Prefill name and email

I want to prefill it so they can see the data and change if they prefer to do so before submitting it. And I also want to handle the scenario if the cookies are cleared and I can’t read the name and email out of them so I need the user to reenter them.

Hi @harryw377 Welcome to the community! You can pass information into the form using hidden fields. To do this will depend on how you’re already collecting that information. What form are you using to collect data and how are you hoping to pass the data into the form? 

@Liz My site is in ClickFunnels and users opt in to the funnel with a ClickFunnels opt in pop-up. ClickFunnels stores the opt-in data in LocalStorage so once they get to the page where my Typeform is embedded, I can read their name and email out of LocalStorage and inject it into Typeform if possible.

I don’t want to inject data to the TypeForm that isn’t visible to the user. I want it to be visible and editable.

Like this feature in Calendly: https://help.calendly.com/hc/en-us/articles/226766767-Pre-populate-invitee-information-on-the-scheduling-page

How can I do this in Typeform?

@john.desborough thanks for your message. Yep I’m really just looking for a way to pre-populate the field with their name or email. 

Obviously this would be technically possible to implement in Typeform. Is there philosophical reason @Liz  you all don’t support this feature a la Calendly?

Hi @harryw377 We just released the Calendly app a bit ago, so it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles yet. Though, happy to share this feedback with the product team. 

@Liz my question does not have to do with your integration with calendly. I linked to a feature Calendly has in their form that I think would make sense for you all to also support in your native forms.

Is there philosophical reason you all don’t support the ability to pre-populate form information? Jotform supports this functionality too.

Hello, I’ve created a survey and intend to share it via multiple sources including social media and email.

The first question on the survey asks for an email input with the new contact information feature. 

“Please enter your email address
___[enter email address]_____”

Of course, if sending via social media, the email is something we would need from our respondents. However,  if we are emailing the survey to people, we already have the email on file. So, I am wondering if there is a way to auto populate the answer field with the recipient’s email address? 

For example, if abc@xyz.com clicks on our survey from his/her email, I’d like for abc@xyz.com to be pre-filled in the question so it would read as the below and all he/she has to do is hit enter

“Please enter your email address
___abc@xyz.com_____”

Is this feature possible? I looked into hidden fields, but it looks like that only affects the text on the survey itself; not the response. 

Hi @zoeshank Happy Monday! I’ve added your post here where we have the answer. 😀

Thanks, @Liz! So to confirm, there’s no way to pre-fill an email question unless the user enters it in a previous question before hand?

@zoeshank - there is no way to prefill the email response field.. 

what i have done for some of my forms and those of my clients is to do something like this: 

• in the description field, state: this is the email that we have on file for you @recall_hidden_variable - if there is a better email, enter it below 
• OR - i have asked them to enter the email again as a confirmation cuz sometimes we get asked to do that so there are no typos.. 

just a thought

des

For those wondering, Typeform does not allow you to prefill answers, such as name and email fields, with the respondent’s earlier answers. Here is Typeform’s position on this feature request:

“You can't pre-populate the text of Typeform answers, however - not even with Hidden Fields. We think that this makes respondents' experience feel more natural, like chatting with a friend or colleague.”

https://www.typeform.com/help/a/can-i-pre-populate-typeforms-360039114331/

Personally, I don’t think their explanation makes any sense and I hope the company revisits its position on this soon. But until then, I wanted to provide everyone a clearer answer to the original question. 

Hi @iherrick thanks for stopping by and adding on your feedback here. 

Would you mind sharing anymore information on how you’re using Typeform and how a pre-fill function would be useful? We would love to pass the feedback on to our product team for consideration 😊

Hi @Grace -

Yes, absolutely, and thank you for asking. I use the Typeform to collect information from my clients to convert their limited liability companies into corporations. In the “LLC” section of the form, I ask the client for the first and last name of each manager of their limited liability company. For example:

Manager #1

First name: 

Last name:

Manager #2

First name: 

Last name:

Manager #3

…

Later, in the “corporation” section of the form, I want to ask for the first and last name of each person who will be the director of corporation. 
 

Director #1

First name: 

Last name:

Director #2

First name: 

Last name:

Director #3

…

In most (but not all) cases, the makeup of the LLC’s managers will mirror the corporation’s directors since I’m merely converting the LLC into a corporation.
 

Therefore, it would be great if I can pre-populate the first and last name fields for corporation’s directors with the first and last names that the client provided for the LLC managers. In most cases, that would save my clients from having to retype the same information twice. 

I recognize there are workarounds, for example:

1. In the LLC section of the form, immediately after asking for manager # 1’s first and last name, asking if that person will also be director of the corporation, or 
2. In the corporation section of the form, asking if the makeup of the managers will be the same as the makeup of the directors (and, if not, asking follow-up questions to understand how that makeup is different). 

But I want to keep LLC and corporation questions separate, making option 1 less than ideal. Also, I want to pipe the first and last names of the directors into templates, which neither option 1 or 2 allows me to do cleanly since they’re yes or no questions.  
 

This is a feature that users have been clamoring for for years. If Typeform would finally implement it, that would blow Jotform out of the water.  

This is great @iherrick thank you so much for sharing more details with us. I can share this with the product team and we will keep everyone posted here with any updates or information.

The ability to repopulate an editable field is such a baaaaaaaasic requirement, the fact that after 7 years using typeform (paying tens of thousands in fees) i still can't do this is really disappointing. I hope a competitor releases a product with this capability, I'd churn in a heart beat.

It’s high on our list of requests, ​@nickbuick !