Understanding the Form Builder

The Form Builder allows you to create new forms and update/edit your existing forms directly.

💡 Organization Admins and Site Admins have the permissions to access and use the Form Builder. Site Admins can only edit forms that are used exclusively at sites they administer. If a form is used at other sites, they will receive an error message indicating they need a site-specific copy and should reach out to support. For more information about site roles, click here.

💡 Forms can only be edited if the underlying template is unique to your organization. If you are not able to edit a form yourself, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or help@mapistry.com for assistance.

Accessing the Form Builder

There are two ways to access the Form Builder:

• From the Setup page: Navigate to Setup → Forms in the left sidebar. This page lists all forms in your organization along with their category. Click the three-dot Actions menu next to any form to open it in the Form Builder.

• From the Inspection calendar: Click on the three dots on a calendar and select "Configure Form".

🔒 Some forms display a lock icon, indicating the template is locked. Locked templates can be unlocked. Reach out to your Customer Success Manager or help@mapistry.com for assistance.

Creating a New Form

You can now create forms directly from the Setup → Forms page using the "Create new form" button in the top right corner. Form creation is a two-step process: Basic Info, then Build.

Step 1: Basic Info

Fill in the following fields, then click Next to proceed:

• Form Name (required) — The display name for your form.
• Form template slug (required) — A unique identifier for the form template, auto-generated but editable.
• Compliance Category — Assign the form to a category (e.g., Stormwater, Air, Waste).

Step 2: Build

The Build step has two panels:

Left panel — Form settings:

• Custom AI prompt — Optionally enter a prompt to have AI help generate or customize your form. For example: "All field names should be uppercase" or "Create a form template with two sections, the first one with a user, weather, and date field, and the second one with a notes field." You can also attach a PDF to have AI process an existing form.
• Form Inspection Date — Select which field in the form should be used as the inspection date.
• Sections — Add and name sections using the "Add new section" button.

Right panel — Form preview and editing:

• Displays the live structure of your form as you build it.
• Click "Add new field" within a section to add fields. You can choose from the following field types:

When you're done building, click Done in the top right corner to save your new form.

Once your form is created, you'll see a confirmation message at the top of the screen. Note that assigning the form to sites is not yet self-serve — contact your Customer Success Manager or help@mapistry.com to have the form assigned to the appropriate sites.

Edit Form Fields

Clicking on the three dots next to a field name will allow you to make changes to the field details, like changing if it is required, and adding subtext and helper text. Options include:

• Edit field — Make changes to field details, like changing if it is required, and adding subtext and helper text.
• Edit conditions — Create or make changes to conditional logic that triggers questions.
• Move - Move to a different section in the form
• Duplicate — Create a copy of the field
• Delete — Delete the field.

 

Display options alphabetically and assign a default option under 'Options'.

Once you're happy with the changes you have made, be sure to click 'Save Changes' in the top right corner of your screen.

Using Conditional Logic

Conditional logic controls when fields appear in a form based on responses to other fields. This helps keep forms focused by only showing questions that apply.

How It Works

Conditional logic is set on individual fields. Open a field’s menu and select Edit conditions to create a rule.

Each rule follows this pattern:

• If a selected field meets a condition
• Then show one or more other fields

For example, if Did the plant operate today? is Yes, the form can show Is the area clean and free from spills? If the condition is not met, the field remains hidden.

Rules are evaluated as the form is completed, so fields appear or disappear immediately.

Available Conditions

You can choose from the following condition types:

• Is
• Is not
• Is empty
• Is not empty

Managing Rules

• Use Add another field to show multiple fields in one rule
• Use Create new rule to add additional logic
• Use Delete all rules to remove conditional logic from a field

Conditional logic is useful for follow-up questions and reducing unnecessary fields in longer forms.

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Duplicating Fields

You can duplicate any field in the form using the Duplicate option in the field's three-dot menu. The duplicated field(s) will be inserted immediately after the original field.

A few things to keep in mind depending on the type of field being duplicated:

• If the field is a trigger field (i.e., it has conditional logic that controls child fields), its child fields will also be duplicated. The relative order of all duplicated fields — the trigger and its children — will be maintained. The new fields will be inserted after the last field in the original "family."
• If the field is a child field (i.e., it appears based on conditional logic from another field), the duplicated field will carry over the same conditional rules as the original.

💡 Coming soon: the ability to duplicate entire sections.

 

Editing an Existing Form

Once in the Form Builder, you can:

Check Site Attachment: See which sites your form is attached to. Click on the arrow next to "Form Instances" to expand the list. 

Rearrange Sections and Fields: Drag and drop form sections and fields to reorder them.

Rename Form Sections: Click on the three dots next to a section title to rename it.

 

Form Versioning

Form Versioning ensures that when you make updates to a form template, those changes only apply to future submissions, without affecting any past data.  
When versioning is turned on, every time you edit and save a form template, Mapistry automatically creates a new version of that form. All your calendars and templates that use this form will seamlessly move to the new version.

What Gets Copied to a New Version

When a new version is created

All fields, groups, field and group slugs, properties, conditions, attached PDF templates, and categories are carried over.

If a change you make would break a linked template (for example, deleting a field option that a template uses), Mapistry prevents the change to keep everything consistent.

Over time, Mapistry will automatically remove old, unused form versions that have no submissions, and are no longer linked to any calendar.

 

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Support

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please e-mail help@mapistry.com