Dropbox Form components overview

Form components are the fields that participants fill out when they receive your form. All forms are made up of different customizable components — each with its own set of helpful features. Below is an overview of each component and its customization options.

Though each component has its own set of customizations, most of them share these options:

• Label: You can customize the component label on the form.
• Required: You can require the component to be filled out by the participant.
• Pre-fill: Form-to-form mapping is a way to copy repetitive data from one form to the next.
• Placeholder: You can customize the example text to guide a participant.
• Help text: You can customize the specific helpful information you think the participant may need, like a clarification or explanation.

Below is an overview of each component and its customization options.

Text Input

Text Inputs are one of the most versatile components. Use this for any single-line text entry. You can edit the label of this component on your form for different situations, such as:

• Name
• Country of citizenship
• Foreign Tax Identifying Number
• Print name of signer
  
  

Multiple Choice

Use the Multiple Choice component to offer a pre-defined set of options to choose from. To change how this component is displayed, select Button, Dropdown, or List next to Presentation.

To allow multiple responses, click the toggle next to Allow Multiple Responses.

Checkbox

Use the Checkbox component to add a checkbox for participants to select. This is often used for asking participants to acknowledge something, agree to, or to indicate a choice or option.

Signature

The Signature component can be used for signature collection. Select Single Tap, Draw, or Type next to Signing Options to choose how you’d like participants to be able to sign.

Multi-line Text Input

The Multi-line Text Input component can be used for questions that need a slightly longer response such as, “Why do you want to work here?” or, “Why did you leave your last job?”

Features of the multi-line text input component:

• Starts off with a minimum of 50 character limit, but you can set it lower, if you’d like.
• Has an output field preview that displays lines to indicate how many lines of text it will likely generate.
• Font size is adjustable for uploaded PDFs.
• The maximum character limit is 500 or depending on depicted component size on the pdf.

Address

The Address component offers a simple way to collect US street addresses. It includes a built-in state selector and validation for zip codes.

Date

The Date component provides a simple way to collect valid dates on your form. Participants will be able to use a date picker on a calendar to fill this field out.

Phone Number

The Phone Number component is formatted to collect 10-digit (US) phone numbers.

Email Address

The Email Address component is similar to the Text Input component, but it includes preselected validation for email addresses.

ID Number

The ID Number component allows you to collect Social Security Number (SSN), Employee ID Number (EIN), or Social Insurance Number (SIN) on your form.

File Attachment

The File Attachment component allows participants to upload files when completing the form.

Files must be 20 MB or smaller and one of the following types:

• doc
• docx
• pdf
• ppt
• pptx
• jpg
• jpeg
• png
• xlsx
• txt
• gif
  
  

Conditional Rule

The Conditional Rule component allows you to selectively display other components based on participant inputs. This allows you to add follow-up questions only if they are relevant based on the participants’ answers.
 

Agreement Text

The Agreement Text component is only used to display text in a form and doesn’t collect participant information. It supports a full rich-text editor with basic formatting, styling, and links.

Calculation

The Calculation component allows you to combine two numeric values to produce a result within your form, using one of four basic mathematic operators (+, -, ×, ÷). Calculated results can be rounded to two 0-6 decimal places.

For example, if you create an order form and need to know how many cupcakes are needed, you can use the calculation component to automatically total the cost on the form.

If you type “quantity” into the first Value box, the number the participant enters will be used to calculate a result. This could be the number of cupcakes the participant would like to order.

When you type a number into the Value box, the total is displayed on the completed copy sent to the participant. This could be the cost per cupcake, and the participant would be sent the full cost for their order of cupcakes.
 

Instruction Text

The Instruction Text component allows you to customize instructions for the participant to follow. It will only be displayed on the form the participant fills out. Instruction Text doesn’t appear on the saved document.

Number Input

The Number Input component allows you to add a field where the participants can enter a numeric value. You can customize a minimum and maximum allowed range and the number of decimal places up to 6.