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Let’s start at the very beginning: how do you create a form? First, you’ll need to make sure you’re logged into your Jotform account. If you need a reminder of how to sign up for an account or how to log in, check out section 1.4, “Everything starts with a form.” When you log into your account you’ll find yourself at your My Forms page, where you’ll create your forms. Down the line, when you have forms in your account, you’ll also be able to view and edit them from this page.
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Before we move on to creating a form, let’s briefly recap Jotform navigation. The items in the navy navigation bar along the very top of the page remain consistent, and provide easy ways to navigate resources and other Jotform tools. Clicking the Jotform logo takes you back to your My Forms page, and next to that logo is a drop-down menu that you can use to get to other landing pages throughout the system. When it comes to navigating the page you’re on, you have the gray panel on the left-hand side, as well as a white bar along the top of the page that you can use to search and sort. When you click on a form you’ll see additional actions appear in that space. Finally, in the center of the page here you can see all of your active forms. On other pages you’ll see your active Tables, Apps, etc., depending on the page you’re on.
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You’ve probably already noticed the orange “create form” button on the upper-left of the page and that’s exactly what you’ll want to look for when it’s time to create a form. The next step is to click that, which will take you to a page of options on how to get started. You’ll see 4 options here: from scratch, use a template, import form, and create signable document. We’re not going to cover signable documents in this section because it relates to a separate tool, but let’s look at those other three options.
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First, starting from scratch. This is a great option if you want full control over your form content and design. When you “start from scratch” you’ll next be prompted to choose the classic or card layout. Classic design means all questions will appear on the same page, versus the card design where each question lives on it’s own page. Whichever option you choose, from there you’ll have a blank slate.
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If you need to get up and running quickly, or want inspiration from others who’ve already tackled similar forms, your next option is to select from one of over 10,000 templates in our Form template library. Clicking “use template” will take you directly to that template library, where you can search, browse, filter, and sort templates to get to one that seems like the right fit for you. When you find one you like click “preview” to get a better look at all of the fields, or “use form” to jump right in. Clicking “use form” will clone a copy of that form into your account where you can then customize it to exactly meet your needs. Note that you can also access the template library in the navy toolbar from anywhere within Jotform.
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Your last option is to import a form. Importing a form is actually a cluster of ways to get started – either by pulling something in from a webpage, converting a PDF you already have on file, or, when you have forms already in place, cloning one of your existing forms.
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When you choose to “clone an existing form” you’ll see a drop-down menu of all of your forms, and all you’ll need to do is choose the one to clone. This is a great option if you need to almost exactly replicate the design and questions from another form – for example, if you’re sending out an annual survey and just want to make some small changes from last year’s survey. Once your cloned form is created you can easily change or customize any existing fields and layouts.
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Let’s say you’re migrating content over to Jotform. Using the annual survey example, maybe you hosted the survey on an individual landing page last year and you want to move it into Jotform for better data management moving forward. In that case, “import from a web page” is your best option. When you click this you’ll just be prompted to enter the URL that you want to pull from, and Jotform will pull in any form fields it finds on the page.
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Or maybe you’ve mailed out physical copies of your survey in the past and want to make the transition to digital to save paper, time, and money. If your blank survey is saved in a PDF file you can use “import PDF form” to pull your survey into Jotform. When you choose this option you’ll then be prompted to upload the file and from there, as with the web site option, Jotform will scan that for questions and translate your existing questions into form fields. With both of these options you can still edit and customize the form, but you’re saved from having to entirely replicate the survey.
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To summarize: Jotform makes it easy to create a form whether you have form content already or not. To have full control over your form design and content choose “start from scratch.” If you’ve issued your form in another format previously, use “import form” to pull in your form URL or to upload a PDF. And for full templates or inspiration, check out our extensive template library. Now that you know how to get started, check out the next section for how to design your form.
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