How do I create forms?

Last updated: October 21, 2026

Upload your source documents, or paste text, and Onboarded builds a draft form from each one, ready for your review in Form Studio.

Before you start

  • Permission to create forms on your user group. Without it, New Form is greyed out.

  • Your source documents as .pdf, .html, .txt, .json, .md, .csv, or .zip files. Word files aren't accepted, so save them as PDF first.

  • A sense of what kind of document each one is, like a handbook, a tax form, or a quiz. You'll set a document type per file.

  • In an implementation with Onboarded? Follow 📄 How do I upload my forms so Onboarded can build them? instead, so your notes on each form reach the team.

Steps

The flow has four phases: add your files, set up each form, choose settings for the whole batch, then create.

Add your files

  1. In the left sidebar, under Configuration, click Forms, then click New Form.

    You should see the New forms page.

  2. Drag your documents onto Drop files here, or click browse your computer to pick them. You can add up to 50 files at a time, and a .zip expands into the files inside it.

    You should see each file under Files, with a running count like 3 of 50, marked Uploading and then Ready.

  3. To build a form from text instead, like a survey export or a description of the form you want, paste it into the box beside the drop zone and click Add to list. It joins the list next to your files.

Set up each form

  1. Click a file in the list to open its details.

  2. Check Form name. It's filled in from the file name, or from the first line of pasted text. The name you set here becomes the form's name.

  3. Set Document type. Leave it on Auto-detect to let Onboarded read the document and choose, or pick Handbook / posters, Policy / disclosure, Tax / withholding, Identity / document verification, Quiz / training test, or Generic yourself. To give every file the same type, click the Use … for all … files link under the menu.

  4. Add a Description if you want one. Leave it blank and Onboarded writes one from the content.

Choose settings for the batch

  1. Click Settings for all forms at the top of the file list. These settings apply to every form that doesn't have its own.

  2. Set Output language. Onboarded detects each document's language and builds the form in it. Any additional languages you select are translated from that.

  3. Set Task reuse criteria, tags, or Custom attributes if you use them. To give one form different settings, open it and turn on Overwrite settings for this form.

  4. Check Request Onboarded support if you want Onboarded to review the forms before they come back to you. Each form then gets an Instructions for Onboarded support box, so you can say what matters on that form.

Create the forms

  1. Click the create button at the bottom right. It counts what's ready, like Create 12 forms.

    You should see a banner saying your forms are being built, with a Track this upload link. You stay on the page, so you can start another batch right away.

Verify

Click Track this upload to see this batch in My Forms. Conversion runs in the background, so forms fill in as they finish. While a form is building, its AI build column shows AI building. When it's done, that column shows Built, Built with problems, or Failed, and the Waiting for column tells you whose turn it is:

  • Your organization's name. The draft is ready for you. Open it in Form Studio to review it.

  • Onboarded. You checked Request Onboarded support, and the Onboarded team has the draft. Forms that come back Built with problems or Failed also show here.

Without Request Onboarded support, a Built with problems or Failed status doesn't open a support request on its own, so check those forms yourself. For Built with problems, open the draft in Form Studio and fix what was flagged, or use Rebuild with AI on its Build card. A Failed form couldn't be built from its file. The two common causes are a file whose contents aren't a format Onboarded reads, whatever its extension says, and a document in a language your organization doesn't support. Confirm the file opens on your own machine, or add the language to your organization's supported languages, then upload it again. If you need help, contact Onboarded support, or your partner's support team if you work with Onboarded through a partner.

If a file doesn't make it into the batch, check its row before you create. A file that failed to upload shows Failed: select it and click Retry. A .zip that reports No supported files found in the archive held nothing the page can read, so unzip it and add the files directly. If the create button is disabled, a form Needs name, and the note beside the button says how many need attention.

Open each draft even when its status looks clean. A finished build tells you the conversion completed, not that it produced a complete form. A scanned or image-background PDF can come back with few or no fields, because its labels were pixels rather than text. If a draft arrives close to empty, re-upload a text-based version of the PDF if you have one, or build that form from scratch.

If you hit the 50-file cap, the page tells you how many files it left out. Create the first batch, then add the rest.

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