GOapply Simple Form Builder

Revised: 8/29/2025

GOapply Simple Form Builder

Prerequisites

1. GOapply Administrator Security Role
2. Member of the GOmanager Group 

 

Things to know:

Simple Form Builder will be the default Form Builder for Phases created after August 28, 2025 (the date this feature was implemented). 

Phases that were created using the Advanced Form Builder cannot be reverted to the Simple Form Builder. This also applies if you duplicate an Opportunity/Phase; the Phase will always open in the format it was built. 

Build a Form Using Simple Form Builder

 

Step 1: Open Simple Form Builder

As stated above, Simple Form Builder will be the default for any new phases built after August 28, 2025. You can open Simple Form Builder by clicking Launch Application Form Editor from the Form Editor tab of a GOapply Phase.

Simple Form Builder and Request Fields

In the Designer Tab of Form Builder, you can add questions and panels to the form.

Along the left side of the screen, you will see questions available to be added to the GOapply phase/form. This includes two sections – Unmapped and Request. Questions can be added to the GOapply phase/form by dragging and dropping them onto the form.

The Unmapped section includes questions that are not mapped to any field/record in akoyaGO. These questions cannot be mapped. Unmapped questions are for capturing information that is needed for the phase but does not correspond to a field on Request.

The Request section includes questions that are mapped to fields found on the Request table in akoyaGO. This includes custom fields for your organization. These questions are pre-mapped to the related field in akoyaGO. 

Additionally, all Contact and Constituent lookup fields related to the Request (Applicant, Payee, Primary Contact, etc.) can be added as panels to the GOapply phase/form. Panels are also pre-mapped to the related record (i.e., Contact, Constituent) in akoyaGO.

Step 2: Add Questions to the Form

To add questions to the form, you can drag and drop or click the question from the side navigation bar. 

• Drag and drop will allow you to place the question where you want in the phase.
• Clicking the question will add it to the bottom of the page, and you can drag it to a different place using the arrow pointer to drag and drop.

After you add the question to the form, you will set General Properties for each question from the left side panel:

 

Question name is internal-facing information. This is used for you to identify the question and becomes particularly important when developing any logic in the phase.

Question title is external-facing information. It is the way this question will be worded in the GOapply UI for the GOapply user. 

The Question name and Question title may be set to the same thing, or you may choose to set the Question name to an abbreviated version. For example, the Question name might be Requested Amount, while the Question title might be Please provide the amount you are requesting.

Question Description: appears under Title on application, gives applicants more information on how to answer the question.

Hide from Reviewer: if checked, will hide this question from the PDF that is displayed to reviewers in the GOapply UI 

Visible: turn off to hide the question from the applicant. This setting overrides the Is required setting. This setting is beneficial to use in conjunction with Default Values. Please note that when this property is off, the question will also be hidden from reviewers.

Read-only: if on, applicants will be able to see the question, but not fill in an answer.

Required: turn on to make a response required by the GOapply user.

Show the title and description: turn off to hide the question title and description in the GOapply UI.

 

For unmapped questions, you will need to choose what type of question you want to insert. Here is a breakdown of the different question types:

• Checkbox: This question type can be used for questions where the applicant should be able to select multiple options. This is the only question type where multiple items can be checked. Only the options selected are recorded on the PDF. 
  Example: What Social Media Sites do you use?
   
• Dropdown: This question type can be used for multiple-choice questions where the applicant should only be able to choose one option. This question type can be used for questions that include many options (such as lists of countries, states, etc.) since it will require the user to click into the question to select the option. 
  Example: Please select the group of people to benefit from this grant.
• Expression (read-only): This field is best utilized for calculating amounts. Set the expression in the General section of the question properties: 

Use curly brackets to access the question values. For example, if you wanted to add two field amounts, your formula would be {question19} + {question20}. For calculated fields that the applicant should not see, you can uncheck “Visible.” It will still calculate if hidden. 

