Create and share a custom form

Workfront provides commonly used fields such as project title, task due date, request description, etc. However, there’s always information unique to an organization and the work being done that need to be captured, collected in a report, and analyzed. That’s where custom forms can help. A custom form is a page where custom data is collected for objects and Workfront. They’re most commonly attached to issues are requests and projects.

Once those fields are filledin electronically, that data can easily be shared and analyzed to know what’s going on with the work being done or that needs to be done.

Custom forms are created and managed through the Custom Forms section in the Setup area. If you don’t see this in your Setup area and need to have access to create them, contact your administrator.

In this section, you’ll see custom forms you created, and you may also see forms created by other permissioned Workfront users.

Before creating any new custom forms, it’s always useful to look at what’s already there to see if what we need is already listed.

If you find a form that has the basic information you’re looking for, but you want to make some modifications for your team or departments needs, you can copy the form and adjust where needed. This way you don’t have to start from scratch. You just need to make sure to distinguish which form is yours by renaming it.

However, if you don’t find what you’re looking for, you can create a new custom form.

To do that, click New Custom form.

Then select the objects you want to be able to attach this custom form to. All the fields you add to this form will be available to any of the selected objects when the custom form is attached to them. This is especially useful if your organization converts issues or requests into projects because it allows field information to be transferred from one object to another, as long as the form is attached to both objects.

Once selected, hit Continue.

Give the custom form a name. Then go to the panel on the left to start adding fields to your custom form. First and foremost, check if the field you want is already in the system through the field library. Because if the field already exists, it saves you time.

For instance, the team using this form needs to know what asset type is needed. Like a graphic, a video, an image, etc. To see if that field has already been created, enter “Type” in the field library search box and any field with that word in the name appears. Click on the name of the field to add it to your form, and see if it’s something you can use.

If it’s not, click the “X” to remove it from your form.

As a recommendation, try to add fields in the order you’d like to see them. Although you can reorder them at any point by dragging and dropping, it’ll be less work for you if you add them in order, especially if your custom form is a little bit longer.

Now, if you can’t find what you’re looking for, create your own. And remember any new field you create will be available for you and others to use on forms moving forward.

When creating a new field, you have several options and the type you pick depends on the type of information you want to gather and report on.

The most commonly used fields are text, dropdown, checkbox and radio buttons.

Dropdown fields are the most used because they’re simple to create. Provide users with predetermined options, and are easy to report on. As a note, Typeahead fields are like dropdowns, except the available options come from objects already in the system. For example, you want to know what organization or department the budget for this asset is coming from. Instead of creating a dropdown menu where you need to add each group manually, you can use the Typeahead field to pull from a list of groups already entered in Workfront. Text fields are a free form field and allow for explanations, addresses, additional details, etc.

Checkboxes let users check multiple options, while radio buttons only allow one choice.

Now let’s say you want to create a target audience field so users can specify who the asset is for. Although a text field could be used, it may be better to use a dropdown menu with predetermined choices.

Let’s create a target audience field using the dropdown field. To do that, select Dropdown.

Then enter the name of the field.

You’ll notice there are two spots Label and Name. Label is what appears on the custom form for everyone to see.

Name is what is used for API connections and creating calculated fields. When you enter the label, the name field is also filled in. However, if those two need to be different, you can change it.

Now, although it’s not required. It’s useful to include instructions to help users understand what information should be entered or selected in the field. It shows up on the form as a question mark the users can hover over. The system, by default, only gives two spots for choices, but you can, of course, add more to the list one at a time.

And finally, you need to determine if you want to make this a required field. By checking that box, this makes the field required, and users cannot bypass or save the form until this is filled in.

At this point, the field is automatically added to the form. It will also be added to the field library after the entire custom form has been saved in the system.

Now let’s go ahead and add a paragraph field by either clicking on the field type or dragging and dropping it into the space on the right.

Fill out the basic information for the field like label, name and instructions.

Now here is where format and type have a larger role within the field. Format tells the system how information should be entered into the field and displayed. Type allows you to change the type of field you’re currently creating or editing. Being able to switch this option is useful if you find that more space is needed, options need to be displayed differently, or you just selected the wrong type. You can change this at any point, and the options that show depend on the type of field you were originally creating. With a text field, you can also choose the size of the field from small to large.

Now let’s go ahead and quickly add a few additional fields to our form before previewing and then saving.

Now that I have a few fields on my form, I’m going to go ahead and preview the form to see what it looks like so far. To do that, click Preview and then go through the form as if you were actually filling it out.

When you’re done, click End preview” which will take you back to the form builder. From here, make any changes needed.

Now, before we save the form, let’s determine who can have access to and see your custom form.

To do that, click Share.

By default, the custom form is shared with everyone in the system, which is fine if this was created for anyone using your instance of Workfront. However, if this form was created for a specific team or department to use, we need to select Only invited people can access. Once that’s selected, enter the names of the people, roles, groups and or organizations that should have access to use this form.

At this point, if you’re satisfied with your custom form and who has access to it, click Save and close.

The form appears in the list of custom forms in the system, and can be applied to any of the objects selected during creation.