> This is the Markdown of a Backed Help Centre page, https://admin.backed.giving/help/administrator/applications/form-builder.md. Every page is listed at https://admin.backed.giving/help/llms.txt. > This page uses Backed's default terms, such as Funding Round and Application Template. An organisation may rename them, so read each as your organisation's own term if you've renamed it. Every form in Backed, from registration and application forms to assessment forms, milestone forms and landing pages, is built in the Form Builder. Templates live under `Plan > Form templates`, in tabs for each area: `Registrations`, `Applications`, `Assessments`, `Milestones`, `Decision Letters`, `Contracts`, `Landing Pages`, `Eligibility Screeners` and `Referee Forms`. A Referee Form is what a referee answers; see [Referee requests and references](referee-requests.md). ## Create a template 1. Go to `Plan > Form templates` and open the area's tab. 2. Select the area's new-template button, such as `New Template`. 3. Enter the `Template name` and select `Create`. The Form Builder opens. ## Draft from guidelines An application form can be drafted for you from your round's guideline document. This appears only when it is turned on for your organisation: `Form drafting` under `Settings > Profile and terms`, on the `AI assistance` tab. See [AI assistance](../../integrations/ai-assistance.md). 1. Select `Draft from guidelines`. It sits beside `New Template` on the `Applications` tab, and beside `New Form` in a grant's `Application Form` step. 2. Choose the guideline document from your `File Uploads` library, or upload one under `Or upload a document`. It must be a PDF, Word or text file with selectable text, of up to 40 pages. A scanned image has no text to read, and Backed says so. 3. Select `Draft`. The page shows `Drafting from` and the document's name while the draft is written; keep it open. When the draft is ready, the Form Builder opens on it with its pages, sections and fields: labels, help text, whether each is required, and any length limit. 4. Check the draft, change what you need, and select `Save and Return`. Nothing is saved until you do: leave without saving and the draft is discarded. Every drafted section and field shows `AI draft` in its `Properties`, under `Drafted from guidelines`: - **`Source`** opens the passage of the guideline document the field was drafted from, and its page where the document has page numbers. - **`Mark reviewed`** clears `AI draft` from a field you have checked and are keeping as it is. - **An edit is a review.** Change a field's label or any of its properties and `AI draft` clears by itself. A grant whose application form still has a field marked `AI draft` cannot be published. Its `Publish Grant` checklist includes `AI-drafted fields reviewed`, and `Publish Grant` lists the form until every drafted field has been edited or marked reviewed. Field Events, formulas, scoring and Field Tags are never drafted; add them yourself. ## Build the form - **Fields.** The `Fields` panel lists the field types in groups: `Simple Fields`, `Data Entry`, `Text Fields` and `Other Fields`. They include `Short text`, `Long text`, `Rich text`, `Single choice`, `Multi-choice`, `Dropdown`, `Yes/No`, `Slider`, `Date picker`, `Currency`, `Address`, `File upload`, `Table`, `Header`, `Free Text` and `Image`, and on application forms `Referee request`. Press Enter on a tile to add it, or drag it onto the form. - **Standard fields.** On registration, application, assessment, milestone, conditions and supplementary information forms, the `Fields` panel opens with a `Standard fields` group: 22 common questions set by Backed, under `Organisation`, `Contact`, `Project` and `Budget`, such as `ABN`, `Contact email address` and `Amount requested`. Each one shows its field type and its Field Tag, such as `std_abn`. Select one to add it to the form. A standard field can be added once per form, so one already on the form shows `Already on this form`. The first time your organisation uses a standard field, saving the form creates its Field Tag. - **Pages and sections.** Select `Add Page +` and `Add section` to organise the form. Use the move, copy and remove buttons on each page, section and field. - **Properties.** Select a field to open its `Properties`: its label, help text, whether it is required, and any tag or event. - **`Free Text` content.** A `Free Text` field's `Content` is a formatting editor: headings, bold, italics, underline, dot points, numbered lists and links. Applicants, and visitors to a landing page, see the formatting as you set it. Text written before the editor arrived shows exactly as it did; it opens in the editor as paragraphs and is saved with formatting the first time you change it. Anything that is not formatting, such as a script pasted from another site, is removed when the form is saved. - **`Format` and `Notify on decision`.** On registration, application and milestone forms, a `Short text` field's properties include `Format`: `None`, `Bank account (BSB and account number)` or `Email address`. A `Bank account` answer is checked by your organisation's currency: in Australian dollars a 6-digit BSB and account number, in New Zealand dollars bank, branch, account and suffix (for example `01-0123-0123456-00`), and in any other currency the digits with spaces or hyphens; the hint under the box says which. On an application form, a field formatted `Email address` also shows `Notify on decision`. Tick it and the Letter of Decline is also sent to the address entered in that field, whether or not the applicant is ticked under `Notify` when the decision is sent. Changing the field's `Format` away from `Email address` clears the tick. - **`Allow map pin`.** On registration and application forms, an `Address` field's properties include `Allow map pin`. Tick it and the applicant can drop or move a pin on a map under the address. The pin is used in place of the point found from the address, in maps and regional reports. Geocoding must be on for your organisation (`Settings > Organisation > Geography`), or no map is shown. Once the template is in use and locked, the tick can't be changed. - **Standard field properties.