Add a proposal, questionnaire, or sub-agreement to a project and send it to your client. This guide covers adding a form from a form template, editing it before sending, sharing it by email or link, and viewing your client's responses.
This article covers proposals, questionnaires, and sub-agreements. For contracts, see Send a contract. For lead capture forms, see Share a lead capture form.
Add a form to a project
Before you can send a form, you need to add it to the project from a template. This creates a copy of the template that belongs to that project — any edits you make to it stay local to the project and won't affect your original template.
To add a form to a project:
Open the project and click the Forms tab.
Click Add a Form. The Apply Form Template to Project dialog opens.
Select a template from the dropdown.
Click Apply Template. The form appears in the form list.
From here, you can edit the form, send it, or share it via link or portal.
You can also add forms to a project automatically by including a Send form action in a flow. See the Send a form through a flow section below.
Adding a form to a contact
You can also add forms directly to a contact record, outside of a project context. Open a contact, click the Forms tab, then click Add a Form. The Apply Form Template to Contact dialog opens with the same template selection and Apply Template button.
In contact context, only questionnaires, sub-agreements, and PDFs are available as template options.
Edit a form before sending
If you need to personalize a form for a specific client before sending it, you can edit it from the project's Forms tab. Select the form in the list, then click the Edit button (pencil icon). This opens the form builder where you can make changes specific to this client's copy.
Editing a form within a project does not change the original template. Adding a form to a project creates a fresh copy, so your changes only affect this project.
The Edit button is not available for forms that have already been completed. Completed contracts, sub-agreements, lead capture forms, and proposals cannot be edited after submission.
Send a form
Once a form has been added to a project, you have three ways to share it with your client. Select the form in the Forms tab, then click the Share dropdown to see your options.
Send by email
Click Send in the Share dropdown. An email composer opens as a modal with the Send Form default template pre-filled. The client's name and a link to the form are already populated. The client's email address appears in the To field.
From the email composer, you can:
Edit the subject and body before sending.
Click the Templates button in the email composer toolbar to swap to a different email template.
Click the Project links button in the toolbar to add links to other project documents — such as additional forms, invoices, or schedulers — in the same email. For more on using project links in email templates, see Linking to a Dubsado form in an email template.
To customize the default email sent when sharing a form, go to Messages ➔ Default templates and select Send Form. This template applies to all proposals, questionnaires, and sub-agreements.
Copy link
Click Copy link in the Share dropdown. This copies the form's public URL to your clipboard. You can paste the link anywhere — in an email, a text message, or any other channel — to share the form without using Dubsado's email composer.
Apply to portal
Click Apply to portal in the Share dropdown to add the form to the client portal, where your client can access it directly without receiving a separate email.
This option is only available when the form has not yet been sent and is in a project context (not a contact). For more detail on managing forms in the portal, see Adding a form to the client portal.
Send a form through a flow
You can automate form sending by adding a Send form action to a flow. When the flow's trigger condition is met, the form is sent to the client automatically without any manual steps.
When sending a form using a flow, you can only send one form per email. For more information, see Using flows.
If you are sending a proposal through a flow and the proposal also includes a payment plan, setting a payment plan in both the flow and the proposal will cause an error. Use a payment plan in one place or the other, not both.
View client responses
After a client submits a form, go back to the project's Forms tab and select the completed form.
For completed forms (excluding PDFs and external links), you can toggle between two views:
Responses — A simplified summary of the client's answers. This is the default view for completed forms.
Preview — The full form as the client saw it when they filled it out.
For more detail on reading and using response data, see Form response summaries.
FAQ
Can I send more than one form in a single manual email?
Yes. When composing a manual email to send a form, click the Project links button in the email composer toolbar. Each form in the project is listed individually, so you can choose which ones to include in the email. You cannot send more than one form in a flow email, however — flow emails are limited to one form per action. For more on sending multiple forms at once, see Send multiple forms in one email.
Can I send a form to someone other than the primary contact?
Yes. When the email composer opens, edit the To field to change or add recipients. You can also add recipients using the Cc field. The form link works for anyone who receives it. Keep in mind that this applies to manually sent emails only — when sending a form through a flow, you cannot send to multiple recipients.
Does editing a form in a project change the original template?
No. When you add a form template to a project, Dubsado creates a copy. Any edits you make to the form within the project only affect that copy. The original template stays the same.
Where do I find my client's responses?
After a form is submitted, go to the project's Forms tab and select the completed form. Toggle between the Responses summary and the full Preview to review what your client submitted. For more detail, see Form response summaries.