Use this guide when you need a new form in Case Management. You can build one question by question, upload an existing PDF or Word questionnaire and let Case Management convert it, start from a built-in template, or duplicate a form you already have.
If you are new to Forms, read Forms: an overview first. Once the form is ready, use Complete a form or send it to a client.
Build a form question by question
In the Case Management sidebar, open Forms.
Select Create New Form. The New form dialog opens and explains "Clients are sent a link to fill this in on their phone. Set the form to Active when it is ready to send."
Enter a Title. This is what the client sees at the top of the form and what staff see in the library.
Optionally enter a Description (shown to the client, up to 2,000 characters). A character count sits under the box. If you leave it empty, clients see the standard line "Please answer the questions below. Your care team will see your responses."
Set the Status:
Draft (not sendable yet) while you are still writing it;
Active (can be sent to clients) when it is ready;
Archived to retire a form you no longer use.
Write the first question in the question box, then choose its type from the list next to it.
Tick Required if the client must answer it before they can submit. Section headings have no Required option, because they ask nothing.
Use Add question for each further question. On each question you also have controls to move it up, move it down, duplicate it, or remove it. The last remaining question cannot be removed.
Select Save form. You will see "Form created" (or "Form updated" when editing).
There is no separate publish step. A form becomes sendable the moment its status is Active and you save it.
A form can hold up to 100 questions.
The question types
Short answer — a single line of text.
Long answer — a longer written answer.
Single choice — one answer from a list of options.
Multiple choice — any number of answers from a list of options.
Dropdown — one answer from a list, shown as a dropdown.
Date — a date.
Number — a number.
Email — an email address.
Phone — a phone number.
Signature — a signature the client draws or types.
Section Heading — a heading that breaks the form into sections.
Yes/No — a fixed Yes or No answer.
Rating Matrix — several statements rated on the same scale.
Multiple Text Boxes — several short boxes under one question.
Four of these are regularly misread:
Section Heading is not a question. The editor says so: "Shown as a heading on the form — the client is not asked anything." It can never be required and never carries a clinical code.
Yes/No has nothing to configure. The editor shows Answers (fixed) and explains that the client chooses between Yes and No.
Rating Matrix needs two lists: Statements to rate (one row each) and Rating labels — shared by every statement above (the scale every statement is rated on). Both lists must have at least one entry.
Multiple Text Boxes needs one label per box under Text box labels (e.g. First name, Last name) — for example a name split into first and last.
Single choice, Multiple choice and Dropdown questions each need at least one entry under Options.
Show a question only when it applies
Every question except the first has a Conditional logic control. By default it is set to Always show.
Open the control and pick Show when "[earlier question]"….
Choose the operator: is, is not or contains.
Choose or type the value to match. When the earlier question is a choice or Yes/No question, you pick from its answers rather than typing.
To add more conditions, select Add condition. A rule can hold up to five conditions.
With more than one condition you also choose how they combine: all match (AND) or any match (OR).
To remove the rule entirely, select Clear rule.
Rules may only reference questions that come earlier in the form, because the client's answers are only known as they work down the page. Only earlier questions appear in the list.
If a rule stops making sense — because you removed, renamed or moved the question it points at — the editor flags it with "This condition is broken:" and one of these reasons:
"The question this condition referred to was removed."
"The referenced question now comes after this one. Move it back above, or remove the condition."
"The referenced question has no label."
"Choose a value for the condition."
"[the chosen value] is no longer one of the options of the referenced question."
Save form stays disabled until you fix or Remove condition.
When a client's answers do not match a rule, that question is skipped entirely: it is not shown, its required setting is not enforced, and the response records it as "Not shown (condition not met)".
Add a clinical code to a question (optional)
Most questions need no clinical code, and the editor says so: "None — the answer won't be coded in the GP record. Most questions don't need one."
To add one:
Select Add a code under the question.
Select Suggest from the question for a shortlist based on the wording. You need at least a few words written first — until then the editor says "Write the question first."
