Share links

Create and manage links

One form can have several share links, each with its own settings.

Creating a share link

1. 1

   Publish your form

   The first publish creates the form's first share link.

2. 2

   Open the Public link sheet

   Open the form and click Public link, the link icon at the top right. Pick a link from the dropdown, or click Create new link.

3. 3

   Name the link

   Under Link, give it a name such as "Newsletter, May". Only you see the name. Unnamed links show as "Link 1", "Link 2", and so on.

4. 4

   Set optional limits

   Open Appearance, Limits, or Query parameters if you need them. Changes save as you type.

Link settings

• On Pro and Business, a Custom URL puts the link on one of your custom domains, at an address like forms.yoursite.com/feedback. The slug has 3 to 64 lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens.

• The Default language is the language people see when they arrive through this link. They can still switch.

• With Set expiration date, the link stops at the end of that day, in your local time. Visitors then see “Link expired”.

• Limit response slots caps how many responses this link accepts. See Response limits.

Give each place you share the form its own link, such as one for your newsletter and one for social media, or one in French and one in English. You can then compare them in Analytics.

Revoking a link

Click Revoke at the bottom of the sheet. The link stops taking responses and shows “Link revoked”. Its responses stay. Click Re-activate to turn it back on. Moving a form to Trash revokes all its links; after a restore, re-activate each one.

Deleting a link

Open the ⋯ menu at the bottom of the sheet and click delete. A link without responses is removed. A link with responses is revoked instead, so its responses and analytics stay.

UTM tags for campaign tracking

UTM tags tell Analytics where a visitor came from. Add them to a share link you post somewhere, and the visit shows under that source in the Traffic Sources chart:

• utm_source says where the traffic comes from, such as facebook or newsletter.

• utm_medium says how it arrives, such as social, email or cpc. It sets the category in Traffic Sources.

• utm_campaign names the campaign, such as may-launch.

https://forms.yoursite.com/feedback?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=product-launch

Without UTM tags, Formstep uses the site the visitor came from, which some apps hide. UTM values are not saved with each submission. To save one, add a hidden field with the same name, such as utm_source. It then shows in the submissions table too.

Add them without editing the URL

The Query parameters section of the Public link sheet lists the three UTM tags and every hidden field on the form. Values you fill in are added to the copied link and the QR code, but not to embed and popup snippets.

QR codes

In the Public link sheet, pick a link and click the QR Code card, then Download PNG (512 × 512 px). The code opens the same URL as Copy link. Use one link per placement, such as one for a poster and one for packaging. Scan a test print before you print many.

Social preview

A link posted in chat or on social media shows a preview with the form’s title and description. To change the title, description, image and icon, open Appearance, Share link preview in the Public link sheet.

On a custom domain, you can also set defaults for all forms on the domain, and hide forms from search engines. Forms on formstep.io are always hidden from search engines.

Next steps