Public forms

A public link lets people who have no UnitX account fill in one of your forms, such as a supplier, a job applicant or a member of the public. They get that one form and nothing else: no account, no seat, and no view of anything else in your organization. You decide who may submit, and you can take the link back at any time.

Who can use it#

Share a form publicly#

1. Publish the form first

   A link on an unpublished, paused or archived form doesn’t work. Respondents see the published version, so publish the questions you actually want answered. See Publish, pause and archive.

2. Decide who can submit

   In the Public link section, choose Who can submit:

   • Anyone, no email needed: fully anonymous submissions.
   • Anyone who gives an email: respondents must enter an email address.
   • Only certain email domains: respondents must give an email on one of the Allowed email domains you list, separated by commas (for example partner.example, supplier.example). A subdomain isn’t included unless you list it too.

3. Set an expiry, if you want one

   Enter Expires (optional). The date can’t be in the past. Without one, the link works until you withdraw it.

4. Write the messages

   • Thank-you message: shown after someone submits, for example “Thanks — we will be in touch.”
   • Message when the form is closed: shown when the form can no longer take submissions, for example because a limit or deadline was reached.
   • Redirect after submitting (optional): a web address to send people to instead of the thank-you message. Only destinations an administrator has allowed in advance can be used.

5. Issue the link

   Select Issue public link. The section’s badge changes from Members only to the access you chose, and the link appears as https://…/f/….

6. Share it

   Select Copy link and send it by email, put it on your website or print it. The address contains nothing about your organization or the form, so it gives nothing away before it is opened.

What respondents see#

The public page is outside the UnitX app: no sidebar and no sign-in. It shows:

• The form’s name and, for forms with pages, “Step N of M” with the page title.
• Your email and Your name (optional) on the first page, if the form requires an email.
• Each question, with an asterisk on required ones. Choice questions appear as a list, long text as a text box, and number, date, email and web address questions as the matching browser controls. Unusual types fall back to plain text.
• Next and Back buttons between pages, and Submit on the last page. Answers are kept while moving between pages.
• If an answer is refused, the reason is shown above the buttons.

After submitting, respondents see your thank-you message (or “Thank you”) and their reference number, with a note to keep it. If you set a redirect, they are sent there once the submission is saved.

If the link is wrong, withdrawn or expired, they see “This form is not available” and are asked to get a current link from whoever sent it. All three cases show the same message on purpose, so nobody can work out which links are real.

Replace or withdraw a link#

Issue a new link#

Change the settings and select Issue a new link. The old link stops working immediately. This is how you take back a link that has been shared more widely than you meant.

Withdraw the link#

Select Withdraw link. The form goes back to Members only and the link stops working immediately. Submissions already received are kept.

Protection against abuse#

• Submissions are rate-limited per internet address, per form and per email address. By default that is 20 submissions per address, 200 per form and 5 per email address for each form, every 10 minutes. Your administrator may have changed these numbers.
• Any caps or deadline set on the form apply to public submissions too.
• Answers are checked against the published form, just like members’ answers.
• Any HTML pasted into an answer is removed before it is stored; the words are kept.
• Public form pages are hidden from search engines.

After someone submits#

Public submissions appear in the form’s Submissions section with a reference number like any other, and the form’s creator is notified. If the form asked for an email, it is recorded with the submission. “Anyone, no email needed” records no identity.

Questions#

Related pages#

• Forms
• Requests
• External collaborators