# Bring in a form you already use

Open a form you already use in ServiceM8: what comes in, how to compare it, Tidy a converted form and Apply a look, then download it and import it again.

You don't have to start again. Open a form you already use, and its questions, its rules and its Word layout come in. Then tidy the page, give it a new look, and import it again.

The questions keep their names, so their field codes stay the same.

## 1. Export the form from ServiceM8

1. In ServiceM8, go to **Settings**, then **Forms**.
2. Press **Open Form** on the form you want.
3. In the **Modify Form** box, press **Export Form** at the bottom left, and save the file on your computer.
4. Press **Close**. Don't press Save: nothing in ServiceM8 needs to change.

A form from the ServiceM8 Form Store can't be opened in Form Designer. See the end of this guide.

## 2. Open it in Form Designer

Press **Open** in the top bar. The **My forms** box shows the forms you saved, and an **Open…** button for a file on your computer.

Press **Open…** and pick the .sm8f file.

If a form is on the page already, Form Designer asks first. Press **Save** before, if you want to keep the form on the page.

Press **Open it**.

## 3. Read what came in

The **Form opened** box says what came in, and what to check.

- A form made in Form Designer comes back complete: the layout, the questions, the rules and the pictures.
- Any other form: the questions and their rules come in, and the page is rebuilt from the old Word file **as well as it could be**.
- The **Please check** list names anything that needs a look. In this example, the old Word file had field codes that no question fills. They always printed empty, so they were left out.

## 4. Compare it in Preview

Look at the page in **Layout**, then click **Preview** in the dock. Put the old PDF beside it and compare them.

## 5. Tidy the page

On the right, under **Form settings**, press **Tidy a converted form…**.

It offers up to five changes. Each one says how many items it would change:

- **Job details table**: job detail lines become one tidy table.
- **Add a job details table**: when the form has none, it adds Client, Site address, Job number, Completed by and Date under the title.
- **Questions into tables**: labels and answers become table rows.
- **Yes / No into ticks**: Yes/No and Pass/Fail answers print as a tick, a cross or a dash.
- **Section title bars**: groups of questions become sections with a coloured title bar.

A change with **Nothing to change** is greyed out. Only the printed page changes: the questions, their order and their rules stay as they are. **Undo** takes it all back.

Press **Tidy**.

## 6. Give it a look

Press **Apply a look…** and pick one of the eight starter looks. Form Designer asks what to copy: **Colours and table style**, **Font, text size and margins**, and **Header and footer**.

The questions, the rules and the body of the page stay as they are. Use the same look on all your forms, and they all match.

## 7. Save, download and import it

As in [Build your first form](https://workm8consulting.com/help/form-designer/your-first-form), steps 10 and 11:

1. Press **Save** to keep the design in My forms.
2. Press **Download**, then **Download** in the box.
3. In ServiceM8, go to **Settings**, then **Forms**, press **Import Form** and pick the file.
4. Fill in the new form on a test job and check the PDF before you use it for real.

## Forms that can't be opened

Some forms are locked so that only the business that made them can change them. Form Designer can't open those.

- A form locked outside Form Designer, for example a form from the ServiceM8 Form Store.
- A form that another business made in Form Designer.
- A file over 4 MB.

If a form you need won't open, ask the business that made it for a copy you can change.

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Form Designer guide 3 of 3. Source: https://workm8consulting.com/help/form-designer/bring-in-your-form