---
title: "Overview"
url: https://flexie.io/resources/forms/overview
description: "A Form is a structured way of collecting information, from people outside Flexie or from your own team inside it. Someone fills it, Flexie stores the submission, a workflow can react instantly."
---

# Overview

Last updated 25 May 2026

![A Flexie form sitting between a public visitor on the left and a workflow firing on the right, with the submission stored in the middle](https://flexie.io/image/resources/forms-overview.png)

A Form is a structured way of **collecting information**, either from people outside Flexie (sign-ups, contact requests, applications) or from your own team inside Flexie (creating a record from a quick panel, updating fields, logging a call note).

In every case the principle is the same:

> **Someone fills the form. Flexie stores the submission. A workflow can react instantly.**

What changes between use-cases is _who fills it in_, _where they fill it in_, and _what record (if any) it is attached to_. That is why Flexie has **three form flavours**, and choosing the right one is the most important decision when you create a form.

## The three flavours of Form

| Flavour                     | Who fills it                                          | Where it lives                                                      | What it produces                                                                                                 |
| --------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **External**                | Anyone, usually a customer or prospect, with no login | A public URL /form/{identifier}, or embedded on your own website    | A submission stored against the form, plus a workflow trigger                                                    |
| **Internal (entity-bound)** | A signed-in team member                               | A button or panel on a record's profile (Lead, Contact, Deal, Case) | A submission stored **against that record**, plus a workflow trigger that can read the record and the submission |
| **Internal (virtual)**      | A signed-in team member                               | The top-navigation quick menu, or the dialer                        | A submission stored on its own (no record attached), plus a workflow trigger                                     |

You choose the flavour when you create the form, and it is **fixed** afterwards. The form's _type_ and _bound record type_ can't be changed once the form exists. Pick deliberately.

### Quick decision guide

| You want to…                                                  | Use                                    |
| ------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- |
| Collect leads from your website                               | **External**                           |
| Take a job application or quote request from the public       | **External**                           |
| Add a structured note to a contact from the contact's profile | **Internal (entity-bound)** to Contact |
| Update specific fields on a deal from a quick panel           | **Internal (entity-bound)** to Deal    |
| Let support agents log a callback through the top-bar         | **Internal (virtual)**                 |
| Start an internal workflow that isn't tied to any one record  | **Internal (virtual)**                 |

## The lifecycle of a submission

Whatever the flavour, the flow is the same shape:

1. **Form rendered**, on a public URL for a visitor or in a profile/top-nav panel for a teammate.
2. **Submitted**, the form posts to Flexie. Uploads go to cloud storage; the submission is stored.
3. **Workflow fires**, the listener picks it up. Steps run, and a Form Respond action can optionally write a response back to the submitter.

What "stored" looks like and what the listener gets depends on the flavour, but every form ends with the same `__data` notepad your workflow steps can read. The [Forms in workflows](https://flexie.io/resources/forms/forms-in-workflows) page is the reference for that shape.

## What is in this section

1. [Creating a form](https://flexie.io/resources/forms/creating-a-form): the builder, the field types, validation, the settings every form has, and the choice between single-page and wizard.
2. [Public (external) forms](https://flexie.io/resources/forms/public-forms): the public URL, the embed snippet for your website, security (reCAPTCHA), analytics, and the post-submit response.
3. [Internal forms](https://flexie.io/resources/forms/internal-forms): entity-bound forms on record profiles, virtual forms in the top-nav and dialer, prefill from the record, icon and placement, and access control.
4. [Submissions](https://flexie.io/resources/forms/submissions): where submissions are stored, how to view them, and how to read them safely in Flexie Scripting (including the bracket notation for keys with spaces).
5. [Forms in workflows](https://flexie.io/resources/forms/forms-in-workflows): the three listeners (one for each flavour) with their exact `__data` shape, the form-related workflow actions (push a form to a user, write back a response), and the request/response polling pattern.

## Closely related

* [Workflows](https://flexie.io/resources/workflows/overview): a form's submission almost always starts a workflow. Forms are arguably the most common workflow trigger after record events.
* [Dynamic Endpoints](https://flexie.io/resources/dynamic-endpoints/overview): when you need a web URL but don't need a form's visual builder (e.g. a system-to-system webhook), use a Dynamic Endpoint instead.
* [Flexie Scripting](https://flexie.io/resources/flexie-scripting/overview): reading the submission data from inside workflow steps.

## Who should read what

* **End users and builders**: _Creating a form_, _Public forms_ or _Internal forms_ (whichever applies), and _Submissions_.
* **Administrators**: also read _Forms in workflows_ and the access control section of _Internal forms_.
* **Developers integrating a Flexie form into their website**: the embed section of _Public forms_.