Pick from Best matches or Closest codes, or search the catalogue directly.
Select Done. Use Change to swap the code and Leave uncoded to remove it.
If the suggestion service decides the question has no clinical meaning, it says "No code needed — …" rather than pushing a near-miss code at you.
A coded Number question must have a unit. As soon as you code a Number question, a Measured in list appears. If you leave it unset you will see "Pick a unit — a number with no unit can't be coded, so the code won't be saved.", and the code really is dropped when you save, because "80" against a weight code could be kilograms or pounds. Codes that are not in the catalogue are also dropped on save.
Remember that a code is metadata stored with the answer. Completing a form does not file anything into the GP record and does not write to Joy — see Forms: an overview.
Check the client preview
The editor shows a live Client preview beside the builder, styled like the page the client will see on their phone. It updates as you type.
On narrower screens the two panes cannot sit side by side, so you get an Edit / Preview toggle at the top of the dialog instead.
Save rules that catch people out
A question with no wording is discarded when you save. Empty question rows are dropped silently, so check the preview if a question you expected is missing after saving.
A title and at least one question with wording are required. Without them, Save form stays disabled.
Choice-style questions need their options. Single choice, Multiple choice, Dropdown and Multiple Text Boxes need at least one entry, and Rating Matrix needs at least one statement and at least one rating label.
Broken conditional rules block saving until they are fixed or removed.
If a save is rejected by the server you will see "Could not save form" with the reason: "At least one question with a label is required; choice questions need at least one option; conditional rules may only reference earlier questions and every condition needs an operator and a value."
Upload a PDF or Word document instead
If the questionnaire already exists as a document, Case Management can convert it into a draft form.
On the Forms page, select Upload Document.
Choose a PDF or Word (.docx) file, up to 10MB.
A banner appears: "Importing "[file name]"… Converting your document into a form — this can take a minute or two. Please keep this page open."
When it finishes you see "Form imported — Review the draft, then set it to Active to send it.", and the new form opens in the editor.
Read every question and correct anything the conversion got wrong, then set the status to Active and select Save form.
The result is always a draft. Nothing is sendable until you have reviewed it and made it Active.
Afterwards the form's card shows Imported from [file name], so you can always see which document a form came from.
What imports well, and what does not
Conversion reads the text of the document, so it works best on a text-based questionnaire with clearly worded questions and visible answer options. Expect to tidy the result — question types and wording are a best effort, not a guarantee.
The common failures, and what to do:
A scanned or photographed PDF. There is no text to read, only an image. You will see "No readable text could be extracted from the document (it may be a scanned image). Please upload a text-based PDF or Word file." Use the original text-based file if you have one, or build the form manually.
A document with no questionnaire in it. You will see "No questions could be extracted from the document. Check the document contains a questionnaire and retry." Upload the document that actually contains the questions.
A legacy .doc file. You will see "Legacy .doc files are not supported. Please save the document as .docx or PDF and try again." Re-save it in Word as .docx or PDF, then upload again.
Any other file type. You will see "Unsupported file type (…). Upload a PDF or Word (.docx) document."
A very long document. Only the first part of the text is read, so questions near the end may be missing. Add them by hand, or split the document and import the parts separately.
A choice question that came back as a plain text box. When the options could not be read reliably, the question is kept as a short answer rather than saved half-built. Change its type in the editor and add the options.
A one-off failure. Import failures are reported as "Import failed" with the reason. If the reason is not one of the above, simply upload the document again.
Two quicker starts
Use template. If a built-in template fits, select Use template on its card. You get a draft copy to adapt: "Draft form created — Review the questions, then set it to Active to send it."
Duplicate. To base a new form on one you already have, select Duplicate on the existing form. A draft named "Copy of [title]" is created and opened for editing: "Form duplicated — A draft copy was created. Review it, then set it to Active to send it." Questions, options, conditional rules and clinical codes are copied; sends and responses are not.
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