• File Upload: upload file. Many details can be specified via the Properties tab, such as maximum file size and accepted file formats as well as the preview area. File formats are restricted by a comma-separated list of file extensions, including periods e.g., .jpg,.pdf,.png. For security, it is important that you strictly specify the file formats allowed to be uploaded into the survey. Each field is limited to one file only.
   Accepted file types are = txt, rtf, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, png, jpg, jpeg, gif, csv, ppt, pptx, pdf, mp4
   Maximum file size = 20MB 
   
• HTML: This is a rich text editor. Best practice is to type and format your text in the space provided. To make the text editor larger while you are editing, select the button to expand. It is not recommended that you copy and paste text from MS Word or any other text editor in this box, as it will cause issues with how your final PDF is rendered. 'Heading' font types are not supported.   
   
• Image: allows an image to be uploaded or linked into the application. This is not an image upload field for the applicant.
   
• Multiple Textboxes: inserts a matrix that allows for efficient data collection, where each column can have a different field type. Use the Cell type property to control this.
   

• Rich Text Editor: Long form response. This question type is used for narrative, long answers, such as unmapped essay questions. A text box is presented to the applicant. There are no limits on the possible input, so the applicant may enter any text and any amount of text. The applicant is also able to insert formatting with this option.
   
• Signature: allows applicant input to be directly drawn on screen in a pre-set box or area. This is typically used to obtain a signature; however, it could be used to obtain any hand-drawn input. The size of the box may be changed by clicking on the Properties tab. The color of the pen and background can also be modified. The input from the applicant is recorded in the PDF in the following file formats: JPEG, PNG, or SVG. This file format may be changed in the Properties tab. 
   
• Single-Line Input: single line text. Use for short answers such as date, email, number, phone number, text, URL, etc. There are no limits on the possible input so applicants may enter any text and any amount of text.

Panels

For questions that will map to lookup fields on the Request table in akoyaGO, you will insert a Panel. For example, if you are asking questions about the Request – Primary Contact or the Request – Applicant Constituent, you will group them in a Panel. The questions within a Panel will map to the record related to the Request (i.e., the Applicant’s constituent record, the Primary Contact’s contact record.)

In Simple Form Builder, Panels are denoted by an open square.

Panels will come loaded with at least one field that is marked Is Lookup – the field that identifies which existing record to map to (if applicable). 

For example, the Applicant panel looks at the Applicant field on Request, which is connected to the Constituent table. The Applicant panel comes pre-mapped with a required Tax ID field, which is used to identify any existing Constituent records in your database to which the panel will map. If the Tax ID input by the applicant does not exist in your database, a new Constituent record will be created and filled in as the Applicant on the associated Request.

Add Questions to a Panel

Once pulled into the form, the panel will have an +Add Question option, click there for a list of questions (related to the panel) to add to the panel. 

For example, in the Applicant panel, all the question options will correspond to fields on the Constituent table. For the Primary Contact panel, the question options will correspond to fields on the Contacts table.

Add Branching Logic

To add logic, navigate to the Logic tab of the form builder.

Click Add New Rule.

Click the Select… box to choose the question this logic begins with. 

In the Equals box, choose the answer you’re looking for in the question selected. 

Next, click Select action… to choose what happens if the applicant answers the question in that way. 

• Show/hide page: Makes the selected page visible. If you want to hide the page, invert the logic of your condition.
• Enable/disable page: Makes the selected page editable. If you want to make the page read-only, invert the logic of your condition.
• Show/hide question: Makes the selected question visible. If you want to hide the question, invert the logic of your condition.
• Enable/disable question: Makes the selected question editable. If you want to make the question read-only, invert the logic of your condition.

If this logic applies to more than one answer to the question, choose Add Condition. An additional line will appear. Click Select… to choose a condition.

Continue this for as many conditions as this logic has. When you are finished, click Done. 

Now, when you navigate to the Logic tab, all of your branching logic rules will be listed.

Preview tab

The Preview tab is where you can see what your phase will look like to applicants. Here you can verify that your branching logic works as expected.  

JSON Editor tab

This shows the phase in JavaScript Object Notation format. This is helpful to review a full phase if you are familiar with JSON text. If not, don’t worry, you won’t need to use the JSON Editor tab.

Forms cannot be edited from the JSON editor. The page will be read-only.