The form builder starts from what you need to know, not from input boxes. Every question you add already knows where its answer is stored in your Beehive, so you don’t map fields once the form is built.

For the input types a question can use, see Form field types. To change a form that is already live, see Edit a published form.

Open the forms list

Click Engage in the sidebar to see all your forms. Each form shows its name, status (Draft, Published, or Archived), and what it records. Use Submissions to review its responses. Creating/editing forms and reading submissions require separate access permissions.

Create a form

1. Click New Form.

2. On What is this form for?, pick the closest fit:

   Starting point	What the form starts by asking
   Blank form	Nothing. You choose every question yourself
   Recruit regular givers	Name, email, postal address, a monthly amount, Gift Aid and marketing permission
   Take donations	A one-off gift, with the amount up to the supporter and Gift Aid offered
   Sign up volunteers	Name, email, phone, and a message
   Take event bookings	Name, email, and a message you can reword for booking details
   Newsletter sign-ups	Name, email and a clear permission to email them
   Membership sign-up	Personal details, postal address and an annual payment
   Contact us / enquiry	Name, email and their message, logged on their timeline
   Update supporter details	Name, email, address, and permission questions; contact matching uses the submitted email

3. Click Continue with (your choice). The form is created as a draft and opens in the builder.

Form starting points lists the exact questions, amounts and settings each choice starts with.

The starting point only decides what the form begins with. You can change everything afterwards. These are question presets: Take event bookings does not create a booking in Events, and Membership sign-up does not issue a Memberships record. Check What gets recorded for the records your form will actually create.

The donations preset offers Gift Aid but does not initially ask for an address; add the address before publishing. Consent presets still need you to choose your organisation’s purposes. The regular-giver preset offers both Card and Direct Debit, so either complete both provider connections or remove the method you will not use.

Find your way around the builder

• Across the top: the form’s name, its status, and the Save draft and Publish buttons. Once a form is published you also get Embed and Archive.
• Five panes: Questions, Money, Permission, Style and After submission. Money and Permission can show an amber dot for unresolved setup; the Publish dialog lists the full set of checks.
• On the right: a live preview. It uses the same renderer as the published form and updates as you edit.

Note: Your content edits stay in the builder until Save draft succeeds or you confirm publication in the Publish dialog. Opening that dialog alone does not save. Renaming the form is saved separately. If you leave before saving, unsaved content edits are lost.

Name the form

Click the form’s name at the top of the builder to rename it. The name identifies the form in the forms list and is normally its public heading. Older forms with a separate title show that title instead. Renaming does not change an existing web address.

Choose what the form asks (Questions)

To add questions:

1. Click Choose what you need to know (on an empty form) or Add something you need to know.
2. In What do you need to know?, search (try “birthday” or “where they work”) or browse the groups: About the person, How to reach them, Where they work or volunteer, About this interaction, The gift, and Permission. Suggested for this form lists the likely next choices, and anything already on the form is marked Already asked.
3. Tick everything you want and click Add to the form.

Some choices add more than one box. Their name adds first and last name, and Where they live adds a single address block of four boxes.

The list only offers things your Beehive can store, so no answer gets collected and thrown away. Custom fields aren’t offered yet, because form submissions can’t be written to them.

To change a question: click it. The side panel lets you set:

• What you’re asking: the wording the supporter reads. Change it to sound like you.
• Placeholder: faint example text inside the box (optional).
• Options: for a dropdown, one option per line, in the order they appear.
• Must be answered: whether the supporter has to fill it in.
• Where the answer goes: the record and field the answer is written to. Each field can only be fed by one question, so fields already in use aren’t offered again.

Each question also shows where its answer goes as a label on the question. Click the label to change it.

To reorder a question: drag it by the grip handle on its left. From the keyboard, focus the handle, press Space or Enter to pick the question up, move it with the arrow keys, and press Space or Enter to drop it (Escape cancels). You can also select the question and press Alt ↑ / Alt ↓, or use Move up / Move down in its More actions menu.

To copy or remove a question: use the More actions menu on the question.

• Duplicate: the copy keeps the wording but has nowhere to put its answer yet, because two questions writing to the same field would overwrite each other. Choose where it goes before you publish. You can’t duplicate the gift or the permission tick box.
• Remove.

Tip: A question that says No home yet has nowhere to put its answer. The form can’t be published until you give it a destination or remove it.

Take money (Money)

Click Take a gift on this form to add a gift, then answer How much?, How often? and How can they pay? Card payments go through Stripe and Direct Debit through GoCardless. You can tick Offer Gift Aid and show gift handles instead of plain amounts. See Take card and Direct Debit payments on a form.

Ask for permission (Permission)

Click Ask for permission on this form, then choose your consent purposes, the channels, and whether the supporter ticks a box or the decision is recorded for everyone who submits. An unticked box records no, which can change an existing supporter’s permission. See Ask for permission to contact supporters.

Style the form (Style)

Set colours, fonts, corner shape, a logo, a background image and custom CSS, or use Extract from site to copy them from your website. See Style a form to match your website.

Choose what happens after submission (After submission)

Choose Show a thank-you or Send them to a page, and check What gets recorded, the summary of what each submission creates. See Choose what happens after someone submits.

Publish

1. Click Publish to open the checks dialog. This doesn’t yet save or publish the form.
2. Fix anything listed. Publish checks explains each message and how to resolve it.
3. Click Publish and get the embed code. This saves the draft, then publishes it.

If Could not save appears, nothing was saved or published: stay on the page and retry. If Could not publish appears, your changes are saved but not live: retry Publish.

Embed, share or archive the form

Once published, click Embed for an iFrame embed snippet or a Standalone URL. Archive takes the form offline immediately, with no confirmation, and can’t be undone. See Embed or share a form.