Creating forms and viewing responses

Understanding forms and submissions

A form defines the questions to ask. A submission is a set of responses saved at a particular moment. Editing the form does not mean editing responses already received.

Bookelio lets you prepare questionnaires, associate them with services or training courses, and manually enter a response from the dashboard. For example, you can prepare a needs questionnaire before a course or collect preferences useful for a booking.

Access: Dashboard → Forms. The list shows the title, status, number of questions and number of submissions. Open a form to view its responses; the Edit and Record a response buttons are at the top of that page. Check your permissions if you can view a form but cannot save it.

The form list currently retains some French labels, even when your dashboard is in English. 'Réponses' opens the form's responses, 'Nouveau formulaire' means new form, 'Publie' means published and 'Soumissions' means submissions. The functions are described in English below.

Preparing the questions

Before creating the form, decide what you will do with each response. Limit required questions to information you actually need. Precise wording avoids responses that are difficult to interpret: 'Which topic would you like to explore further?' is more useful than 'Comment' when the aim is to prepare a training course.

The available types cover the following needs:

Use the help text to explain the expected format or why the question is being asked. For choices, enter one option per line. Single choice suits 'Your main level'; multiple choice suits 'Topics you are interested in'.

Do not use an open question to request sensitive data your team does not need. The form is a collection tool, not a guarantee that all information entered will be relevant or verified.

Creating a form

1. In Forms, click New form.
2. Enter an identifiable title, then a description if it helps managers or respondents.
3. Enter at least one question with its wording and type.
4. Add help text and options if needed.
5. Mark essential questions as required.
6. Add the remaining questions and review their order.
7. Keep the form as a draft until preparation is finished, or tick Published to use it.
8. Save, then open the form's details to check its content.

The form's title should make it easy to find in the linking selectors. Prefer, for example, 'Pre-course needs — induction' to several forms all called 'Questions'.

To start from an existing questionnaire, use Duplicate in the list. The copy keeps the description and questions, but is an independent draft without submissions or links.

Draft, published or archived

A draft form is still being prepared. A published, non-archived form can receive new submissions. An archived form retains the data while no longer being used for new responses.

Publishing is not sending an email and does not create a campaign by itself. It makes the form usable in flows that support it. To inform participants, use the communication tools separately.

Even manual entry from the detail page requires a published, non-archived form. If saving a response reports that the form cannot be found, first check its status before creating a copy.

Linking the form to a service or training course

Links are not managed from the form details. Select the form from the editing screen of the relevant service, training course or training date.

1. Prepare the form and check that it is published and not archived.
2. Open the relevant service, training course or training date.
3. Select the form there and save.
4. Check the booking or registration flow your customers use.

The training selector favours usable forms that are published and not archived.

Linking to one date is not the same as linking to the whole course. If a questionnaire needs to be used for several editions, check the configuration of every relevant date. The exact public presentation also depends on the website connected to Bookelio.

Entering a response manually

The Record a response button, at the top of the form page, opens a window to enter a set of responses from the dashboard.

1. Open a published, non-archived form.
2. Optionally enter the respondent's name and email address.
3. Complete the visible questions, particularly the required ones.
4. Save once and wait for confirmation.
5. The window closes and the submission appears in the responses. If an error occurs, the window stays open with your entry.

The name and email fields in this window describe the submission's respondent. They are not a customer record selector and do not automatically link this manual entry to a particular registration.

Each confirmation creates a new submission. If you only want to reread a response, consult the existing list rather than entering the same information again. No questionnaire is sent automatically as a result of this entry.

Editing questions without rewriting the past

The Edit button opens a separate editing page: title, description, status (published, archived) and questions. There you can edit wording, types, options and whether an answer is required, or reorder questions with the arrows. Save form applies the changes and takes you back to the responses; Cancel returns without saving.

Bookelio preserves older versions of questions when an edit changes their structure. A question removed from display is archived; old responses remain associated with the question and options the respondent actually answered.

Example: you replace 'Have you attended before?' with 'How many sessions have you attended?'. Old yes/no responses are not artificially converted into numbers. They remain readable with the old wording, while new submissions use the new question.

This preservation explains why historical submissions may show wording absent from the current form. It is not necessarily an error or an outdated response that needs deleting.

Viewing responses and resolving difficulties

The Responses section offers two views. List shows each submission separately: respondent, email address when available, date and answers question by question. Table shows one submission per row and one question per column to compare answers; archived questions that still have answers appear in the last columns. Without a name, the respondent appears as anonymous. The options of a multiple-choice answer are grouped under the same question, separated by commas.

When a response comes from a training registration, the View registration link opens the participants page of that date, with the registration highlighted and its details open. The link only appears if you can view registrations.

Export as CSV downloads every response with the table's columns, plus the linked registration ID. The file opens directly in Excel; multiple-choice options are separated by '|'.

If a required question blocks saving, complete the expected response. If an option is reported as invalid after the form was changed in another tab, reload the current version and check the new options before continuing your entry.

If a registration's responses need to be viewed or exported with participants, also use Registrations and certificates. The general submissions list and participant export serve different needs; do not assume that a manual response without a linked registration will appear in that export.