Pre-filled forms

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. Open the Invitations panel for your form (via Manage Form → Invitations — see Create an invitation if you need the full path), then click Pre-fill Form.

   
   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.

   

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.

   

5. Click Save Pre-filled Form.

Click Preview PDF at any point to see how the pre-filled form will look to a recipient.

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, then click Bulk Pre-fill in the toolbar. This opens the Create Prefilled Invitations window.

   

2. Download CSV Template: Always start by downloading the system-generated template. This ensures your CSV headers match the required Field IDs (e.g., fid2 - Contact Reference).

   

   Note

   Uploads are limited to 100 invitations per upload. If your form has previously received a live test submission, the template will include that data as a sample — otherwise you’ll see “No sample data found.”

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: Drag your file into the window (or click to browse), then click Validate CSV.

   

   If successful, you’ll see a confirmation like “CSV is valid! Found [N] invitation(s), each with [N] field(s).” Click Create [N] Invitations to proceed, or Back to fix your file first.

5. Once created, you’ll see a “Success! Created [N] prefilled invitation(s)” message. Click Close to return to the form.

   Caution

   If data for a specific column isn’t appearing, that field may not actually be fillable. Open the form in the editor to check: a dashed outline means it’s a real field, while no outline means it’s just static text.

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

7. Click Save Pre-filled Form.

Ways to create pre-filled forms

Choose the method that best aligns with your workflow:

Video tutorial