Understanding forms embedded in pages | Zoho Creator Help

Understanding forms embedded in pages

In a nutshell
Forms can be embedded in a Zoho Creator page to allow users to submit data directly from a centralized and interactive dashboard. It also enables cross-application data submission, which unifies multiple applications within the same account to promote integrated business.
Availability
  1. Forms can be embedded in pages in all plans of Creator.
  2. Only the super admin, admins, and developers can embed and manage forms in pages.

1. Overview

Embedding Creator forms within a Page component allows users to fill and submit data directly from a centralized dashboard. Other page elements on the page, such as panels or charts, might also contribute context, which helps users correlate data and add records in the embedded form accordingly. 
Additionally, cross-application data submission is supported by enabling forms from other relevant applications within your Creator account to be embedded. Data submitted through these embedded forms is automatically updated and reflected in all associated reports.
In Zoho Creator, a form can be embedded through two layouts, either as it is, or as a CTA button that opens the form:
  1. Embed as form
    The target form will be directly embedded and displayed within the page. Users can view and fill out the form inline without navigating to a different screen.

    While embedding a form as it is on a page, you can configure the following:
    1. Success message - The toaster message that appears once a record is submitted through the embedded form.
    2. Submit button text - The label of the submission CTA for the embedded form.
    3. Reset button text - The label of the refresh CTA for the embedded form. This button removed all the field inputs.
    4. Redirect to - Upon form submission, the end-user can be redirected to any form, report, or page within the Creator account or to another website's URL.
    5. Allow public access - If the embedded form is on a published page, it will be displayed only if Allow public access is enabled for it, given the form is also published. Upon enabling, non-Zoho users can submit data through the embedded form from the live mode of this published page.
Notes
Note:
  1. Regardless of Allow public access being enabled, the form needs to first be published from the Operations module for it to appear on the published page.
  2. By default, Allow public access will be disabled.
These embedded forms can be auto-filled on load of a page, which adds a layer of personalization and relevance. The default field values can be specified while configuring the element.
Notes
Note: Form fields that are not supported for auto-filling when the embedded form loads are Auto Number, QR/Barcode, Add Notes, and Section.
  1. Embed as button
    The target form will be opened as a popup, in the same window, or another one when a button is clicked. This keeps the page clean while still allowing quick form access.

    If a form is embedded as a button, it acts as a panel with a button element in it. It works as an interactive element that can initiate or perform the action of opening a Creator form component. The display, action, and style properties for the button can be configured accordingly, and text or image panel elements can be added to give more context. To learn more about the button as a panel element, check out the Understanding panels page.

1.1. Use cases

1. Say a company uses two Zoho Creator apps, Employee Portal (App A) for daily employee interaction and HR Management (App B) for handling HR operations. To simplify access, the Leave Request form from App B is embedded in App A’s dashboard. This allows employees to submit leave requests without switching applications, enhancing usability. When the form loads, fields like Employee Name and Email are auto-filled using page variables or Deluge functions based on the logged-in user. The submitted data is stored directly in the form situated originally in App B, where HR approvals and leave tracking are handled.

1.2. Navigation guide

After you've created a page in the edit mode of your application, you can find the form element on the left pane of the page builder. When Form is clicked, the layouts of embedding a form are displayed alongside, from which you can drag and drop the desired one onto the building space.

  1. Embedding a form in a page
  2. Understanding pages
What's next
Previous
What's next
Learn the steps to embed Creator forms in pages.
Previous
Learn about the search element which can filter records directly from report, or from the embedded report, on a page.