In January 2022, we released the brand-new ONLYOFFICE forms (OFORMs). Curious to see how we further enhanced them? Read this blog post.

How ONLYOFFICE forms changed over the year | #site_title

In January 2022, we released the brand-new ONLYOFFICE forms (OFORMs). Curious to see how we further enhanced them? Read this blog post.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-52637 size-full" src="https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ONLYOFFICE-forms-over-the-year.png" alt="How ONLYOFFICE forms changed over the year: fields &amp; settings, recipient roles, free library" width="1472" height="742" srcset="https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ONLYOFFICE-forms-over-the-year.png 1472w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ONLYOFFICE-forms-over-the-year-300x151.png 300w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ONLYOFFICE-forms-over-the-year-1024x516.png 1024w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ONLYOFFICE-forms-over-the-year-768x387.png 768w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ONLYOFFICE-forms-over-the-year-634x320.png 634w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ONLYOFFICE-forms-over-the-year-353x178.png 353w" sizes="(max-width: 1472px) 100vw, 1472px" />

<h2>Brief intro</h2>
The <a href="https://youtu.be/eJxpkjQG6Ew" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first version</a> of ONLYOFFICE forms was released on 18 January 2022 as a part of the version 7.0 update.
With ONLYOFFICE forms, you can automate your electronic document workflow by creating various kinds of model documents such as legal agreements, contracts, reports, admission forms, questionnaires, etc.
It’s possible to collaborate on forms in real time, share the ready ones and fill them out digitally.
<h2>OFORM &amp; DOCXF</h2>
Since standard formats were not enough to bring all our ideas into life, we introduced our own.
DOCXF is a format developed by our team for creating form templates. It’s a file extension based on DOCX which allows building forms either from scratch or using an existing DOCX file.
OFORM is our native format for online ready-to-fill-out forms. It is an OOXML extension which is now used in all ONLYOFFICE solutions, including web, desktop, and mobile.
<a href="/blog/?p=27268&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Learn more</a>
<h2>Fields and settings</h2>
Initially, we introduced the following basic fields for form creation: text field, combo box, drop-down list, check box, radio button, and image.
In the <a href="/blog/?p=38968&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">version 7.2</a>, we added email address, phone number, and <a href="/blog/?p=39497&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">complex field</a>. The latter allows you to combine several basic fields to build a custom one and create unique field presets that can be tailored for any task.
The <a href="/blog/?p=52310&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">latest update</a> of the editors also brought new ready-to-use fields to create forms more quickly and request corresponding data from your counterparts:
<ul>
<li>Date &amp; Time with multiple display options,</li>
<li>ZIP code,</li>
<li>Credit Card.</li>
</ul>
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-52648 img-popup" src="https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/new-fields.png" alt="How ONLYOFFICE forms changed over the year: fields &amp; settings, recipient roles, free library" width="1510" height="892" srcset="https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/new-fields.png 1510w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/new-fields-300x177.png 300w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/new-fields-1024x605.png 1024w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/new-fields-768x454.png 768w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/new-fields-301x178.png 301w" sizes="(max-width: 1510px) 100vw, 1510px" />
Extended field settings available in ONLYOFFICE forms allow you to adjust the field properties to build the form exactly as you need it. For example, you are able to add tips and placeholders, allow multiline entry, specify characters limit, use tags to simplify form creation in the automatic mode, etc.
With the <a href="/blog/?p=38968&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">version 7.2</a>, we added an ability to allow usage of any specific symbols and set the needed format: None, Digits, Letters, Arbitrary Mask, and Regular Expression.
<h2>Collaboration</h2>
What’s really great is that you can build forms together with your teammates. For example, you have to compose a sales agreement and need help form your colleagues from different departments. It’s exactly the case. You can create such a form all together in real time or switch to the Strict mode and work on your part privately showing your changes to other co-authors after saving only.
You can also leave comments and mentions, review and track changes, as well as communicate right in the document to discuss the creation process. Just use a built-in chat or plugins – Telegram for chatting, Jitsi and Rainbow for making audio/video calls.
<h2>Recipient roles for field filling</h2>
Starting from <a href="/blog/?p=52310&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">version 7.3</a>, you are able to create and manage various recipient roles for field filling.
