# Build your form

Go from an empty canvas to a published form. Every request and every share link starts from one.

## Publish in four steps

The editor works like a document: type where you want text, and add questions from the Blocks tab or with the `/` key.

1. **Start a new form**

   Open **Forms** in the sidebar and click **+ Form**, then pick **Start empty**. The same screen offers **Use a template** and **Build with AI**, which opens the AI chat in the bottom-right corner. To try the editor without an account, go to [app.formstep.io/try](https://app.formstep.io/try).

2. **Add questions**

   Click a block in the **Blocks** tab on the right, or press **/** in the form and pick one. Type the label, then press Enter. Drag the handle on the left of a block to move it.

3. **Preview**

   Click **Preview** in the top bar to answer the form as your recipient will.

4. **Publish**

   Click **Publish**, top right. The form goes live and opens on its own page, with **Public link** and **New request** at the top. In the editor, **Inbox** takes you back to that page.

![A new form's start screen with three cards: Start empty, Use a template, and Build with AI](https://formstep.io/docs/images/introduction/new-form-start.png)

A new form asks how to start. Build with AI opens the AI chat in the bottom-right corner.

![The editor with the slash menu open in the form and the Blocks tab on the right](https://formstep.io/docs/images/introduction/empty-editor.png)

Add a question with / in the form, or from the Blocks tab on the right.

> **Other ways to start**
>
> Open **Templates** in the sidebar for ready-made forms, or open AI chat, bottom right, and describe the form you need. See [Use AI chat](https://formstep.io/docs/ai/using-ai/).

## What publishing does

Each publish saves a version. People who already opened the form keep that version while you edit the draft, and you can see every version in [Publish history](https://formstep.io/docs/building-forms/version-history/). Publishing also creates the form’s first share link and turns on **New request**.

> **Safe to experiment**
>
> Edits save as a draft. People answering your form see the last published version until you publish again.

## Send it or share it

Send a [request](https://formstep.io/docs/getting-started/send-your-first-request/) when one person owes you answers and you want to know when they reply. Use the [public link](https://formstep.io/docs/getting-started/share-a-public-link/) when anyone may answer, as often as you allow. The same form can go out both ways at once.

## Next steps

[Send your first request](https://formstep.io/docs/getting-started/send-your-first-request/) — Assign the form you just published to one person

[Understanding the editor](https://formstep.io/docs/building-forms/understanding-the-editor/) — Top bar, side panel, blocks, theme, and settings

[Question types](https://formstep.io/docs/building-forms/field-types/) — Text, choice, file upload, payment, decision, and more

[Use AI chat](https://formstep.io/docs/ai/using-ai/) — Build a form from one prompt