Field Types | Field Properties - Zoho Forms

Field Properties

Table of Contents
  1. Overview
  2. Dynamic Field Labels
  3. Rename Uploaded Files
  4. Assign Values to Choices
  5. Import Choices
  6. Group Choices
  7. Choice Availability
  8. Scanner Input - Web Browser
  9. Scanner Input - Mobile App

Overview


You can set the properties to customize each field added to your form. To do so, click the field on your form builder. Under Properties, you can add or modify the following field properties:

  • Field Label                
    A field label denotes the name for a field in the live form. It is also used while configuring formulas, integrations, conditional workflows, and more while building a form. You can also customize field labels to improve the form-filling experience for your respondents.  
    To make a form field name clear, ensure it is concise, and directly reflects the information being requested.

    Field Label


    To change the position of the field label in your form,

    • Click your Form Title to access the Form Properties. 

    • Under Label Placement, select if you want the field labels in your form to be placed at the top, to the left, or to the right of the fields.

      Field Label placement

Hiding a Field Label
You can choose to hide the Field Label by selecting the Hide Field Label option for the following fields:
Single Line, Multi Line, Number, Decimal, Phone, Name, Address, Currency, Date, Date-Time, Email, Website, Dropdown, Terms and Conditions, Subform.
If you choose to hide a field label, it will be hidden in the following places:
  1. Live form
  2. Saved form
  3. Edit Response in live form
  4. Record edit option in All entries/Report entries/Task Entries/Approval Entries
  5. In the HTML/ HTML with CSS embed codes of the form
  6. Form Review
  7. Subform fields in the Thank You Page summary
  8. Email Notifications

  • Instructions
         You can specify the instructions or hints for a field to help your respondents fill out the form. 

    Instructions

  • Hover Text
    Hover Text displays hints or details that appears when you hover your cursor over a particular field. This helps respondents understand the information needed to fill out the field. You can provide hover text for the following fields :
    Single Line, Multi Line, Number, Decimal, Name, Address, Phone, Email, Date, Time, Date-Time, Decision Box, Dropdown, Radio, Multiple Choice, Checkbox, Website, Currency, File Upload, Image Upload, Audio/ Video Upload, Slider, Rating, Matrix Choice, Image Choices, Signature.

    hover text

    Note:  Hover Text is supported only in Card Forms. 
  • Placeholder Text
    You can provide a Placeholder Text for the following fields to provide a short hint or an example of the input required to your respondents:
    Single Line, Multi Line, Number, Decimal, Phone (International format), Name field elements, Address field elements, Currency, Date, Date-Time, Dropdown, Email, Website.

    Placeholder text


    Notes Note: If you have chosen to hide a field label, the Placeholder Text will be displayed in place of the field label (if you have given a Placeholder Text) while reviewing the form, in Email Notifications, and in the Subform fields of the Thank You Page summary.

  • Range

    For the Number, Decimal, and Currency fields, you can define a custom Range based on the responses entered in selected fields.
    To set this up,
    1. Go to the Properties pane of the field and select Values from the Format dropdown.
    2. Select the required fields for the Min and Max values by clicking the Merge icon. The input entered by a respondent in the selected fields will determine the range for that field.
      Range


      Supported fields that you can select using the merge icon to set the Range:
      Number, Decimal, Currency, Slider, Rating, Formula


    Note: Only the fields above the field for which you are configuring the Range can be selected using the merge icon.

  • Validation
    Form fields can be validated by applying certain conditions such as Mandatory, No Duplicates, Allow Negative Value, etc.

    • Mandatory: To make the field mandatory for the respondents to answer, select Mandatory.

      Mandatory fields

    • No Duplicates: To accept unique responses for a field from the same respondent, select No Duplicates.

    • Allow Negative Value: To allow respondents to submit negative values for the field, select Allow Negative Value.

Notes Note: For Name and Address fields, you can choose the field elements to be mandatory under the field Properties.

  • Visibility   
    You can choose to show, hide or disable your form fields in the live form.

  1. To hide a field from the respondents, select Hide.
  2. To restrict your respondents from entering data into a field, select Disable. 
  3. Show (default) keeps the field visible and allows respondents to enter data.   
Note: For Name and Address fields, you can click the visibility  icon to the left of a field element under Properties to remove the element from your form.

  • Privacy
    You can mark your form fields as personal or encrypt the field to protect sensitive data from misuse.

