Create public intake forms

Intake forms collect requests from people who do not have an Onplana account: project requests, bug reports, IT tickets, feature ideas. Each public form lives at a shareable URL, and submissions can automatically become tasks in a project you choose.

Build the form

1. Open Intake Forms in the sidebar and create a new form. You can start from a template (Project Request, Feature Request, Bug Report, IT Support) or from scratch.

2. Set the Name and optionally a Slug. The slug becomes the public URL (/forms/your-slug); it is lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens, auto-generated from the name if you leave it blank.

3. Pick a Target Project if submissions should create tasks there. Leave it empty to just collect responses.

4. Add your fields. Twelve field types are available: Text, Long text, Email, Phone, Number, Currency, Date, Dropdown, Multi-select, Checkbox, URL, and Rating. Mark the ones submitters must fill as required.

5. Tick Public form (shareable link) and save. Use the copy action on the form’s row to grab the public URL.

Note

Slugs are unique across all of Onplana, not just your organization. If the one you want is taken you will see an inline error; pick a variant like acme-project-request.

Password protection

Set an Access Password (at least 8 characters) on the form to gate it. Visitors then see a password prompt before any fields are revealed, and the password is checked again when they submit. The password is stored hashed and is never shown back, so keep your own record of it; you can replace or remove it any time by editing the form.

What a submission creates

Every submission is stored on the form’s Submissions view with all answers. If the form has a target project, a task is also created there: the title comes from a field named title, name, or subject (falling back to “Intake submission”), and every answer is written into the task description as a labeled list.

A submission also fires the Intake form submitted workflow trigger, so you can route it further with a workflow, for example tagging the task or requesting an approval.

Who gets notified

Each form has its own recipient list, configured when you create or edit it:

• Notify me on each submission (on by default) notifies the form’s creator.
• Notify users adds specific members.
• Notify teams notifies everyone on the selected teams. Team membership is resolved when the submission arrives, so people who join a team later are included automatically.

Convert a submission

On Enterprise plans with governance enabled, the Submissions view offers Convert to Proposal on each submission, which turns the request into a governance proposal. See Turn intake submissions into proposals.

Best practices

1. Keep forms short — 5-10 fields max. Long forms drive abandonment. If you need more data, capture the basics first, then follow up via the workflow.
2. Always set Target Project. Loose submissions without a target stay in the inbox. Targeting a project routes them automatically.
3. Use title/name/subject as the first field. Onplana picks this for the task title. Without it, every task reads “Intake submission”.
4. Password-protect forms with PII. Public URLs are crawlable. Password protection adds the second layer against scrapers and casual visitors.
5. Use workflows to route submissions. “Bug report → assign to engineering”; “Feature request → tag and notify product”. The workflow trigger fires on every submission.

Troubleshooting / common pitfalls

• Slug already taken. Slugs are globally unique. Pick a variant (e.g. acme-project-request).
• Submission didn’t create a task. Three causes: (a) no Target Project set; (b) target project deleted; (c) workflow error. Check workflow activity.
• Notification not sent. Recipient’s notification preferences may have intake submissions disabled.
• Form rejected on submit. Required field missing or password wrong. Both validate server-side.
• Rate-limited. Public forms throttle to prevent abuse. Wait + retry.

How this combines with other features

• Intake + Workflows. Workflow trigger fires on every submission. Route to tags, approvals, notifications. See Build a workflow.
• Intake + Custom fields. Form fields auto-map to custom fields on the generated task (when names match). See Create custom fields.
• Intake + Governance. Enterprise orgs can convert submissions to proposals. See Turn intake submissions into proposals.
• Intake + Email mailbox. Intake collects via web form; mailbox collects via email. Pick by submitter preference. See Receive email into projects.

Coming from another tool

Tool	Mapping
Typeform / Google Forms	Direct concept; Onplana adds task auto-creation
ServiceNow Catalog Item	Direct
Jira Service Management portal	Direct
Smartsheet Forms	Direct
Custom intake portal	Onplana adds first-class PMO-friendly UX

FAQs

Can submitters attach files? No. Intake forms collect field answers only. Ask for a link with a URL field if the requester needs to share a document.

How do I take a form offline without losing its submissions? Edit the form and untick the public toggle. The URL stops serving the form, and your submissions stay in the Submissions view.

Is the form protected against abuse? Yes. Public submission and password attempts are rate limited per form and visitor, and required-field validation runs on the server, not just in the browser.

Can I track form analytics (impressions, conversion)? Not natively today. Embed an analytics pixel in the form’s custom intro text, or pipe submissions to a workflow that notifies a data warehouse.

Can I require a captcha? Not today — Onplana’s rate limiting + password protection covers most abuse vectors. Captcha is on the roadmap.

Can I use a custom domain for the form URL? Not today — forms serve from /forms/your-slug on the Onplana domain. Custom domains are on the roadmap.

Related

• Build a workflow — routes intake submissions
• Turn intake submissions into proposals — governance escalation
• Receive email into projects — email-side intake