# Send a request

Send a published form to one person from the New request sheet, with the answers you already know filled in and locked where they may only confirm.

## Send one by hand

1. **Open the New request sheet**

   Open a published form and click **New request**, the paper plane icon at the top right of the form page.

2. **Say who it is for**

   Under _Who is it for?_, enter their email and name. The email is needed even if you will send the link yourself.

3. **Fill in what you know**

   Under _What they see_, fill in the answers you already have. Click **Lock** on any answer they may only confirm.

4. **Choose Email or Link**

   **Email** has Formstep send the invitation, on Pro and Business. On Free, your first [10 invitations](https://formstep.io/docs/subscription-billing/limits-quotas/#free-invitations) go to your own address only. **Link** emails nothing and gives you the link to send however you like.

5. **Send it**

   Click **Send invitation** or **Create link**. The request appears on the [Requests page](https://formstep.io/docs/requests/managing-requests/).

![The New request sheet with a recipient, two prefilled answers, one of them locked, and Email or Link beside Send invitation](https://formstep.io/docs/images/requests/request-sheet.png)

The New request sheet: who it is for, what they see, and how it reaches them.

Under **Callback and options** you can change when the request expires (30 days unless you set 1 to 365) and add an **External id**, your own reference such as a CRM record. To send the same form to a list of people, see [Bulk send](https://formstep.io/docs/requests/bulk-send/).

## Prefill, locked fields and hidden fields

A request can carry three kinds of values for one person.

| Value | Use it for | The recipient |
| - | - | - |
| Prefill | Answers you already know, such as their company name | Sees it and can change it |
| Locked field | Facts they only confirm, such as a contract number | Sees it and cannot change it |
| Hidden field | Values the form needs but does not ask, such as a case number | Cannot change it, and sees it only where you show it |

### Prefill

Prefilled answers save the recipient typing: they check and correct instead. Formstep does not look the values up for you. Fill them in by hand, or let your workflow look them up first, for example in [HubSpot](https://formstep.io/docs/integrations/hubspot/#requests).

### Locked fields

A locked answer is shown but cannot be changed. Locking applies to this one request, not to the form. A locked answer needs a value, or the recipient could never submit.

### Hidden fields

Values for the form’s [hidden fields](https://formstep.io/docs/building-forms/hidden-fields/), such as a case number or an amount. Logic, calculated fields and email text can use them, and they come back unchanged with the answers. They are not secret: the recipient sees a value wherever you [mention](https://formstep.io/docs/building-forms/answer-piping/) it in the form or the invitation.

Repeating groups, multi-select questions, matrices and files can only be filled in from a workflow. The sheet says how many such fields the form has.

## Try it on yourself first

**Try it yourself**, at the bottom of the sheet, creates a test request from what you filled in and gives you its link. Answer it as the recipient would. A test request emails nobody, does not count toward your monthly allowance, and expires after a day. On Free you can make 10 a day. Its answers stay out of the inbox, stats, exports and integrations. To find it on the Requests page, open **Filter** and tick **Show test requests**.

## What the recipient sees

Your form, in your theme and their language, with their answers filled in and locked answers read-only. There is no captcha and no sign-in. A request has no message of its own, so put what they need to know in the form. A [mention](https://formstep.io/docs/building-forms/answer-piping/) of a prefilled or hidden value makes it personal.

![A request opened by the recipient: their name filled in and locked, with the note 'Filled in by the sender.', and their email filled in](https://formstep.io/docs/images/requests/recipient-prefilled.png)

The recipient opens your form with the prefilled answers in place.

## Send requests from a workflow

Zapier, Make, n8n, an AI agent or your own code can create the same request, with the same prefill, locks and hidden fields. Fill in the sheet once, then open the **⋯** menu and choose **From an automation**: it shows the request you filled in as a ready-made call. See the [automation guides](https://formstep.io/docs/guides/overview/), or [Create requests from code](https://formstep.io/docs/developers/requests-api/) for every option.

> **What a request costs**
>
> Each request counts once toward your [monthly allowance](https://formstep.io/docs/subscription-billing/limits-quotas/) when you create it, whether or not anyone answers. Public link submissions share the same allowance.

## Next steps

[Bulk send](https://formstep.io/docs/requests/bulk-send/) — Send one form to a list of people

[Invitations, reminders & expiry](https://formstep.io/docs/requests/invitations-and-reminders/) — The email, the reminders and when a request ends

[The Requests page](https://formstep.io/docs/requests/managing-requests/) — Follow every request you sent

[Field keys](https://formstep.io/docs/requests/field-keys/) — The names a workflow uses for your fields