    • Select Mark as Personal to prompt users about data sensitivity when setting up certain configurations in the form. 

    • Select Encrypt to secure the sensitive data from misuse and prompt users about data sensitivity when setting up certain configurations in the form. The responses of an encrypted field will be masked while printing and downloading reports. 
      Learn more

You can choose to assign values to the choice based fields (Dropdown, Radio, Multiple Choice, and Checkbox) and group choices in the dropdown field in your form.
  1. Input Text Case
    You have the flexibility to control the visual presentation of the entered text, aligning it with the intended formatting standards for your form.

     Text Case

    Description

    Example

    User Input

    Text Case Conversion 

     System Default (-)

    Retains the original text case in which the respondents enters the text

    Service provided was good

    Service provided was good

     Upper Case (AA)

    Forces all text entered in the field to be displayed in uppercase letters

    Service provided was good

    SERVICE PROVIDED WAS GOOD

     Lower Case (aa)

    Converts all entered texts in to lowercase letters for consistent formatting

    Service provided was good

    service provided was good

     Proper Case (Aa)

    Converts the first letter of each word into uppercase while the remaining letters are in lowercase

    Service provided was good

    Service Provided Was Good

    Fields that support Input Text Cases are Single Line, Multi Line, Name, Address, Email.
NotesNote: Email field does not support Proper Case

Dynamic Field Labels

You can make personalized interactions for your respondents by customizing a field label. These customized labels will appear in the live form to your respondents. You can include another field's response within your field label and use rich text to customize it.

Dynamic field names
To do this,
  1. Click Rich Text in the top-right corner of the field label under Properties.

    Rich Text

  2. In the pop-up, you can apply the basic text formatting and include other field labels dynamically by clicking the   icon. The response for a field included within the field label will automatically appear in the live form as a respondent fills the form.
  3. Click Done.

    Dynamic Field Label Configuration


  4. A Reference Label, which acts as a field identifier, will be available under Properties. You can enter a label for the field under Reference Label and refer to this to identify the field while configuring settings, integrations, and other workflows. The reference label will not appear in the live form.

  5. You can Edit or Delete the customized field label. Upon deletion, the Reference Label will become the field label.

Note :
  1. You can include a maximum of 3 fields in a customized Field Label.
  2. A customized Field Label cannot just be a response entered from another field. It must include some additional text to complete a question.
  3. Only the field labels of the fields configured above the field for which you are customizing the label will be displayed in the Field Labels list.
  4. To avoid data abuse while collecting responses, rich text field label prefilling is not supported when the values are passed using Field Alias - Prefill URL/ Static Prefill URLs for the following field types: Name, Address, Dropdown, Radio, and Single Line.

Rename Uploaded Files

When respondents upload files to your form, the different file names they use can make it difficult for you to visually organize the files.
File uploaded in live form

To make the names look consistent and to help you organize the files better, you can use the File Name option to rename the uploaded files automatically when a respondent submits the form for the File Upload, Image Upload, and Signature fields.
To do this,
  1. Go to the field Properties of the File Upload / Image Upload / Signature field.
  2. Under File Name, give a name of your choice that can help you identify the files better. You can also merge form responses in the name using the merge icon. For example, if you want your recruitees to upload their resumes, you can give the File Name as shown.
    File Name

    If the respondent enters the name as Rebecca, the file uploaded will be renamed as Rebecca_Resume on form submission
    .
    Rename uploaded files

Note:
  1. A maximum of 50 characters can be included in the File Name beyond which the name will be trimmed.
  2. You can merge only upto 3 fields in File Name.
  3. If multiple files are uploaded to the same File Upload field, the files will be renamed in a numeric sequence starting from 1. For example, Rebecca_Resume, Rebecca_Resume_1, and so on.
  4. You cannot rename files if you choose to upload files above 20 MB.
  5. You can rename the uploaded files based on the values in these field types: Single Line, Name, Number, Dropdown, Radio, Unique ID, Random ID.
  6. This feature is available only in our paid plans.
  7. While editing a record, only the new files being uploaded will be renamed.

Assign Values for Dropdown, Radio, Multiple Choice, and Checkbox Fields  

When you add a choice based field to your form, you can assign values (Numeric, Text, Email) to each choice. These assigned values can be used to perform calculations. Check out how you can use the values assigned to choices in Formulas, Email Notifications, Thank You Page, and Integrations.   
     
