Form Fields

1. Single Line: It is a one-line input field where the user can enter the text. It can contain any letters, numbers, or symbols. Click Form Properties to make the required changes. Example: Employee's name, Nickname, etc.,
   
2. Multi-Line: It is a multi-line input field where the user can provide multiple texts. Ex: Address, Comments, etc., You can add a maximum of 25 multi-line fields in one form and each tabular section can contain up to 25 multi-line fields.
   
3. Email ID: To provide the email address. Ex: Employee's personal email ID, official email ID.
   
4. URL: To provide any web URLs. Ex: Company's website URL, Blog URL, etc.,
   
5. Number: It is used to hold numerical values. Ex: Age, Bank account number, etc.
6. Decimal: It is used to hold the decimal data. Ex: Salary details like Basic pay, HRA, etc.,
   
7. Drop-down: It is used to hold a set of user-defined options, out of which an option can be selected and assigned as a value to the field. Ex. Employee Grade.
8. Radio: Radio field is exactly the same as the drop-down field. The only difference is the display type. Drop-down list fields, as the name indicates will be displayed as a list. Radio fields will be displayed as options in the form.
   
9. Date: It can be used to hold date values. The date picker can be used to populate the date fields while adding a record. Ex. Date of Birth, Date of Joining, etc.,
10. Date-Time: It can be used to hold the time stamp value. The date-time picker can be used to populate the timestamp values for the fields while adding a record. Ex. In-Time, Out-Time, etc.,
    
    
    In Date & Date-time fields, the following validations are supported
    Allow past dates
    Allow future dates
    Allow dates before
    Allow dates after
11. Image: It can be used to collect image, only jpg/png/gif/jpeg formats can be uploaded.
12. File Upload: It can be used to allow the users to attach a file during form submission. The file size limit can be set by the administrator (up to 5 MB).
    User can upload files from Zoho Docs, Google Drive, Dropbox, One drive, Box and Evernote by authenticating once with a one-time authentication.
    
13. Gender: It can be used to store gender information.
14. Blood Group: It can be used to store blood group information.
15. Country: It can be used to store country information. Ex. Citizenship
16. Currency: Currency fields are used to hold decimal values with the currency notation(like USD, INR, etc). This currency type can be selected during the customization of forms.
    
    

    For Number, Currency & Decimal fields, the display format can be customized as per user preference, the screenshot below shows the available display format options:
    
    

    
    
17. Decision box: It can be used to hold Boolean values - True or false.
    

Manage Sections of a Form

1. Add Linear Sections: Create sections where the fields are displayed in a simple, top-to-bottom sequence.
2. Add Tabular Sections: Organize your form fields into a table format, ideal for structured data entry or when grouping related fields together.
3. Reorder Form Sections: Rearrange the order of sections within your form to match your preferred flow or logic.
4. Set Form Layout: Choose between a single-page layout for a concise, compact form or a multi-page layout for better organization and ease of navigation through longer forms.
   

Marking a field as Personal Data

1. Go to Settings > Select a Service > Extend Service > Forms and click on the required form.
2. Select a field that you would like to identify as personal data.
3. Click Field Properties tab. Enable Mark as Personal Data.
   
   
   

1. Go to Settings > Select a Service > Extend Service > Forms and click on the required form.
   
2. Select a field that you would like to identify as ePHI data.
   
3. Click Field Properties tab and enable Mark as ePHI.
   
   

Enabling Encryption for Fields

Certain information of employees like SSN, UAN, Aadhar number, bank account number etc are of sensitive terms, which need to stay private. You can encrypt fields containing such sensitive data and keep them secure. Encryption ensures that the secured data is unreadable in case of an data hack.

For example, if you consider the bank account number of your employees to be sensitive, you can secure it. You can encrypt the particular field containing the bank account number in the respective form. Similarly, you can encrypt fields in cases of Aadhar number, SSN number, salary data etc.

To encrypt fields in a form:

1. Go to Settings > Select a Service > Extend Service > Forms and click on the required form.
   
2. Select a field that you would like to enable encryption.
   
3. Click Field Properties tab and enable Encryption.
   
   
   Note:

   - Encryption is available only for custom fields. system fields cannot be encrypted.

   - Encryption can only be enabled for single line, multi-line, date fields and number fields
   
   
   
4. Now the field will remain encrypted in all records and workflows.
   

Note:
- You can encrypt a maximum of 5 fields for linear sections in a form.

