' row to your Form's table(s), you'll first need to "Unpublish" the Form Template. Once the Form Template is unpublished, you'll need to go to your Form's table(s) and click on the pencil icon to go to the "Section Details".
When looking at the "Section Details", there will be an option for "Total row", where you'll be able to choose if you want the row to display the Sum or the Average of the entries in your table(s). Once Sum or Average is chosen, that table in that Form and its Form exports will display the "Total" row.
Note: This cannot be added retroactively to older Forms. It is only for newly created Forms after the "Total row" has been activated for each Forms' table(s).
Attachments
The attachment section allows users to upload various types of files, including PDF, JPEG, PNG, CSV, TXT, and KML, to name a few. For the full, exhaustive, list of accepted file types, click here. You are able to designate the minimum and maximum amount of attachments to include. You can also add a description to indicate any pertinent information about the attachment.
Note: You can upload files and photos up to 50mb.
The "Existing photo" option allows you to attach any photos stored under the “Photos” tab to your Form. The difference between attaching an Existing photo and a “Photo/File” is that the photos you choose from exist in the "Photos" tab (as opposed to uploading new photos from your computer, cloud storage, etc.)
Note: If you choose to attach an "Existing photo", that photo will be shown again in the "Photos" tab since it is now associated with the Form.
Photos attached to Plans, Forms, and RFIs can be marked up now.
Forms:
Weather
The Weather section of the Form automatically pulls weather information to the form. This is based on what is entered in the ‘Address’ section of the ‘Settings’ tab of the Project. Fieldwire leverages Visual Crossing to determine the weather data on a form.
A form’s weather data is set based off the timestamp of the “Date” of the form (when the user first makes the form this is set to the created date, but it can be changed). If they are creating it in the morning, the weather data shown on that form is a prediction, and we update the form with the actual weather after about 24 hours.
Signature
The signature section prompts users to provide an electronic signature on the Web or a free-hand signature on mobile. Fieldwire will automatically include the timestamp of when the form was signed to help ensure accountability.
On the Web, you, or someone who does not have a Fieldwire Account, can sign your form:
| The name of the user that is logged in will populate as the first signature option. | Choose 'Sign as someone else' to have a user who does not have a Fieldwire account sign the form. |
The signature of any user signing as themselves will be accompanied by a date, time, device-stamp as well as the signatory's Company and Job title to show when exactly the form was signed and which individual signed it.
Note: The Company and Job title are determined by the information in the Profile settings on your account homepage, not by the information in each individual project.
The user who is logged into Fieldwire on the device where the Form was accessed will be listed as the device owner:
| 'Sign as Ben Schantz' |
| 'Sign as someone else' |
On the iOS and Android Versions of Fieldwire, you can also have another user sign the form:
| The name of the user that is logged in will populate as the first signature option. | Choose 'Someone else' to have a user who does not have a Fieldwire account sign the form. |
After you determined who will sign the form, you'll be prompted to add a freehand signature to the Form if you are signing. If someone else is signing the Form, they'll be prompted to type their name before they add their freehand signature.
As with signing on the Web, any signature will be accompanied by a date, time, and device-stamp to show when exactly the form was signed and which individual signed it.
Note: The signatory's Company and Job title are not yet shown if the Form is signed on mobile.
The user who is logged into Fieldwire on the device where the Form was accessed will be listed as the device owner:
| Sign form as 'Andrew White' |
| Sign form as 'Someone Else' |
After all required fields on the form are completed, you can choose to 'Update [the] status and close'. This is similar to submitting a form. The statuses one creates on the form determine the state the form can be moved to:
| Default Statuses on the 'Daily Report' form: | |
| Default Statuses on the 'Inspection Request' form: |
On Mobile, if multiple users will be creating or editing a particular form, they should make sure to close the form when they are finished editing it, prior to closing the app or putting the device to sleep.
Multiple Signatures
In each Signature section of a Form, users can now decide the minimum number of signatures required in one section as well as the maximum number of signatures allowed in one section. This prevents users from having to add multiple Signature sections into one Form.
After clicking the pencil icon, users will be able to choose the "Min number of signatures" and the "Max number of signatures".
Note: If you do not want the Signature section to be Required, you must set the "Min number of signatures" to "0".
Although mobile users can't edit the number of Min or Max Signatures needed on a Form, they can see/add multiple signatures under one Signature section as determined by the "Min number of signatures" and the "Max number of signatures" on the Form Template.
Links on Forms
If a plan or a task has been linked to a particular form, those links will be displayed in the sidebar and will be accessible while viewing the form.
Task Links on Forms
To link a Form to a Task, you can either do it directly on a Form itself on the Sidebar or within the task itself by selecting the hyperlink icon and then the Form option. Doing so directly on the Form will also allow for the creation of a new task which will then be linked to the Form. This will then show the tasks that have been attached in the exported copy of the Form the Tasks have been linked to.
Note: When duplicating a Form the Task links will not duplicate with the Form.
Plan Links in Forms
To link a Plan to a Form you will need to go to the plan sheet in question within the Plan tab and use the Hyperlink option to add a Form hyperlink to the Plan sheet. Once the hyperlink has been added to the plan sheet the sheet(s) the Form has been hyperlinked to will display under the "Links" section along with any Tasks.
How to Clone your Custom Form Templates
You are able to clone your custom form templates for any new projects you create.
This helps avoid any sort of duplicate work you may have to do.
| Step 1: | Select '+New Project' from the Project Dashboard |
|
Step 2: |
Add a Project Name for your new project and select the project you would like to clone from the dropdown. |
| Step 3: | Choose to 'Copy Form Templates'. |
Note: Currently, Form Templates can only be cloned to new projects. Custom Form Templates cannot be retroactively cloned to existing projects. However, Project Admins can choose to 'push' form templates from the Project-level to the Account level and the pull those form templates from the Account into the new project. (See this article for more information on importing form templates: Account Form Templates). Ensure that you are the Account Owner, Account Manager, or that you are covered under a Business Account to ensure that you can clone form templates.
Recovering Deleted Forms
Forms within a project can be recovered by Project Admins on the Business tiers from the Trash tab. If a Form is deleted, it will be in the Trash tab for 30 days during which, it can be restored. However, after 30 days, the Form will be permanently deleted.
Note: While Forms are able to be recovered from the Trash tab, Form Templates are not able to be recovered. Once Form Templates are deleted, they are permanently deleted. If you try to delete a Form Template, you will receive the prompt shown in the screenshot below to confirm if you want to delete the Template as well as all of the forms connected with that Template.
1-Way Sync
Forms can be backed up to cloud storage providers (Box, Dropbox, OneDrive) via a 1-way sync connection. When one of these integrations is active, Forms that have been updated to a non-editable status (i.e. "Submitted") will be copied to Box/Dropbox/OneDrive and stored in their corresponding subfolders. The subfolder names will match the name of the Form Template that was used to generate the Form.
Keyboard Shortcuts on the 'Forms' tab
1. Use the Tab to move to next entry
2. Use the arrow keys for navigating in some dropdown lists
3. Use the ESC to close the form view modal