Field configuration
Every field on a form has the same four configuration sections in the right panel: Type Options (specific to the field type), Basic (label, placeholder, help text), Validation (required + per-type rules), and Appearance (width). Click any field card in the builder to open them.
Basic
This block is identical for every field type.
Label
The text shown above the field. Visible to the visitor. Required — the form won't save with an empty label on a non-display field.
Placeholder
Grey-text hint inside the input before the visitor types. Not shown for checkboxes, radios, file uploads, ratings, hidden fields, headings, or dividers — those don't have an input box to put hint text in.
Help text
A smaller line of text below the input. Use it for examples ("e.g. +1 555 0100"), clarifications ("Optional — only fill if relevant"), or short instructions ("Photos under 5MB; JPG or PNG").
Not shown for dividers.
Validation
Lets you tighten what counts as a valid answer. Different field types expose different controls.
Required (all input fields)
Toggle on to force the visitor to fill the field. Empty required fields show an inline error and prevent submission.
Headings and dividers don't have a required toggle — they're display-only.
For a single checkbox (a yes/no without options), required means "must be ticked." So a "I agree to be contacted" checkbox with required on will block submission if unticked.
Text / Textarea
- Min length — submission must be at least this many characters
- Max length — submission can't exceed this many characters
Leave either blank to skip that check.
Number
- Min — number must be ≥ this
- Max — number must be ≤ this
- Step — granularity (e.g.
1for whole numbers,0.5for halves,0.01for two decimal places)
File upload
- Allowed file types — choose preset groups (PDF, Images, Documents, Spreadsheets) and/or list custom extensions like
.dwg, .ai, .zip - Max file size (MB) — between 1 and 100
Uploads that fail either check are rejected on the client before the form submits — the visitor sees the error and can re-pick a file without losing the rest of the form.
Rating
- Max stars — slider from 1 to 10. Defaults to 5.
A required rating field rejects submission if the visitor leaves it on zero stars.
Type Options
The field-type-specific block. It only appears for field types that have type-specific settings.
Select / Multi-select / Radio / Checkbox-with-options
Edit the option list. Each row has a label (what the visitor sees) and a value (what gets stored). Drag rows to reorder; click the trash icon to delete; click + Add option to append a new row.
When you first add a choice field, GCM seeds one default option (Option 1 / option_1) so the form isn't broken before you've filled in anything.
Heading
- Heading level — H2, H3, or H4. Affects font size and weight; doesn't affect semantic meaning beyond CSS.
File upload
(also shown in the Type Options block alongside Validation — same controls as documented above)
Hidden
- Default value — what gets submitted with the form. Visible only to admins viewing the submission.
Appearance
Width
Sets how much horizontal space the field takes on desktop. Three options:
- Full — full width of the form
- Half — 50% (pair two half-width fields side by side)
- Third — 33% (three fields in a row)
On mobile, every field renders full-width regardless of this setting. The grid only kicks in at the sm Tailwind breakpoint (640px and up).
A small preview bar under the buttons shows what the layout will look like — three thin segments for third, two for half, one for full.
Sections
Sections are configured at the section level, not the field level. Click anywhere on the section header that isn't the section title and you get the section's own little context — title, description, drag handle, delete button.
Use sections to:
- Group related fields — visitors process the form faster when it's chunked
- Show different headings — section labels only show on the public form when there's more than one section, so a single-section form is "headless" by design
- Reorder large blocks — drag a section to swap its position with another; the fields move with it
To delete a section, click the trash icon on its header. If the section contained any fields, they're rescued — they move to the section immediately above (or to the first remaining section if you deleted the topmost one). The form will refuse to delete your last remaining section so you always have somewhere for fields to live.
Form-level settings
Click anywhere on the canvas outside a field, or click the close button on the field-config panel, and the right side switches to Form settings:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Form ID | UUID. Read-only. Use this if you're hitting the form API directly or referencing the form in a workflow trigger. Click the copy icon to grab it. |
| Submit button text | Override the default "Submit" — e.g. "Send my prayer request." Preview button updates as you type. |
| Success message | Text shown after submission. Defaults to "Thank you for your submission!" |
| Redirect URL | If set, the form redirects to this URL 1.5 seconds after success (instead of staying on the success message indefinitely). |
| Notification emails | One email per line. Validated for proper format. By itself does nothing — see the warning below. |
| Require authentication | If on, only logged-in admins can submit. Most forms leave this off. |
| Allow multiple submissions | If off, the same visitor can only submit once (tracked by browser fingerprint). Defaults to on. |
| Max submissions | Cap the total number of submissions the form will accept. Past the cap, the form returns "Submissions closed." Blank means unlimited. |
Notification emails need a workflow
The notification-emails field saves the addresses but doesn't actually send anything on its own. To send a real notification, build a workflow with the form.submitted trigger filtered to this form, and use a Send email action. See Workflow integration.