Merchant Guide

• Build from scratch — design your own fields. You can add an auto-generated PDF later.
• Start from a PDF — if you already have a fillable PDF (one with type-in form fields) that needs to be completed from each submission, upload it and the app builds a matching form for you, then fills a copy of the PDF on every submission.

Building from scratch. Give the form a Form name (for example, "Request a quote") and click Create form — you'll drop straight into the builder. The form's web address (/apps/forms/{handle}) is generated from the name automatically; you can change it any time in the builder's URL handle field.

Starting from a PDF. Choose Start from a PDF and pick your file under PDF file (max 10 MB). The app checks it before importing and shows a readiness verdict — from "Looks great — this PDF is ready to import" down to "We couldn't find fillable fields in this PDF." Below the verdict it tells you how many fillable fields it found, how many have generic names that will need cleanup, and how many button fields will be skipped. When the PDF has fillable fields, click Import this PDF to build the form.

If the verdict isn't ideal and you'd rather DPD prepare a clean, mapping-ready PDF for you, click Get help preparing your PDF.

Form details. At the top of Build, set the Title (shown on the form), an optional Intro text, and the Submit button label. Section display controls the overall layout: Standard — one continuous form, Collapsible sections (accordion), or Stepped wizard with side menu (Pro and Advanced).

Sections and fields. A form is organized into sections. Use + Add section to add one, and + Add field inside a section to add a field. Each field has a Label, an auto-generated Field key (edit it if you need a specific key), and a Type. The available types are Short text, Long text, Email, Phone, Number, Website / URL, Date, Dropdown, Radio buttons, Checkbox (single), Checkboxes (multi-select), Signature (typed name), Notice / static text, and File upload. Under More options you can add a Placeholder and Help text.

For each field you can tick Required; Sensitive / PII (masked in admin), which masks the value in your submissions list until you reveal it; and, for email fields, Use as submitter email, which tells the app where to send the visitor's confirmation.

Choices. For Dropdown, Radio buttons, and multi-select fields, add options under Choices — each has a Label and a Value. You can also select several single checkboxes and Combine into a group as Multi-select or Single choice.

Signatures. A Signature (typed name) field asks the visitor to type their full name as their signature, with a short consent line beneath it that you can edit under Disclaimer (shown under the field). In PDF output, the typed name can fill a signature field on your template.

File uploads. A File upload field takes one or more files — set Max files, and narrow what's allowed by ticking Accepted file types (nothing selected means all allowed types). Every upload is checked against the allowed types and the size limit twice: when the visitor picks the file, and again after it's uploaded.

Conditional reveal. To show a field only when an earlier answer matches, tick Only show conditionally on that field, then set the rule: When field (pick the controlling field), Condition (is exactly or includes), and This value.

Repeatable sections. Tick Allow multiple entries (repeat this section) to let visitors add more than one copy of a section — handy for line items, attendees, and the like. Set Show at least (how many copies appear by default) and Allow up to (the maximum, up to 20). Each field's key is suffixed per copy, for example name_2.

Reorder and preview. Drag the ⠿ handle to reorder sections and fields, or use the keyboard arrows and the Move to section control. Click Preview at the top to see how the form will look on your storefront (the spam check and upload controls are hidden in the preview).

Your plan sets how many recipients a form can have — the card notes "Your plan allows up to N recipient(s) per form." Once you reach that limit, the + Add recipient button is hidden. If your form collects files and your plan supports it, a File delivery option lets you choose whether small files are attached and large ones linked, or delivery is by download link only.

Customize the notification email (optional). By default the notification email contains a full table of everything submitted. Tick Write a custom notification email to compose your own Subject and Message instead — the Insert field… menu drops any of the form's answers (or a system value) into your text, and it's filled in for each submission. Tick Also include the full table of submitted values below your message to keep the complete record under your custom text. Available on every plan.

• Off — no PDF.
• Auto-generate from this form — every submission is turned into a PDF; you control its layout in Design (see Design & branding). This is the simplest option and works for most forms.
• Fill a PDF template (advanced) — upload a fillable PDF and match each form field to a field in the PDF; every submission fills a copy and locks it so it can't be edited afterwards. This is the most hands-on option, and it works best when the PDF's fields already have clear names.

Mapping a template (advanced). In template mode, a PDF template card appears. Upload your fillable PDF with Upload template; the card then shows the filename and how many of its fields are mapped. Each form field can fill one PDF field — pick the target from its dropdown (the default is — not filled —). Grouped choice fields fill one checkbox per option, and Auto-map by name matches them up quickly. A list at the bottom shows any PDF fields not filled by anything, so nothing is missed.

Matching fields by hand is only worth it when your PDF's fields are well named. Two easier paths get you a better result with less effort:

• If you're starting from the PDF, use Start from a PDF on the Forms list instead — it builds and lays out a matching form for you (see Create your first form above).
• If your PDF's fields have generic or missing names, let DPD prepare a clean, ready-to-map version of your document — every submission then fills it exactly. Look for Get help preparing your PDF on the import screen.

Auto-reply to submitter (Pro and Advanced). Send a "we got it" email to the address in the field you marked Use as submitter email (see Build your form). Tick Email a confirmation to the person who submitted this form, then write the Subject and Message — plain text; blank lines start a new paragraph. Tick Include a copy of their submission to attach what they sent, along with the generated PDF if PDF output is on. If no field is marked as the submitter email yet, the card points that out so the reply has somewhere to go.