** A standard field carries a `Standard field` badge on the form. Its `Properties` show its label, type, support text, options, validation and Field Tag read-only, under `Standard field – set by Backed`, so the question reads the same on every form. You can still change `Mandatory`, the placeholder text, the tooltip, where it sits on the form and its Field Events. A standard field has no `Copy` button; copying its section or page copies it as an ordinary field. - **Standard field answers.** An `ABN` or `NZBN` standard field takes only a valid number. When the applicant leaves the field, a wrong one shows `This ABN is not valid.` or `This NZBN is not valid.`, and the form cannot be submitted until it is fixed. When your registration form holds the same standard field, an applicant's new application opens with their registration answer filled in and marked `From your profile`; see [Applying for a grant](../../applicant/applying-for-a-grant.md). In reports, a standard field's tag, such as `std_abn`, is one column under `Tagged Form Fields` with the answers from every form that holds it. - **`Requires field review`.** Tick it in a field's properties to hold a change to that field's answer once the form is submitted. The change waits for an administrator with `Can approve Review Requests` to approve it, and the previous answer stands until then. See [Field reviews](../contracts/field-reviews.md). - **`Do not copy`.** On an application form, tick `Do not copy` under a field's `Application` properties to leave it blank when an applicant starts a new application from a previous one. A value from the applicant's profile is still filled in. - **`FundraiserOne field`.** When FundraiserOne is switched on for your organisation, a field on a registration form shows `FundraiserOne field` under `Integration`. Choose the FundraiserOne field its answer is sent to from your organisation's list, or `None` to send nothing. A field inside a repeatable section, a table and a file upload have no `FundraiserOne field`. See [FundraiserOne](../../integrations/fundraiser-one.md). ## Preview the form Select `Preview` to see the form as it will be filled in, at `Desktop` or `Phone` width. A preview says how many required fields still need an answer; nothing is submitted. Select `Edit` to go back. ## Check the reading level Backed gives text of ten words or more a school year, worked out with the Flesch–Kincaid formula. Your organisation's `Reading level target` is set under `Settings > Profile and terms`, in the `Forms` group; it is year 10 unless you change it. - A field whose label, support text or `Free Text` reads above the target shows a chip beside its name on the form, for example `Year 12 · target 10`. Text under ten words is not scored, so a short label never shows one. The chip changes as you type. - Select the down arrow beside `Preview`, then `Readability`, to list every field above the target, with which of its texts it is and its longest sentence. Select a field's name to go to it on the form. Select `Back to fields` to close the list. - In the same menu, `File Uploads` shows each file's `Reading level`, for example `Reading level: Year 11`. A PDF, Word document or text file is scored after its virus check. A file nothing could be read from, such as a scanned PDF, shows `Not scored`. - Each checked file in `File Uploads` also shows `Version n of m`. Select `View` to read a PDF or an image without downloading it. Select `History` to see every version, `Download` an earlier one, or `Restore this version` to make a copy of it the current file. Links you have already shared keep working and open the restored file. The reading level is advice only: it never stops you saving the form or publishing a grant. ## Save Select `Save and Return` to save and go back to the template list. If you leave with unsaved changes, Backed asks first. ## Other template actions On the template list: - `Duplicate` makes a copy with the same pages, sections, fields, tables and tags, named "… (copy)". The copy is not in use, so all of it can be edited. Field Events are not copied. - `Create Linked Template` makes a copy whose fields keep a link to the fields they came from, so a later stage can carry its answers forward. See [Multi-stage grant rounds](../funding-rounds/multi-stage-grant-rounds.md). - `Change Template Type` moves a template to the area of another type. - `Export to PDF` lays the template out as a blank form, with conditional fields marked. A template marked `In use` is used by a round or another record, and some changes to it are limited. ## Translate a template When your organisation has turned on a language beside English under `Settings > Profile and terms`, each template's page has a tab for every language. `English (Australia)` shows the form as built; the language tab lists each page title, section title, field label, help text, placeholder and option, with the English on the left and the translation on the right. Type the translations and select `Save translations`. Anything left blank shows to applicants in English. A term in double square brackets, such as `[[applicant_name]]`, is a merge field. Keep every merge field the English has, each as many times; the page warns you before you save if one is missing or extra, and a translation that differs is not saved. To send every template to a translator at once, select `Export translations` on the template list, choose the language and a format (CSV for a spreadsheet, XLIFF for a translation tool) and select `Download`. When the file comes back, select `Import translations`, choose the file and select `Import`. The summary says how many rows were applied and lists each rejected row by its number with the reason. Nothing in a rejected row is applied. These controls appear only when a language beside English is turned on. ## See also - [Field tags and field events](field-tags-and-field-events.md) - [Registration templates and types](../registrations/registration-templates.md) - [FundraiserOne](../../integrations/fundraiser-one.md)