- In case of Tabular sections, you can encrypt 5 fields per tabular section.

- The Employee Form can have a maximum of 10 fields to be encrypted.

- In 'List View' search, the operations allowed are 'Equal', 'Not Equal', 'Empty' and 'Not Empty'.

1. Go to Settings > Select a Service > Extend Service > Forms.
   
2. Click on the form for which you would like to enable password protection for exports.
   
3.  Click Form Properties, under Preferences, enable Password protection.
   
   
   

Enable Audit History and track changes

For Zoho People accounts created on or after 23-Feb-2026, audit tracking is enabled for all fields by default and cannot be disabled. Contact support@zohopeople.com if you require any assistance. 

1. Navigate to Settings > Select a Service > Extend Service > Forms and click on the required form.
   
2. Select the required field, click on Field Properties tab, under General Configuration, enable Audit.
   
   
   
   

View Form Record Audit History

To view form record Audit History:

1. Navigate to Operations > Select a Service > Select the Form > click on he Record.
   
2. At the top right, click on the ellipsis icon > Audit History.
   The changes made to the form record fields for which audit history has been enabled will appear.
   
   
   

Renaming & Hiding Form Buttons (Custom Form)

Along with other extensive form customizations, you can also rename form buttons based on your preference. The Submit and New buttons can also be hidden. These options are available only for custom forms.

To access these options, navigate to any custom form and use the Rename Buttons section under the Form Properties tab. Enable Hide Submit & New button if you want to hide this button in your form.

The Submit and New button allows you to submit a record and immediately add a new one.

Form Field-Lookup

A lookup field is used to create a relationship between two different forms. When there are fields that will be repeatedly used in more than one form, the need to replicate all these fields can be eliminated by adding a lookup field. For eg. If you have a leave form where you will need the details of employees that are listed in the Employee form already, you can create a lookup in the leave form and connect it to the Employee form. By doing this, you can enable users to pick the fields of the Employee form that they will need in the leave form.

To create a lookup field:

1. Go to Settings > Select a Service > Extend Service > Forms.
   
   
2. Drag and drop the lookup field from the left side menu.
   
3. Enter details like Display Name etc.
4. Under Display as, select the option as required.
   
   
5. Under Import data, select the form from which the fields need to be picked.
6. Under Field Name, select the Field name based on which the mapping has to be done - for example, if you would like to have the mapping done based on the Personal mobile number in the Employee Form, you need to select Employee Personal Mobile Number under the Field name.
   
7. You can also click on the lookup field to customize it.
   
   
8. Under Select related fields, select the other Fields that you would like to be displayed. This related fields will be displayed automatically when the main lookup field is selected in the form.
   

Lookup Filters

When you are creating a field with the Look-up option, you can also add a filter to this field.

For example - If an Employee wants to submit a request for Travel Expenses of the previous month, then filters can be created in the respective lookup field to filter out the requests of the previous month alone. 

To set a filter for the lookup field, follow the steps given below.

1. From your home page, go to Settings (Gear icon) > Service > Extend Service > Forms. Click on the form.
2. Drag the Lookup field from the left-hand side and drop it in your form section.
   
   
3. Enter the details like Display Name etc - You can give the name as Travel Month here.
4. Under Import Data From, give Travel Request  and under Field Name, select Travel ID.
5. Click Done.
6. On the right-hand side, under Field Properties, Check Set Filter.
   
   
   
7. Under Field Name, select Expected Date of Departure.
   
   
   
8. Under Condition select Last Month.
   
9. Click Done.

Now, when a record is added in the Travel Expense form, under Month of Travel, the Travel details of the previous month alone will get displayed.

Show/Hide Form Fields Based on Rules & Conditions

In Zoho People, you can customize fields by adjusting their visibility (show or hide) based on conditions or rules. For example, If the location is selected as India, we may want to add a field for Aadhaar or PAN card number. Or if USA is the selected location, we can show a field for the user to input the social security number, etc. 

Steps to show or hide a form field based on condition:

1. Navigate to Settings > Select a Service > Extend Service > Forms.
2. Select a specific form (for instance, the Employee Form).
3. Click the three-dot (ellipsis) icon and choose Configure Rule.
4. In the pop-up window, define the condition required to show or hide a field and click Save.
   
5. You can add multiple rules by clicking the Add Rule button.
   
   

In the example, the UAN Number field is displayed only when the Employee Type is set to Permanent. For all other employee types, such as contract employees, the UAN number field will not be displayed.