PlatoForms User Guide
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  • Form Builder

    Creating an Online Form for an Existing PDF

  • Custom Domain

    With Builder you can build three types of forms: online web forms, online PDF forms, and master forms.

  • Master Form Builder

    you will arrive at the Form Builder. On the form Builder, there are three main sections:

What's new? API Docs

Pre-filled forms

Tabs

This guide covers the methods for pre-filling form data, including manual entry for individual invitations and bulk uploads via CSV.

What is a pre-filled form?

Pre-filling allows you to populate form fields with data before sending them to respondents. When a recipient opens the invitation link, the designated fields are already filled in with the information you provided manually or via a CSV file.

Apply pre-filled form

PlatoForms offers two ways to pre-fill your invitations: Manually for individual recipients or in Bulk via CSV upload.

Individual Pre-fill (Manual)

Use this method when you want to customize data for a single respondent.

  1. After setting up your invitation, click Pre-fill Form in the Invitation panel.

    Pre-filled form button
    This will open a new page displaying the associated form.

  2. On the associated form, fill in the info you want. The fields you fill will turn yellow.

    Pre-filled field status

  3. Change these pre-filled fields’ status by clicking the eye or pen icons:

    • Hidden (Eye icon crossed): The pre-filled field is invisible to respondents.
    • Read-only (Pen icon crossed): Respondents can see the data but cannot change it.
    • Editable: Respondents can see and modify the pre-filled content.

  4. (Optional) Use the global toggles at the top to set whether pre-filled fields are Read-only or Hidden for all recipients.

    Pre-filled field status

  5. Click Save Pre-filled Form.

Bulk Pre-fill (via CSV)

If you need to send invitations to hundreds of recipients with unique data for each, use the Bulk Pre-fill feature to save hours of manual entry.

  1. In the Invitation panel, click Pre-fill Form and select Bulk Pre-fill.

    Bulk prefill

  2. Download CSV Template: Always start by downloading the system-generated template. This ensures your CSV headers match the required Field IDs (e.g., fid4 - Name).

    Download CSV Template

  3. Prepare your data: Add your recipient emails and their specific data into the CSV.

    Note

    Ensure your file is saved as a UTF-8 CSV so the system recognizes the formatting and IDs correctly

  4. Upload and Validate: Upload your file and click Validate.

    Validate CSV

  5. (Optional) Use the global toggles at the top to set whether pre-filled fields are Read-only or Hidden for all recipients.

    Pre-filled field status

  6. Click Save Pre-filled Form.

Ways to create pre-filled forms

Choose the method that best aligns with your workflow:

Option Description
Individual Pre-fill Manually fill out a form for one specific recipient. Ideal for highly customized, one-off cases.
Bulk Pre-fill (CSV) Upload a CSV to generate mass invitations with unique data. Perfect for high-volume distributions.
“Initial value” Set default values for Text Input fields, filling them in automatically when the form loads.
“Save for later” Pre-fill your form fields and provide a link for respondents to complete the rest later. Note: This isn’t mainly for pre-filling, but for respondents to save and continue filling out forms at a later time. Since respondents can edit saved data, you might not be able to track previous records if they make changes

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