Building and using intake forms

Intake forms are how you ask clients for the information you need before their first visit. ApptOnly's form builder handles the design, sending, reminders, and storage. (intake forms explainer)

Building a form

From the dashboard, go to Intake forms, New form. Give it a name (this is internal; clients see a different title you set inside) and start adding questions.

Field types available:

• Short text — names, single-line answers.
• Long text — descriptions, medical history, "what do you want from today's session."
• Yes/no — boolean checks.
• Single-select — multiple-choice, pick one.
• Multi-select — multiple-choice, pick any.
• Number — for things like age or pain level.
• Date — date of birth, last visit elsewhere.
• Phone, email, address — pre-validated formats.
• Signature — for waivers.
• File upload — if you ever need a doc from a client (a referral, for example).

Each field has options: required versus optional, help text shown below the question, character limits.

Conditional logic

Fields can be shown or hidden based on earlier answers. The most common pattern: "Are you pregnant?" with a yes/no, and a follow-up trimester question that only appears if they answer yes. Set this up under the conditional question's settings; pick the parent question and the value that triggers showing this question.

Use conditional logic to make a form feel short even when it covers a lot. A client who answers "no" to nine yes/no questions does not see the follow-ups for any of them; the form ends quickly.

How long is too long

The honest answer depends on your audience, but a rule of thumb:

• Fewer than 5 questions is brief enough to feel optional, and that is fine for booking notes.
• 5 to 15 questions is the sweet spot for a real intake form.
• 15 to 25 questions is acceptable for first-visit intakes on more involved services (medical massage, longer skincare protocols).
• More than 25 questions starts to drop completion rates fast. Use conditional logic to hide most of them; almost no client should see all of them.

Attaching to services

Once the form is built, attach it to the services that should send it (services guide). A form can be attached to one service or many.

When a client books an attached service:

• If they have not submitted this form within the lookback window, ApptOnly sends the form link in a separate email.
• If they have submitted it within the lookback window, ApptOnly skips the send. They are not asked to redo it.

The lookback window defaults to one year. You can adjust it on the form's settings if you want clients to re-submit annually, or never, or some other cadence.

Finding responses

Three places to find a submitted form:

1. On the booking detail. The intake response is shown inline on the appointment.
2. On the client profile. The Intake tab lists every response that client has ever submitted, in date order.
3. In the Intake Forms submissions tab. A flat feed of every response across all clients, filterable by form and date.

Editing a form later

You can edit a form after it has been sent out. A few rules to keep your historical data clean:

• Adding new questions is safe. They show up on new responses; past responses keep their original shape.
• Changing question text is mostly safe. Past responses show what was asked at the time, so the labels do not "rewrite history."
• Deleting a question is destructive; ApptOnly warns you. Past responses to that question stay viewable but the question itself is gone from new sends.

When intake forms are not the right tool

For booking-specific notes ("anything I should know today?"), use the booking notes field on the appointment instead of building a one-question form. The note appears on the appointment without sending the client a separate task.