Jotform is definitely one of the best form creation platforms out there. I have been using it for some time now and I find it really helpful. Google Forms is another of my favourites, however, unlike Google Forms, Jotform offers a huge collection of pre-designed and professionally looking forms that you can use for a wide variety of purposes. Also, Jotform's form builder embeds advanced design and customization features that make form creation incredibly easy and simple. No coding or advanced tech knowledge is required to operate the editor but if you enjoy coding you can dive into the form's HTML and make your own adjustments.
Form Templates Gallery
Using Jotform you will be able to create online forms, gather responses directly in your email, and create fillable PDF forms. However, the part I like the most about Jotform is its templates gallery. There are over 10.000 pre-made form templates that you can browse to search for professionally designed templates to use in your teaching.
Form templates are organized by Type and Industry. You can also further filter your search by Form layout, Language, Form popularity, etc. For instance, in the Education category there are over 2000 pre-designed form templates that are fully customizable and can be edited to fit your own teaching/learning needs. These forms are free, easy and simple to use. Examples of education form templates include:
- Student survey form
- Classroom observation survey
- Teachers assessment form
- Course registration form
- Course evaluation form
- Training feedback form
- Application for university form
- Student progress report template
- Student performance evaluation form
- Scholarship application form
- Virtual workshop registration form
- Parental consent and release form
- Summer school registration form
- Field trip permission form
- Online class attendance form
You can also browse form templates by Type. There are numerous form types to choose from and each type embeds hundreds of form templates. There are:
- Order Forms
- Registration Forms
- Event Registration Forms
- Application Forms
- Booking Forms
- Request Forms
- Feedback Forms
- Membership Forms
- Signup Forms
- Payment Forms
- Evaluation Forms
- Contact Forms
- Survey Templates
- Questionnaire Templates
- File Upload Forms
How to use form templates
When you find the form you are interested in you can hover your mouse to preview it or you can click Use Template to open it in form builder. Click on 'Add form element' to start customizing your form the way you want. You can easily drag and drop several elements into your form including things such as section header, full name box, email box, address box, phone, date picker, appointment, signature, fill in the blank, product list and many more.
As for questions, you can insert various types including: Short text, long text, paragraph, dropdown, yes/no question, single choice, multiple choice, image choice, multi-line question, number, image, and many more. Additionally, you can add a File Upload box to your forms and use Captcha to secure your forms.
Your forms can also include tables, emojis, payment methods (in case you want to collect payments from respondents), and widgets. Some of the widgets you can insert into your forms include: E-signature, form calculation, take photo, Terms and Conditions, checklist, multiple text fields, dynamic textbox, image slider, inventory, YouTube, PDF embedder, Image upload preview, Adobe sign, show map location, Squire editor, barcode scanner, draw image, language picker and many more.
How to edit the settings of your form
Once you are done editing your form, click on Settings from the top bar and type in a short descriptive title and edit form options to your preference. These options include whether you want to turn on or off:
- Form Warnings: 'Change the warning messages on your form'.
- Form Status: Lets you 'disable your form now, on a specific date, or when it reaches a certain number of submission'.
- Form Language: Choose a language for your form.
- Translations: Make your form available in different languages.
- Password protection: Set a password to limit access to your forms.
- Encrypt Form Data: Encrypt your form responses to store sensitive data securely.
- Continue Forms Later: Enable or disable autofill on your form.
How to publish your form
When you finish editing the settings of your form click on Publish at the top bar. Click on Settings to edit the privacy and permission settings of your form. You can make your form:
- Private: Only those you invite can access it.
- Public: Available to everyone.
- Company Access: Only available to people in your organization.
As for permissions, you can choose from the following options:Submit only, Submit and view later, and Submit and edit later. You have various options to share your form. You can share it using a unique generated URL, invite by email, share on social media platforms, share as a scannable QR code, and many more.
How to set up a Thank You Page
A Thank You Page is the final page your respondents see when they submit your form. "Some people use it to give a pleasing end to the experience by customizing the page. Others use it as a tool to redirect visitors to a certain page after completing the form."
There are two ways to set up a Thank You Page: You can either Show a Thank You Page, or Redirect to external link. Jotform provides a default Thank You Page which you can customize the way you want. To access it, click on Settings, then select Thank You Page and follow the instructions there.
How-to Video tutorials:
Here are some useful video tutorials to help you learn more about the different features provided by Jotform:
- How To Create Your First Web Form
- How to add a Multiple File Upload Field to a Form
- How to position form fields in Jotform
- How to insert two or more columns in a form
- How to add an email confirmation field to a form
- Jotform Multilingual Forms and Translation
- How to display a PDF on an online form
- How to enable encryption in Jotform
- Adding a Captcha to your Form
- Change "Thank You" Page
Jotform subscription plans
Jotform offers four subscription types: a free one with limited features (5 forms, 100 monthly submissions, 100 MB space, 1000 monthly form views, 500 total submission storage, and Jotform branding), the premium plans: Broze, Silver, and Gold offer more features.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
