Recently, I was creating an Airtable for a project I'm working on and, as I was generating a form to collect info from participants, I realized most people may not know about the Form feature. If you found my introduction to Airtable for Stage Managers tutorial interesting, you may want to take a look at one of the other useful features!
Do you distribute any sort of information form for the company to fill out, either at the start of the rehearsal process or when someone new joins the show? Whether you are a Stage Manager, Company Manager, Wardrobe Supervisor, or anyone who collects information of any kind, you may find this feature useful.
The idea is very similar to Google Forms, the main difference being that the responses are imported directly to your Airtable workspace, rather than a separate spreadsheet. This can save valuable time by reducing data entry time. It can be used for collecting all sorts of information: Contact Info, Meal or Travel Preferences (of interest to Company Managers, perhaps), Sized and undergarment preferences (of interest to wardrobe and costuming professionals), etc. Forms can be shared by link (sent via email, text message) or embedded onto a web page.
Step 1:
Create a “Form" View from the table into which you want the form submissions recorded.
(Here, I will "assume that you have already set up your table. If you want to learn more about Airtable in general, read more HERE.)
First, ensure that you are currently viewing the table you intend to use.
Click or hover over over the active view on the left-hand side of the toolbar (in this case, it's the "Info Cards" view) to reveal a task pane that will show all other views that you have created (or perhaps have been created by default as part of the template you used to create the table).
At the bottom of the pane, you will see the "Create a View" option. Use the "+" next to "Form," to create a form.
The new Form View will open.
Step 2:
Edit and customize the form.
*Note: some customization features require an Airtable Pro Plan, but a perfectly functional version is available with the free account.
Rename the view, if desired. Something like "Company Info Form" is usually fine.
The form, by default, will include every field in your table. You may want to edit or remove some fields. For example, I usually have a field for a cast member's final performance. I wouldn't want that on a form that I distribute at the start of the rehearsal process, so I would remove it. Same thing for any fields that you want to remain "for office use only," etc.
Simply drag a field out of the form and into the pane to the left to hide it. You can also add fields via the "Add a field" option, just below.
Drag the fields within the form to re-order them, if necessary. I also like to add a description underneath the title.
There is an option to further customize each field by clicking on it.
Add instructions, make the field "required," if you choose, or use the toggle switch at the bottom to show the field only when certain conditions are met in the previous fields.
You can also add a logo or cover image, although these are Pro features, and are purely aesthetic. The form functions perfectly fine without them.
At the bottom of the page, you will find a few additional customization options.
Edit the post-submission message, if desired, and set to “email me at ___” if you want to be notified when someone submits a new form.
Step 3:
Generate a sharable link and share it with your company.
Click the "Share Form" button, and copy the link that is shown. You can share the link however you prefer: Email, text message, etc. The form can even be embedded on a webpage if you or your company has any sort of online hub. I've also thought about linking the form to a QR code that can be scanned with a smartphone, but that has various pros and cons depending on the situation and the company. It's a cool idea though, I think. The Pro plan provides an option for password protecting the form, if you want to limit access, but the free account gives you the ability to disable the link at any time, should you need to do so.
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