# Build your first form Build a short Site Visit Report from a blank page: job details, a section, six questions with two rules, a test run, then save, download and import it into ServiceM8. This guide builds a short **Site Visit Report** from a blank page. It takes about 15 minutes. Each step uses a part of the window from [Find your way around](https://workm8consulting.com/help/form-designer/find-your-way-around). Want a head start? Press **New**, then **Starter templates**, and pick one of the eight ready-made forms. Each one is complete, and you can change any part of it. ## 1. Start a blank page Press **New** in the top bar. Form Designer asks how to start. Pick **Blank page**. The page says **Your page is empty**. ## 2. Name the form In the top bar, type the **Form name**: `Site Visit Report`. Then type a short **Badge**: `SVR`. ## 3. Add a heading and the job details 1. In the list on the left, click **Heading** (in the Layout group). On the right, type `Site Visit Report` in **Text**. 2. Open the **ServiceM8** group and click these details, one after another: **Client name** (under Client), **Job address (one line)** and **Job number** (under Jobs), and **Today's date** (under Job dates). 3. Each detail shows a label and a field in «» marks. On the right, change the **Label** to a short word, for example `Client`. ServiceM8 fills these in from the job. Nobody has to type them. ## 4. Add a section Click **Section** in the Layout group. On the right, type `The work` in **Title**. The title prints as a coloured bar. A section holds items together. While the section is picked, the questions you click go inside it. Their names then start with the section's name, for example **The work - Work carried out**. ## 5. Add your questions Click the section to pick it. Then, in the **Questions** group, click **Text (Multi-Line)**. On the right, type the question: `Work carried out`. Tick **Mandatory**, so it must be answered. The parts of a question: - **Question**: what the technician is asked. The same words print on the PDF. - **Field code**: where ServiceM8 puts the answer. Form Designer makes it for you. - **Additional details**: a line shown under the question while the form is filled in. - **Mandatory**: the question must be answered. - **Question type**: change the type at any time. - **Hidden (not printed)**: asked, but left off the PDF. - **Ask only when**: the rules for this question (step 6). - **Layout on the page**: the label beside the answer, above it, or no label. The question on the page has a toolbar on its top edge, to move, duplicate or delete it. Now pick the section again and add two more questions: 1. **Yes / No (Multiple Choice)**: `Job fully completed`. Its answers are already **YES** and **NO**. 2. **Multiple Choice**: `Reason not finished`. Under **Choices**, change **Option 1** to `Waiting on parts` and **Option 2** to `Client not home`. Press **Add** and type `Other`. A choice question holds up to 10 answers. That is the most ServiceM8 takes. ## 6. Ask a question only when it applies **Reason not finished** only makes sense when the job is not finished. Give it a rule. 1. Pick **Reason not finished**. On the right, open **Ask only when**. 2. Press **Add a rule**. 3. Set **Question** to **The work - Job fully completed**, then **is**, then **NO**. The grey line shows how ServiceM8 stores the rule: **Skip Question If**. You don't need to think about it: write the rule as "show this when". Add one more question in the section, **Text**: `Please describe`, with the rule **Reason not finished** **is** **Other**. Good to know: - A rule can only use a question **above** it. - A question holds up to 3 rules. With two or more, choose **All rules are true** or **Any rule is true**. - A section, and a row of a table, can have rules too. Then everything inside follows the rule. ## 7. Add a photo and a signature Pick the section and add **Photo**: `Photo of the work`. Then press **Esc**, so nothing is picked, and add **Signature**: `Customer signature`. It goes at the end of the page, outside the section. ## 8. Check the logic Click **Questions** in the dock. Every question shows in the order it is asked. The **Logic check** line looks at every rule. Click it to see what it found. Here it says that **Reason not finished** still prints its label when it is skipped. That is fine for this form. To hide the label too, put the question in a section or a table row with the same rule, or make it **Hidden (not printed)**. ## 9. Try it, as the technician Click **Preview** in the dock, then **Run the form** on the left. Answer each question as the technician would. Answer **YES** to **Job fully completed**, and **Reason not finished** is skipped. The page in the middle fills in as you go. The **Workflow** tab on the right shows the path: what was asked and what was skipped. ## 10. Save it Press **Save** in the top bar, then **Save** in the box. The design is kept in **My forms**, in your own ServiceM8 account, with its earlier versions. Open it again any time with **Open**. ## 11. Download it and import it into ServiceM8 Press **Download** in the top bar. Form Designer builds the form file. Press **Download** to save the file on your computer. Then import it into ServiceM8: 1. In ServiceM8, go to **Settings**, then **Forms**. 2. Press **Import Form**. 3. Press **Select**, pick the file, then press **Import Form**. The file name ends in **.locked.sm8f**. On the Standard plan every form is protected: it can't be changed or exported inside ServiceM8, and it prints only in your own ServiceM8 account. To change it, open it in Form Designer, change it, download it and import it again. **Before you use it for real**, fill in the form on a test job and look at the PDF. ServiceM8 makes its own PDF, and a line can wrap a little differently from the Preview. Next: [Bring in a form you already use](https://workm8consulting.com/help/form-designer/bring-in-your-form). --- Form Designer guide 2 of 3. Source: https://workm8consulting.com/help/form-designer/your-first-form