• Brand — your Logo (upload a PNG or JPEG up to 2 MB, then set Placement and Max height), Colors (Headings, Body text, Labels / secondary, Divider rules, Page background), and Spacing density (Compact / Normal / Spacious). The brand kit applies to both the storefront form and the generated PDF.
• Storefront form — how the form looks to visitors: the form box, fields, submit button, spacing, and confirmation message, with a Live preview.
• PDF — applies when PDF output is Auto-generate: page size, header and footer, whether to show the title, logo, and page numbers, and per-section layout (grid or table).

Use Save draft only to keep changes without going live, or Save & publish to apply them to new submissions. One note on the logo: after uploading, click Save draft only to keep it — until you save, it shows as "Uploaded — not saved yet."

If you later move to a plan without Design, your styling is paused, not lost: the storefront falls back to the standard look, the Forms list shows a "brand styling paused" notice, and everything returns the moment you're on Pro or Advanced again — no republish needed. PDFs that were already generated keep the look they were created with.

The status badge tells you where the form stands: Live (enabled and published), Enabled · unpublished (enabled, but nothing published yet), Disabled, or Retired. A note beside it flags Unsaved changes or Unpublished changes — Publish to apply. If anything blocks publishing, the reasons are listed under Before publishing:.

Retiring a form is done from the Forms list, not the builder — it takes the form off the storefront and makes it read-only while keeping its submissions, and frees up a form slot.

Embed it on a page with the theme block. In Online Store → Themes → Customize, open the page where you want the form, click Add block (or Add section), and choose Form embed from the Apps group.

In the block's settings, pick your form from the Form dropdown — it lists every published form. If a form is missing there, publish it in the app first. (You can also type the form's URL handle into Form key (manual) instead — pasting the full /apps/forms/… path works too — but the picker wins when both are set.)

The block has optional styling settings (container, text, inputs, button, spacing, confirmation message); anything you leave unset falls back to the house style you set in Design. The styling overrides apply on Pro and Advanced — on Free and Basic the live form keeps its standard look, and the theme editor shows a note saying so. Layout settings — Max width, the side panel, and spacing — work on every plan. If the form is set to redirect after submitting, Redirect after submit (optional) overrides the destination for this placement only.

Show something beside the form (optional). Turn on Show a side panel to place content next to the form — handy for a contact form with a map, store details, or a few highlights. Pick what it shows under Panel content:

• Google Map — paste a Google Maps embed URL (in Google Maps: Share → Embed a map → copy the src URL from the iframe).
• Single image + text — one image with a block of text.
• Image + text cards — a stack of up to six cards, each an icon or an image plus text. Choose an icon from the built-in set (truck, map pin, phone, star, shield, handshake, and more) or upload your own image (an uploaded image replaces the icon for that card). You can set the number of cards, where the text sits (below, above, or overlaid on the image), the icon size and color, and the space between cards.

Choose which side the panel sits on and how wide it is (up to 70% on desktop; the panel stacks below the form on phones), and set the space between the form and panel. To control the overall size, set Max width — it caps and centers the whole block, so on a full-width section it won't stretch edge to edge.

This is the step most people miss: a published form that isn't linked or embedded anywhere simply won't appear to your visitors.

A received submission is also the signal the app uses to auto-complete the last step of the home-page Get started guide, so a successful test both confirms everything is connected end to end and finishes onboarding. The submission itself appears under Submissions — the next section covers what you can do with it.

On a submission. The Details section shows when it arrived, which form it used, the submitter, the spam-check result, and the recipients it was sent to. Submitted values lists every answer. Fields you marked Sensitive / PII are masked — click Reveal sensitive fields to show them (revealing is recorded in the activity log). Files lists each upload with a Download link; a file past its retention window reads Expired (file purged), and a file rejected by the upload checks shows the reason.

Actions. Resend notification re-sends the email to the form's recipients. Download PDF prepares the filled PDF, when the form has PDF output. The store owner can also Delete submission — this removes its files too and can't be undone. If the submission is under a minimum-retention floor (an Advanced feature — see Retention below), the delete is held rather than immediate: the submission is queued and removed when the floor passes, so a legal retention promise can't be broken with one click.

Exporting. On the Submissions list, pick a form in the Form filter, then Export CSV to download that form's submissions. Any staff member with access to the app can export; each export is recorded in the activity log, because it moves personal data out of the app. (Values that look like spreadsheet formulas are prefixed with an apostrophe in the CSV so they open as plain text, not as a formula.)

Activity log (Pro and Advanced). Each submission keeps an Activity log — who viewed, revealed, downloaded, resent, exported, or deleted it, and when — so access to sensitive data stays accountable.

Retention. How long submissions and their files are kept is set per form on the Settings tab under Data & retention — how long records are kept and how long files are kept, each capped by your plan (see Plans & limits); files are purged first, the record stays until its own window ends. On Advanced you can also set a Minimum retention floor with a reason (say, a legal requirement to keep applications for several years): while a submission is under its floor, the automatic cleanup skips it, a GDPR erasure is deferred until the floor passes, and deletes are held the same way.