How do I edit a published form by creating a new draft version?

Last updated: May 29, 2026

Published form versions are read-only. To change anything — fields, content blocks, PDF mappings, rules — you create a new draft version from the published one, edit it, then publish and deploy when you're ready.

Every edit in Onboarded happens on a draft. Published versions are immutable. So before you can make any change to a published form, you need to spin up a new draft from it.

Create the new draft

  1. Open the form's version history. Go to Forms, select the form you want to edit, then click Version History.

  2. Find the published version you want to start from. Look for a version with status Deployed (Read-only) usually the most recent one.

  3. Click New Draft.

  4. Confirm in the dialog. A dialog appears: "This will create a new draft from this form version: X.X.X." Click Create to proceed.

    Onboarded copies the published version's full configuration into a new draft and opens it in the editor. The new version shows as Draft (Editable).

Edit the draft

From here, the editor behaves the same way it does for any draft. Fields, content blocks, rules, PDF mappings, translations — everything is editable again. Make your changes, then close the editor when you're done. The draft auto-saves as you go.

Edits to the draft don't affect employees in flight. Until you publish the new version and deploy it, the previously deployed version stays live. Any employees with in-progress tasks against the old version keep working against the old version — your draft changes won't reach them until you deploy. This is the safety net that lets you edit confidently.

Publish and deploy when you're ready

A draft isn't live until you deploy it to test or live mode. See 📄 How do I deploy a form version to test or live mode? for the full flow.

Verify

You're set up correctly when:

  • The new version shows Draft (Editable) in version history.

  • The editor lets you click into fields, content blocks, and rules without anything graying out.

  • The previously deployed version still shows Deployed (Read-only) — your draft hasn't disturbed it.

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