To assign values,
  1. Add a choice based field to your form.
  2. Under Properties, go to Advanced > Assign Values.


    Assign Values


  3. In the pop-up, select the Value type. You can choose between Numeric, Text, a combination of both values or Email.
    Assign Value


  4. Enter values for each choice and click Assign Values.
  5. You can also import values to your choices by clicking Import and add values manually for each choices. The values entered in each line will be assigned to the respective choices. Click Add Values to assign the values to the choices.

    Add Values Manually

Note:
  1. The Numeric values assigned to the respective choices can be used while performing calculations using the Formula field.
  2. Both the Numeric and Text values assigned to the respective choices can be used while configuring the Email Notification templates or Thank You page redirection under Form Settings and Form Rules.

Import Choices for Dropdown, Radio, Multiple Choice, and Checkbox Fields

When you add a choice-based field to your form, you have the option to import choices from standard lists (such as age ranges, days of the week, etc.) or add choices manually. 
To import choices,
  1. Add a choice-based field to your form.
  2. Under Properties, go to Advanced > Import.
    Import Choices

  3.  In the pop-up, select the Standard Lists tab to import choices from commonly used lists, such as age ranges or days of the week, or click the Add Manually tab to enter choices manually either on a new line or separated by commas.
    Import Choices Field Properties

  4. After selecting the checkbox to specify whether to replace existing values or retain them, click Add Choices.
  5. You can sort the choices alphabetically in ascending or descending order, with the option to enable or disable Case Sensitive sorting. 

Note:
  1. Case Sensitive sorting, which is enabled by default, treats uppercase and lowercase letters as distinct, placing uppercase letters before lowercase ones (e.g., "A, B, a, b").
  2.  If the Case Sensitive checkbox is disabled, sorting ignores case and arranges letters alphabetically regardless of case (e.g., "A, a, B, b"). 
  3. This feature is supported for all Sort Choices options, including Choice Fields, Group Choices, and Global Choice List.

Group Choices       

You can group your choices in the Dropdown field.


Courses grouped

To group choices,
  1. Add a Dropdown field to your form.
  2. Under Properties, go to Advanced > Group Choices.

    Group Choices

  3. In the pop-up, enter the names of the groups and the choices under them and click Save.
Alternatively, you can choose to add your choices under a group in bulk.
To do so,  
  1. Click the   icon in Group Name.

    Alternate way to add choices under a group


  2. In the popup, enter each choice in a new line, or use a comma separator between the choices.

  3. Select Replace existing Choices if you wish to replace the already existing choices and click Done.

  4. To add more groups, click the   icon and repeat the above steps to add choices under each group.

  5. Click Save.

Check out an example of grouping choices for better understanding.

Note:
  1. There must be at least one choice under a group, and each Group Name must be unique.
  2. You can also configure rules to work with group choices. Learn more

Copy choices in a group

If you have a long list of choices and require the list of choices to be used elsewhere, such as to create a similar group, you can copy the choices in a group.

To do this,
  1. In the Properties of the field, go to Advanced > Group Choices.
  2. In the Group Choices pop-up, hover over the group name and click theicon.

    Group Choices Referance

  3. In the pop-up click Copy choices  and all the choices will be copied to the clipboard. You can paste them at required places.

Choice Availability

Choice Availability allows you to specify a quantity for each choice within your choice fields. As the user makes their selection, the quantity of that choice dynamically decreases, ensuring the selection aligns with your defined availability. This is essential in scenarios where the availability needs to be tracked and managed in real time. Check out how to configure Choice Availability for your choice field.

Scanner Input - Web Browser

Scanner Input allows a field to read and input data automatically from a Barcode or QR Code. You can choose which code types the fields will recognize under Scan Modes.
To make changes to the data after it has been scanned, enable Allow manual edits to scanned data under Scanner Input Settings.

Scanner Input- Mobile App

These configurations apply exclusively for mobile applications. To configure the scanner, choose the code types the field will recognize to read and input data under Scan Modes.
For mobile application, you can select the Default Camera Mode as either Front Camera or Rear Camera. You can also enable the user to switch between the cameras, scan images from their photo gallery, or make manual edits to scanned data by enabling the respective options.

Fields that support Scanner Inputs are Single Line, Multi Line, Number, Currency, Decimal, Email, Website