Creating a New Capture Form

Actionstep Capture helps you collect and manage prospect, client, and matter information through forms, which you can either send directly to clients or post on your website to gather information from prospective clients.

With Capture, you can create a library of forms that are specifically tailored to you and your clients’ needs. Each field in a form is mapped to a corresponding data field in Actionstep. Your clients can then manage their forms using a single link, which reduces the number of sign-ins needed to complete each form individually. 

Once clients submit their forms, you can view the data and instantly sync it with Actionstep. This means that you can easily add contacts to your system, assign them to a matter, and update custom data fields.

This article covers the form creation process in five parts:

• Part 1: Setting Up a Form
• Part 2: Setting Up a Contact Section on a Form
• Part 3: Setting Up a Data Collection Section on a Form
• Part 4: Setting Up a File Collection Section on a Form
• Part 5: Finalizing Your Form

NOTE:  As you build your form, it helps to understand how and where the different components of the form will be used once it's published. The following image shows this. (Click the image to enlarge it.) This example shows a webform, but also applies to a regular intake form.

Part 1: Setting Up a Form

1. In Actionstep, click More > Capture in the main menu and choose Form Builder. The Forms list page appears. 
2. Click Create Form. The Create Form page appears.
3. Enter the following general information about the form:
   • Enter a form Name.
   • Optionally, enter a Description. The description is displayed under the form name in the intake interview. 
   • Click in the Matter type field and choose the matter type the form will be associated with. Capture forms can be associated with only one specific matter type.
4. Proceed to Part 2, where you will set up your contact fields.

Part 2: Setting Up a Contact Section on a Form

The primary component of a Capture form collects contact or participant information. This section covers how to choose the contact information you want to capture in the intake form. 

To do this:

1. On the Create Form page, click Add Contact. A section for Contact fields is added to the page.
2. Click the Contact Type field and choose the participant type that you want to gather information about. 
3. Enter a Name for this section of the form. For example, if you’re asking for information about beneficiaries, you might enter Beneficiary Information.
4. Optionally, in the Description field, enter additional information or instructions that might help clients as they complete this section of the form. 
5. Select Allow Multiple if you want to allow clients to enter more than one set of answers. For example, if you’re creating a list of beneficiaries, selecting this option lets users enter more than just one. (When you select this option, each participant entered in this section will create a new system contact in Actionstep, as well.)
6. In the field table, click the Mapping field and select the Actionstep field you want included in the form. (The available fields depend on your matter type. If a field is missing, create it in Actionstep first.)
7. Enter a Label for the field. This is the text users will see associated with the field in the form. 
8. Enter additional information or instructions in the Help Text field. 
9. Choose whether the user must answer the field before they can submit it by selecting Required.
   
   A Contact section used to collect a list of beneficiaries might look like this:
10. Click Add Field to add fields to the section. 
11. Once all of the contact fields are added, proceed to Part 3 where you can add data collections to the form. 

TIP:  You can change the order of fields by clicking move icon for the field and dragging it to its new location.

Part 3: Setting Up a Data Collection Section on a Form

In addition to contact or participant information, you can collect other types of information on a form. This section covers how to link your data collections to a form.

To do this:

1. On the Create Form page, click Add Collection (located below the Contact section). A section for Collection fields is added to the page. 
2. Click the Collection Type field and choose the data collection you want to gather information for. 
3. Enter a Name for this section. For example, if you’re asking for information about assets, you might enter Assets.
4. Optionally, enter additional information or instructions that might help clients as they complete this section of the form in the Description field. 
5. If your data collection is set up as "multi-row", select Allow Multiple to allow clients to enter more than one set of answers. 
6. In the field table, click the Mapping field and select the Actionstep field you want included in the form. (The available fields depend on your matter type. If a field is missing, create it in Actionstep first.)
7. Enter a Label for the field. This is the text users will see associated with the field in the form. 
8. Enter additional information or instructions in the Help Text field. 
9. Choose whether the user must answer the field before they can submit it by selecting Required.
   
   A Data Collection section might look like this:
   
10. If needed, click Add Field to add more fields to the section. 
11. Once your data collections are set up, proceed to Part 4, where you can set up a section on the form where clients can upload files you might need to collect from them.

Part 4: Setting Up a File Collection Section on a Form

You can include a section on your Capture form that allows clients to submit documents or other files.

To do this:

1. On the Create Form page, click Add File Collection. A section for File Collection fields is added to the page. 
2. Enter a name for the section in the Name field.
3. Optionally, enter additional information or instructions that might help clients as they complete this section of the form in both the Description and Help text fields. 
4. Click the Allowed File Types field and choose the type of file you want users to upload. You can select All if users can add any of the file types in the list.
5. Click the Folder ID field and choose where in the associated matter’s Document section the file will be uploaded to. 
6. Select File Upload Required to ensure clients provide the documentation before they submit the form.
7. Select Allow Multiple File Upload to allow clients to upload and send multiple documents when they submit the form.
   
   A File Collection section might look like this:
   
8. Once this section is complete, proceed to Part 5, where you will finalize your Capture form.

Part 5: Finalizing Your Form

Once a form is published, you can’t make changes to it unless you unpublish it. To minimize some of this churn, it’s recommended you perform a final review before publishing. 

To do this:

1. Review the form:
   • Make sure your sections are in the right order. To move a section in the form (and not just the fields in the section), click the section name/tab and drag it to the new location. 
   • Verify that all fields are listed in the correct order in their sections. (See the note in Part 2 for more information on moving fields.)
   • Verify that all required fields are marked as such. 
   • Review all field labels and help text to make sure you’ve provided enough information for the user or client to quickly and accurately complete the form.
2. Once you are ready to save your work, click Create Form. The form is created and added to the list of forms. 

Once created, you are returned to the Forms page. You can use the options in the Action column for the form to complete additional tasks, like Edit, Preview, Publish, or Remove the form.