Form Building Best Practices
The following are best practices to keep in mind throughout the form building and management process.
Workflow
- Understand the workflow and what forms are needed and in which order
- Determine if any forms can be grouped together and signed as part of a package
- Determine if any forms be made into Resource forms, which do not require a signature
- To include a Resource form as part of a package, do not add any custom fields in the Form Manager The tool for building digital Forms. Just name the form, upload the PDF, then place a Signature or Initials field on the PDF. You can then include the form in a package, and the candidate does not need to actually sign the form
- Test forms prior to sending to candidates
- Ensure every form has at least one Signature or Initials field
Fields
- Ensure any text fields are lines and are not broken up with dashes, slashes or boxes (-, /, ☐)
- Ensure there are no more than 250 fields on a form
- When naming custom fields for a form, add a prefix to the field name, such as “dd” for direct deposit, which will group the fields in the drop-down list, making them easier to find
- Ensure PDFs are in portrait layout (not landscape/horizontal)
- Ensure all PDFs are legible (i.e., any PDFs that are photocopies will need new PDFs)
- Have the PDF for the form on hand to upload when creating a new form; the form will not save without a PDF
- While you can upload the PDF at any time prior to publishing the form, it may be helpful to immediately upload it and add a Signature or Initials field as soon as you name the form.
- Ensure PDFs are less than 10 MB in size
- Turn off your browser’s pop-up blocker when adding fields to the PDF
Completing Forms
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Applicants will interact with the form by being presented a series of questions. The answers to those question are plugged into the correct locations on the PDF that the applicant signs.
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The preview will show the applicant the PDF without the completed information entered. These will show on the form when they click Finish and Sign.
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