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Prefill form details from the link you share

  • Updated

A Form link can supply an initial answer for a selected question. This is useful for a low-risk value, such as a ministry name or event reference, that you don’t want someone to enter repeatedly.

For ordinary sharing, start with Share your forms. The advanced link format below is for administrators who have confirmed the Form and question IDs.

 

Start with a text question

  1. Copy the Form’s share link.
  2. Ask your administrator or UCare support to confirm the ID of the text question you want to prefill.
  3. Add a query parameter named uid: followed by that question ID.
  4. Set its value to the text you want, encoded for a URL.
  5. Open the completed link and check the Form before sharing it.

For example, this query supplies Welcome team to a text question:

?uid:QUESTION_ID=Welcome%20team

Replace QUESTION_ID with the actual confirmed question ID. This is an example fragment to add to a real Form link, not a complete working link.

If the link already has a ? query section, join the new parameter with & instead. You can use & to add a second answer:

?uid:FIRST_QUESTION_ID=Welcome%20team&uid:SECOND_QUESTION_ID=Sunday%20service

The words in capital letters stand for the actual question IDs. A space is encoded as %20; encode the entire value rather than replacing spaces alone.

 

Review what the link supplies

Supplied answers are applied when the Form loads and when its response is reset, such as when starting another response. The same link can therefore reapply the same initial answers.

Omit a parameter when you do not want to supply an answer. An empty value is not a reliable way to clear an answer or default.

Start with text questions and verify every completed link. Dates, people, and other question types can require different value formats; a text example should not be copied into those questions.

 

Retest copied Forms and questions

Duplicating a question creates a new question ID. Build and test a new link for the copy rather than assuming an old link will populate the new question.

Retest links after changing their questions, choices, or visibility rules. The person completing the Form should always review the prefilled details before submitting.

 

Keep personal information out of links

Use only non-sensitive values. URLs can remain in browser history, logs, analytics, and forwarded messages. Instead, let people enter personal, financial, or pastoral details directly into the form.

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