How to Build & Send Forms

Forms let you collect structured information from clients and leads: onboarding questionnaires, intake forms, discovery surveys, feedback requests, and more. Build them visually, fill them in together during a call, send them to clients for completion, and have every response flow straight back into your CRM.

Public vs Private Forms

Every form template has one setting that controls how its submissions behave: Public or Private. Get this right first, because it changes everything downstream.

• Private (the default). The form is sent to a specific person via a secure email link or PIN. Each submission is tied to an existing opportunity, and the form pre-fills with that opportunity's current contact, company, and opportunity values (into empty fields only, and never overwrites what has already been entered). Submitting writes the answers back to the linked record. Use private forms for onboarding questionnaires, intake forms, and anything where you already know who you are collecting information from.
• Public. The form gets a hosted URL that anyone can open without an invitation. Every submission creates a brand new opportunity in your CRM. Use public forms on your website, in campaigns, or anywhere you are collecting from people you have not yet met.

The simplest way to remember it: private = update the person you already know, public = collect a new person.

Switch a form between modes at any time from the Settings tab in the form builder at https://app.trustpager.com/operations/forms. Flipping the Make this form public toggle on automatically adds a required Email field if one is not already present (so every submission can be matched to or create a contact), and the Send button on the toolbar becomes Generate Link.

Field Types

Open the form builder at https://app.trustpager.com/operations/forms and click New Form. The field panel on the right lists every field type under small group headings; click a field to add it to the form. To find one quickly, type in the Search fields box at the top of the panel (for example "sign", "dropdown" or "upload"). Fields are grouped as follows.

Basic

• Text: a single-line text input. General-purpose.
• Long Text: a multi-line textarea. Good for notes, descriptions, and open-ended questions.
• Number: accepts numeric input only.
• Date: a date picker.
• Email: validates email format as the person types. Comes pre-wired to save to the contact's email address on submit.
• Phone: validates and formats Australian phone numbers (+61) as the person types. Comes pre-wired to save to the contact's phone number on submit.
• Website / URL: validates a web address as the person types. Comes pre-wired to save to the linked company's website field on submit.
• Currency (AUD): a dollar amount input with decimal support. Accepts optional minimum and maximum values. Formatted to AUD.

Choice

• Dropdown: a single-select list of options you define.
• Checkboxes: multi-select options.
• Radio Buttons: single-select options displayed inline.
• Rating: a star or numeric rating scale. You set the upper limit (for example, 5 stars or 10 points). Good for feedback and satisfaction forms.

Advanced

• File Upload: lets the person attach one or more files. Files are stored in your workspace and linked to the opportunity.
• Spreadsheet: a multi-row grid inside the form. The form-filler can add rows and edit cells. Completed grids are saved as a Standalone Spreadsheet linked to the opportunity. See https://trustpager.com/help-center/standalone-spreadsheets for details on Spreadsheet templates.
• Address: a structured address block (street, suburb, state, postcode).
• Consent: a required tick-box the person must check before submitting. You can add a label and an optional link to your terms or privacy page. Use this on any lead-capture form where you need explicit consent on record.
• Signature: a signature pad where the person draws their signature (or types their name as a signature, like document signing). Mark it required so the form cannot be submitted unsigned. It works on public, embedded, emailed and portal forms. The signature is saved as an image with the submission: it shows on the submission page, in the submission PDF, and the answer reads "Signed". Each submission also records the date, IP address and browser it was signed from. Use it for self-serve agreements, waivers and consent forms that do not need a separate document sent for signing.
• ABN: validates an 11-digit Australian Business Number as the person types. Comes pre-wired to save to the linked company's ABN / Tax Number field on submit.
• Content Block: a read-only text or HTML block. Use it to add instructions, headings, or context between fields.

Drag fields to reorder them. Select any field to open its editor panel on the right and configure the label, placeholder text, whether the field is required, CRM Variable Injection settings, and conditional visibility rules.

Attaching a Form to an Opportunity

Private forms operate on a per-opportunity basis. When a form is opened for a specific opportunity, TrustPager creates a single shared submission row that both you and your client work from. This is the collaborative singleton model: there is one submission per form-per-opportunity, not a separate submission per send.