For example, you can create roles of legal advisor, seller and buyer in a sales agreement and set its own color for each role.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-52659 img-popup" src="https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/1.png" alt="How ONLYOFFICE forms changed over the year: fields &amp; settings, recipient roles, free library" width="1512" height="895" srcset="https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/1.png 1512w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/1-300x178.png 300w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/1-1024x606.png 1024w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/1-768x455.png 768w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/1-301x178.png 301w" sizes="(max-width: 1512px) 100vw, 1512px" />
Then, you assign the created roles to each field to indicate which of them should be filled out by each participant.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-52670 img-popup" src="https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2.png" alt="How ONLYOFFICE forms changed over the year: fields &amp; settings, recipient roles, free library" width="1512" height="890" srcset="https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2.png 1512w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2-300x177.png 300w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2-1024x603.png 1024w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2-768x452.png 768w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2-302x178.png 302w" sizes="(max-width: 1512px) 100vw, 1512px" />
This way, users will be able to visually identify which fields they should fill out depending on the role-matching colors.
In the future updates, we are going to extend this functionality by adding an ability to set recipient roles with restrictions as well as e-signatures. It means that, for example, only users with the corresponding role will be able to fill in the required information into your business agreement, while other participants will be not allowed to interact with the fields but only sign or approve the document.
<h2>Filling out &amp; PDFs</h2>
When your form is ready, you can share it with other users choosing the corresponding sharing option in the file menu. Users with the granted permission are able to fill out the shared form online, locally or on their mobile devices.
Moreover, you can export your form to PDF to fill it out using any available PDF editor.
<h2>Free forms library</h2>
To give you something like an entry point and save your time, we created a <a href="https://oforms.onlyoffice.com/?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">form library</a> with ready-to-use templates. At the moment of the first release, the library contained only several dozens documents in English.
Over the last year, we extended our library and divided the files into categories for more convenient navigation (such as Business, Healthcare, HR, Office, Sales, and others). For now, there are more than 1000 templates available in 7 different languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, and Japanese.
You don’t need to register or install any additional software — just take the provided forms, fill them out online or download in the desired format.
<a class="red button" href="https://oforms.onlyoffice.com/?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EXPLORE FORMS LIBRARY </a>
Moreover, we <a href="/blog/?p=34084&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">integrated</a> the OFORMs gallery into <a href="https://personal.onlyoffice.com/?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ONLYOFFICE Personal</a>, a free online office suite for individual users.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-52681 img-popup" src="https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/gallery.png" alt="How ONLYOFFICE forms changed over the year: fields &amp; settings, recipient roles, free library" width="1513" height="879" srcset="https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/gallery.png 1513w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/gallery-300x174.png 300w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/gallery-1024x595.png 1024w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/gallery-768x446.png 768w, https://static-blog.onlyoffice.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/gallery-306x178.png 306w" sizes="(max-width: 1513px) 100vw, 1513px" />
<h2>Forms in integrations</h2>
ONLYOFFICE forms became available for <a href="https://www.onlyoffice.com/all-connectors.aspx?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">integrated instances</a> directly after the first release: Nextcloud, ownCloud, Alfresco, Confluence, Jira, Liferay, Redmine, Plone, HumHub, Chamilo, and Nuxeo.
Over the year, we also added the functionality for creating and filling out forms to our official Moodle plugin. <a href="/blog/?p=36778&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Learn more </a>
<div class="useful-links">
<h3>Useful links</h3>
<a href="https://www.onlyoffice.com/form-creator.aspx?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ONLYOFFICE form creator</a>
<a href="/blog/?p=52310&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">All updates in ONLYOFFICE Docs v7.3</a>
<a href="/blog/?p=34919&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">OFORM library: discover collection of fillable forms</a>
<a href="/blog/?p=35295&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How to create beautiful forms</a>
<a href="/blog/?p=35055&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Top 5 ways to use OFORM</a>
<a href="/blog/?p=35054&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=oforms_over_year" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Top 10 most popular office documents you can find in the OFORM library</a>
</div>

How ONLYOFFICE forms changed over the year: fields & settings, recipient roles, free library

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