Prefilled links

A prefilled link is one recipient's copy of a form with your half already filled in. An apartment complex sets the community and unit type once and mails the link to applicants, who fill in the rest. A clinic fills in the appointment details and sends the intake form to the patient.

If the answer is the same for everyone, such as the landlord's name, you want a preset answer instead. It lives on the form itself and needs no special link.

	Prefilled link	Preset answer
Belongs to	One link	The form
Applies to	People who open that link	Everyone, however they arrive
Recipient can change it	Only if you leave it unlocked	Never
Tab in the Prefill dialog	Custom link	Permanent

Making one

Prefilled links are for published forms. On the form's row, press Prefill, then choose the Custom link tab.

1. Name this link. Optional, but worth doing: "Oakwood, 2BR". The name is for you. It labels the link in this dialog and on every submission that comes in through it.
2. Fill in the answers you know. Leave the rest empty for the recipient.
3. Lock any answer the recipient must not change, with the padlock beside it. You can only lock a question you have answered.
4. Press Create link, then Copy.

The link looks like the form's own link with a code on the end: /f/<slug>?p=<code> for a public form, /fill/<formId>?p=<code> for a private one.

The answers are stored by FormsUI, not written into the link, so the link stays short and a locked answer really is locked. Changing the page in the browser does not help: locked answers are applied again when the form is submitted.

What the recipient sees

The form, with your answers already in place and a note saying some answers have been filled in for them (with the link's name, if you gave one).

Your answer was	They can
Unlocked	Change it. It is a suggestion
Locked	See it, marked "Filled in for you", but not change it

What cannot go in a link

Question	Why
Sensitive	Links get forwarded and sit in inboxes. Answers FormsUI stores encrypted do not travel in one. The dialog lists these as "sensitive, so it can't travel in a link"
Already has a preset answer	The form answers it for everyone, and the preset wins over a link. The dialog shows the preset with a Change button that takes you to the Permanent tab

Keeping track of your links

The forms list shows how many prefilled links each form has: Prefill (3) on the button and +3 prefilled beside the copy button. Either opens the dialog, which lists every saved link with:

• its name and the answers it carries;
• how many times it has been used;
• a padlock if any of its answers are locked;
• buttons to copy it again or delete it.

A form can have up to 100 prefilled links.

Every submission that came through a link records that link's name, so one link per property gives you one label per property in your submissions.

Emailing a prefilled link

Invite on the form's row can send a prefilled version instead of the blank form. Choose it under Send a prefilled version. Everyone in that batch gets the same link, and a recipient whose name you gave is told the form is already filled in with what you have on file. See Publishing and sharing.

Deleting a link

The bin beside a saved link. Deleting does not break the link for people who already have it: they still reach the form, just without your saved answers, and the page tells them to fill in the whole form. Nobody is stranded halfway through an application.