Can I automatically duplicate fields across 2 different forms?

Hi

Hope someone can advise on the following.

I am using JotForm to simplify the paperwork trail for a field service engineer.  I am currently using 2 x different forms:

Form 1 is a "job booking form".  It is generated by the office and sent to the engineer (emailed or uploaded to the cloud).  It contains the customer name, address, access times, details of the work required, etc.

Form 2 is a "job completion form".  It is filled in by the engineer after the visit and sent back to the office (automatically emailed when he hits "Submit" at the end of the form).  It also contains the customer name, address and details of the work required, as well as health & safety info, parts used, customer sign-off, etc.

I'm keen to avoid the engineer having to retype all of the customer info into his Android tablet if possible.  Seems like an unnecessary duplication of effort?

Is there any way the critical fields could be married across the two forms automatically, or could the whole booking form be automatically sucked into the job completion form to make a new header page?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Hello @mikeatactive - You can automatically pass the field data of a form to another. Here's a guide on How-to-Automatically-Pass-Form-Data-to-Another-Form. The process will be automatic which means as soon as you submit the first form, you'll be redirected immediately to the second form with all the customer info added to it.

Now, if what you need is for the engineer to fill out the second form at a later date, what I can suggest is to use a pre-populated URL of the second form. Add it to the email notification that is set to be sent to the engineer when the first form is submitted.

Here's a guide on Prepopulating-Fields-to-Your-JotForm-via-URL-Parameters.

While here's a guide on How-to-Edit-the-Email-Template-for-Notifications-and-Autoresponder.

Brilliant, thanks for the quick and detailed response!  I'll have a play with the ideas you've suggested and let you know how I get on.

Thanks again

Hi again

I definitely need the form to be usable at a later date, so it's the second option you recommended above.

Not sure I'm doing any of this right, but here's where I've got to:

I have copied the URL of the booking form (ie the originating form with the fields to be cloned) and added "?customer" after the URL.   I haven't added "=xxxxx" as suggested by your help page, because that suggests an absolute reference, rather than a dynamic one, ie I need the fields to represent the variable data added each time, rather than the name being "Smith" every time???  Have I misunderstood?

I then move to the second form (the engineer's job sign off form where I want the duplicate fields to pre-populate), I highlight the "customer" field, go Properties, Advanced, Field Details.  I then paste the copied URL with the appended "?customer" (eg https://form.jotform.com/123456789?customer) into the Unique Name box.

After that I'm stuck.  What I'd like to happen now is for that form to be automatically emailed to the engineer after submission AND for it to be sent to the cloud (Google drive maybe, but I'm flexible), so the engineer has two different ways of picking up the form.

I must be missing something obvious at the moment, since it's not working as I'd hoped.

Thanks

Hi, 

Would you kindly try to use https://prepopulate.jotform.io/ app for your form? If this app doesn't fulfill your needs, can you share the forms you want to prepopulate and we will try to give you the easiest solution for your needs?

In addition to the above, the app generates a link for you and you'll able to see prepopulated areas on the link easily. 

Please let us know if you require more assistance. 

Hi

Thanks you.  The app works perfectly, but

1) The engineer sign-off form (the second form, intended to receive the pre-populated fields) needs to contain extra pages and a number of mandatory fields, unlike the job booking form (the donor form).  So what I'm looking to do is take certain key fields (or the entire page - I'm not bothered) from the donor form and drop them automatically into the engineers sign-off form, basically to make page 1 of that second form.  If the URL generated by the prepopulate app can be used as page 1 of the engineers sign-off form, with the additional pages being specific to the engineers sign-off, it might still work?

2) The beauty of the original jotform page is that the office-based operator inputting the data can't really go wrong - when  they hit submit, the form is emailed to the engineer.  With the prepopulate app the operator has to copy the URL and send it.  I think it would be too easy to successfully complete the form, but to then forget to send it to the engineer!  Unless that process can be automated, I'm not sure it's a practical solution.

I therefore think it might be best to stick with the original plan.  I'll look at sharing the forms later.

Many thanks

OK, here are the two forms.  The first one is a single page and needs to share all of the fields with the second form, preferably being sent by email to the engineer AND saved to the cloud (Google drive?) when the operator hits Submit.

The second form uses the first form as page 1, but also incorporates a lot more info over multiple pages.

Thanks

https://form.jotform.com/201922353686357

https://form.jotform.com/201895002236045

Greetings,

Thanks for providing additional details!

Let's step by step review the possible solutions for your needs:

The first one is a single page and needs to share all of the fields with the second form

1) To repopulate your second form (large one), with the values from the first form, please copy this link below and paste it as the redirect link for your thank you page of your first form:

https://form.jotform.com/201895002236045?customer={customer}&address={address}&contact1={contact1}&contact2={contact1}&tel={tel}&purchaseOrder={purchaseOrder}&deliveryNote={deliveryNote}&startTime={startTime}&timeAble=a{timeAble}&scaffoldRequired21={scaffoldRequired21}&tel71={tel71}&installers95={installers95}&briefDescription={briefDescription}

Then, you can test your first form using test data and confirm whether your second form gets prepopulated.

2) Sent by email to the engineer AND saved to the cloud (Google drive?)

You need to set up Email notification and set your engineers email address as a recipient by following this guide below:

https://www.jotform.com/help/25-Setting-up-Email-Notifications

It is also quite easy to integrate your form with Google drive. Please check this guide below:

https://www.jotform.com/help/192-How-to-Integrate-a-Form-with-Google-Drive

Hope this helps.

Please give a try and let us know if you have any further questions.

Thank you in advance!

Great, thanks.

1) The test worked fine.

2) The "send by email to to the engineer" also works fine, BUT what the engineer receives is the completed pdf report, NOT a link to the online form for them to continue completing the remaining unpopulated pages.

Have I missed something?

Hello - Apologies for the confusion.

You can add a link in the Notification Email and then paste the below URL parameter on that link.

https://form.jotform.com/201895002236045?customer={customer}&address={address}&contact1={contact1}&contact2={contact1}&tel={tel}&purchaseOrder={purchaseOrder}&deliveryNote={deliveryNote}&startTime={startTime}&timeAble=a{timeAble}&scaffoldRequired21={scaffoldRequired21}&tel71={tel71}&installers95={installers95}&briefDescription={briefDescription}

Screencast for reference:

Give it a try and let us know how it goes.

I will try that - thanks