To attach a form to an opportunity, open the opportunity, find the Forms section in the right-side panel, and select a form template. The form opens already attached to that opportunity.

Once attached, the form shows in the Forms section of the opportunity record. Clicking the row always opens the form builder for that opportunity, not a read-only response viewer.

The Spreadsheet Field Type

The Spreadsheet field lets a form-filler populate a multi-row grid directly inside the form, no CSV required. It is designed for situations where the number of rows is not known in advance: bill line items, property details, staff lists, treatment plans, and so on.

When you add a Spreadsheet field to a form, you choose which Standalone Spreadsheet template it draws its column structure from. The form-filler sees a live grid: they can add rows, edit cells, and submit. The completed spreadsheet is created in your workspace and linked to the opportunity automatically on submission.

For more on creating and managing Standalone Spreadsheet templates, see https://trustpager.com/help-center/standalone-spreadsheets.

Filling a Form Together (Broker + Client Collaboration)

Private forms are designed for collaboration. Both sides work on the same submission row:

1. The broker opens the form builder during a call. The form pre-fills with the linked opportunity's contact, company, and opportunity values into any empty fields, so what TrustPager already knows is ready to review, not retype.
2. The broker clicks Send. The client receives a branded email with a secure link to the form.
3. The client opens their link and sees the broker's values already populated. They fill in the rest and submit.
4. Either side can continue editing after submission; the form never locks. The client can correct, update, or add answers via the same secure link at any time.

The Send button on the builder toolbar shows Send when the form has not been sent yet. Once sent, it flips to Sent ↗, and clicking that state opens the response detail page in a new tab.

Sending to Multiple Contacts (Shared Forms)

When an opportunity has more than one contact, for example two joint applicants, you can send the form to all of them at once. Selecting multiple recipients sends them a single shared form: there is still only one submission, and everyone reads and writes the same answers.

1. Click Send from the form builder. The Send screen shows the contacts linked to the opportunity.
2. Select all the contacts you want to invite. Each selected person gets their own secure link and their own PIN: the links are unique per person for security, but they all open the same shared submission.
3. The first person opens their link and fills in their section. When the second person opens their link, they see everything the first person entered. They fill in the rest.
4. Any of the selected contacts can submit. Once submitted, the submission is complete and shows as such in the opportunity.

This is ideal for joint applications: a couple applying together, two business partners, or any situation where the form captures information from more than one person but should produce a single combined response.

Automating Form Sends

The Send Form automation action lets you send a form automatically when something happens in your pipeline, for example when an opportunity moves into a specific stage. The action includes a Send To option: choose All Contacts to send to every contact linked to the opportunity at the time the automation fires, or target a specific role (Primary Contact, Company, Supplier) if you only need one recipient. No manual sending required.

Shared Forms via the Client Portal

When multiple portal members are linked to the same opportunity, they automatically collaborate on one shared form, with no setup required on your side. TrustPager finds or creates the shared submission automatically when any portal member opens the form. Each member accesses it with their own portal login, sees the same answers, and can contribute or submit.

Portal members filling a private form see the same CRM pre-fill behaviour as the broker view: the linked opportunity's contact, company, and opportunity values are loaded into empty fields automatically when the form opens.

Autosave

Every field saves automatically as you type. The toolbar shows a Saved X seconds ago indicator so you always know the form is up to date. There is no manual Save button: just fill in the fields and move on.

When you send a form, the person's answers also save as they type, so they can leave and come back to it later. Those answers only reach your CRM when they press Submit, so a half-finished form never changes a contact, company or opportunity. When a team member fills in a form on the opportunity themselves, their answers save to the CRM as they type.

CRM Variable Injection

Each field in the form builder has a CRM Variable Injection section in its editor panel. It has two separate controls.

Save to CRM (write direction)

When enabled, the field's answer is written back to a CRM field on submit. Open CRM Variable Injection on any field and pick the CRM field from the Save to CRM dropdown (for example, "Contact: Email", "Company: ABN / Tax Number", "Opportunity: Value"). Then choose the write mode:

• Write if empty: writes the answer only when the CRM field is currently blank.
• Always overwrite: replaces the existing CRM value with whatever the person entered.

