Pre-populate form fields

Fill a question in before the visitor arrives: a fixed default answer, a value copied from another field, or data passed in through the link.

If you already know a visitor's name, email or rating, there is no reason to make them type it again. A question in Tinyform can open with an answer already in it: a value you wrote, the answer to another question, or something the link carried in through a hidden field.

Add a default answer

Every question except a file upload, a signature and a matrix takes a default answer. If the visitor submits without changing it, the default is what lands in the submission.

Open the block settings
In the editor at /forms/<id>/edit, hover the question and click the handle in its left margin.
Turn on Default answer
Switch on Default answer. A box labelled "Prefilled value" appears.
Type a value or pick a source
Type the value, or open the picker on the right. It offers Date utilities (Today), Input fields, Calculated fields and Hidden fields. The × clears a picked source; Clear default answer empties the row.

An email question in the editor with its block menu open, Default answer switched on and Your email picked under Input fields

A default that points at another field follows that field live: the box opens empty, fills in as the source is answered, and stops following the moment the visitor types into it.

Preselect a multiple choice, multi-select, dropdown, or checkbox

Add a multiple choice, multi-select, dropdown or checkboxes question, open its settings and turn on Default answer. Then either:

type the option's text into the box, or
pick another field whose answer will be one of the options.

Dog typed into the Prefilled value box of a multiple choice question so that option opens already selected

On a question that accepts several answers (checkboxes, multi-select), separate the options with commas to preselect more than one.

Apple, Orange typed into a checkbox question Prefilled value box to preselect two options at once

On a ranking question the same rule puts the named option at the top of the list.

Pre-fill a date block

A date default is written as year, month, day with dashes: 2024-05-24 for May 24th, 2024. The picker's Date utilities group offers Today, which resolves on the day the form is opened; @today+7 and @today-3 shift it by a number of days.

A date question block menu showing 2024-02-19 written into the Prefilled value box

Pre-fill a time block

A time default is written on the 24-hour clock as HH:MM, for example 13:30.

A time question block menu showing 08:45 written into the Prefilled value box

Pre-fill a rating

For a rating question the default is a number: the count of stars that should already be lit.

The number 4 typed into a rating question Prefilled value box so four stars open lit

Pre-fill questions with hidden fields

A hidden field reads a value off the form's own link: name a row email, open the form as /r/<id>?email=…, and the row holds whatever followed the equals sign. Point a question's default answer at that row and the visitor sees it filled in.

This is the route for pre-filling from a link. A query parameter named after a visible question does nothing on its own; it has to pass through a hidden field.

Example 1: Pre-populate an email field with a hidden field

Add the question
Insert an Email question titled "Your email".
Add the hidden field
Insert a Hidden fields block and name a row email.
Link the two
Open the email question's settings, turn on Default answer, open the picker and choose email under Hidden fields.
Build the link
Append ?email=xxxx to the form's address, replacing xxxx with the address you know, or with the merge tag your mailing tool substitutes per recipient.
Share it
Anyone opening that link finds the question already answered.

The published form opened from a link carrying ?email=marie@example.com, with the email question already filled in

Example 2: Collect feedback in an email and redirect to a prefilled form

Suppose your newsletter asks one question with three answers, and each answer is a link to a form where that answer is already selected.

Write the question in the newsletter with the answers your readers can click.
Build a form with a multiple choice question carrying the same options (Awesome, Good, Bad), and a hidden field named rating. Add rows named email or name too if you want to know who answered.

Open the multiple choice question's settings, turn on Default answer and pick rating from the hidden fields. Publish the form and copy its link.

The same multiple choice question with its Default answer pointing at the hidden field named rating

Give each answer in the newsletter its own link: ?rating=Awesome, ?rating=Good, ?rating=Bad. To identify the reader, add &email=xxx with your mailing tool's merge tag in place of xxx.

When a reader clicks, the form opens with their choice already selected and only the submit button left to press. The hidden values travel into the submission with the answers, and show up under the row's name in Submissions, Insights and the CSV.