Intake fields

At a glance

Who uses it: Admins authoring intake forms.
When to use it: When creating a form, or revising it based on submissions you receive.
Permissions required: Administrator.
Navigation path: Administration → Intake forms → open a form → Fields tab.

Purpose

Fields are what submitters fill out. Choosing the right field types — and asking for only what you need — keeps forms short and submission quality high.

Field types

Short text — names, brief descriptions.
Long text — concerns, narratives.
Select (single) — categories, urgency, role, grade.
Select (multi) — applicable concerns, supports already tried.
Teacher picker — pulls from the school's teacher directory; submitters select an existing teacher rather than typing one.
Date — incident date, observation date.
Boolean — yes/no toggles ("Parent contacted?").

Each field has:

Label (shown to submitter).
Help text (small print under the label).
Required toggle.
Sort order (drag to reorder).
Versioning — edits create a new version; historical submissions display under the version that was active when they were submitted.

Hidden / system fields

Every intake form includes a hidden honey-pot field named website used to drop bot submissions. Do not remove it. The platform also enforces a hidden timestamp + IP rate limit at the route layer.

Step-by-step

Add a field

Open the form. Go to Fields.
Click Add field and pick a type.
Configure label, help text, options (for selects), and required.
Drag into position.
Save. The form's version bumps and historical submissions remain visible under their original version.

[SCREENSHOT: admin-intake-fields-editor] Administration → Intake forms → open form → Fields tab with three fields configured and the Add field menu open.

Use the teacher picker

When a form needs the submitter to name the student's teacher, use the Teacher picker field instead of free text. This avoids name typos and lets your assignment rules use teacher identity reliably.

The picker shows only teachers from your directory; if the directory is empty, submitters see a fallback prompt to type the teacher's name and the admin gets a follow-up.

Tips & best practices

Aim for 6–10 fields per staff intake form, fewer for student intake.
Make required fields actually required — every required field is friction that filters submissions.
Use help text for clarification once, not for an instruction manual.

Common mistakes

Deleting fields mid-year — historical submissions render with gaps. Mark fields Inactive instead.
Long select lists — split into nested categories (see Categories) for better usability.

FAQ

Can I conditionally show a field based on another field's value? Conditional logic is scoped per customer during onboarding; the default builder does not include it yet.

Will old submissions break if I change a field's type? No — historical submissions are pinned to the version of the form they were submitted under. Changing a type bumps the version forward.