Save to CRM works on both public and private forms. On public forms it is how the newly created contact and opportunity get populated from the submission. The Email, Phone, Website/URL, and ABN field types come with Save to CRM pre-configured (Contact: Email, Contact: Phone, Company: Website, Company: ABN / Tax Number respectively); you can change these mappings in the field editor if needed.

When the opportunity has no company

If a form saves answers to the company (for example "Company: Name" or "Company: ABN / Tax Number") and the opportunity has no company linked yet, submitting the form finds the company for you: first by its ABN or ACN, then by its exact name. If there is no match, it creates the company from the name on the form. The company is then linked to the opportunity and its contact, and the answers are saved to it. A company that is already linked to the opportunity is never replaced.

If the form has company answers but no company name to create one from, nothing is created and a note on the opportunity says the company answers were not saved. The answers are still on the form submission.

Saving answers to another person on the opportunity

"Contact" fields always save to the opportunity's main contact. When a form also asks about someone else, such as a company director, a partner or a second applicant, wire those questions to Another person instead. In the field's CRM Variable Injection section, open the Another person group, type their role (for example "Director") in Their role on the opportunity, and pick the field.

When the form is submitted, that person is found by their email, then their phone, or added as a new contact. They are linked to the opportunity with that role and to its company, and their answers are saved to their own contact. The main contact is never changed by these questions. Every question with the same role is the same person, and one form can have more than one role. File uploads always go to the opportunity or the main contact.

Prefill from CRM (read direction)

Available on private forms only. When toggled on (the default for mapped fields), the field is pre-filled with the linked opportunity's current value for the chosen CRM field when the form opens. This happens in the form builder, in emailed and PIN forms, and inside a Client Portal.

Prefill from CRM only fills empty fields; it never overwrites a value already entered or saved. Toggle it off on any field where you want the person to start from scratch regardless of what the CRM holds.

Public forms do not use Prefill from CRM (they are collecting from new, unknown people). Pre-filling a public form is done via prefill keys and the Generate Link button instead: see https://trustpager.com/help-center/publish-form-to-website.

Sending to a Client

Click Send on the builder toolbar to dispatch the form invitation. The client receives a branded email from your workspace with a secure link.

The client can open their link, fill in the form, and submit, and then continue editing via the same link if anything changes. There is no one-time-only submission gate.

Sending a Form Again

Because there is one submission per form per opportunity, sending the same form again on the same opportunity reuses that submission: the person gets a new link and PIN, and by default their previous answers are still filled in. That is what you want when someone needs to finish or update a form.

For a form that asks for a fresh decision each time, such as approving a quote or an adjusted quote, turn on Start fresh each time this form is sent in the Sending again section of the form's Settings tab in the form builder at https://app.trustpager.com/operations/forms. Then every new send on the same opportunity:

• saves the previous answers to the opportunity's timeline as a note called Previous answers replaced, so you keep a record of what was chosen before;
• clears the answers, so the form opens blank and nothing is pre-selected;
• stops any old links from opening the form, including co-applicant links that were not sent again.

The setting applies however the form is sent: the Send button, the Send Form automation action, or the API. The Resend option on an existing submission (for when someone lost the email) never clears answers.

Sensitive Answers

For questions such as a tax file number or a licence number, select the field and turn on Sensitive in its settings panel (Text and Long Text fields). A field that fills a Sensitive CRM field is Sensitive automatically. The person types into a hidden box, the answer is stored encrypted, and the submission, its PDF, notification emails, automations and webhooks only ever see a masked copy like ••••••782. Admins can reveal it from the submission page. See https://trustpager.com/help-center/sensitive-fields for the full details.

Viewing Submissions

Completed submissions appear in three places: the form's submissions list at https://app.trustpager.com/operations/forms, the contact's activity timeline, and the Forms section of the linked opportunity. Opening any submission row on the opportunity takes you back into the form builder, not a read-only view. The response detail page includes an Edit button that jumps back into the form builder for continued editing.

Tip: Forms can trigger automations on submission. For example, when a client completes an onboarding form, automatically create a task for your team, send a confirmation email, and move the opportunity to the next stage.