# Anyway to make Forms in Discourse - One Category?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/anyway-to-make-forms-in-discourse-one-category/205223
**Category:** Feature
**Tags:** completed
**Created:** [October 5, 2021, 3:44am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/anyway-to-make-forms-in-discourse-one-category/205223 "2021-10-05T03:44:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@BCHK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/BCHK)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2021, 3:44am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/anyway-to-make-forms-in-discourse-one-category/205223/1 "2021-10-05T03:44:37Z")
I’ve searched, but can’t seem to find anything on this in this forum, perhaps I’m searching on the wrong key word.
I have a healthcare forum and I am interested in potentially adding another category in the forum for something like “Adverse Events” - where people can report on situations where they’ve had an adverse event with a medicine, etc. The goal would be for a pre-created form to come up as the entry box for this specific category of post. At a minimum this would include some basic text/questions and some freeform text boxes where people can enter information. A more ideal version would be something that could incorporate some drop down boxes, multiple choice, etc.
Is there any plugin or something that does this already that someone might have created?
Below is a rough example of the type of form / information that I’d be looking at recreating in the forum.
---
### Author:  [@Simsnet](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Simsnet)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2021, 4:07am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/anyway-to-make-forms-in-discourse-one-category/205223/2 "2021-10-05T04:07:40Z")
A search through #plugins didn’t show many results for forms directly.
In your category settings, you can create “Topic Templates” which will autofill new posts made in that category with pre-determined text. A good example of this is to draft a topic in #Support and watch text appear in the box.
You might could create the form in that template field, then have form responses be made under that specific category, to which users can fill in the blanks and submit.
The only issue with this is that responses will be public. You can unlist posts, which will make them only viewable to the creator, admins, and anyone with the link. I did a quick search and @theblazehen was able to make a cron job that automatically unlists posts in a specific category:
> [@Automatically unlisting a topic after X days](https://meta.discourse.org/t/automatically-unlisting-a-topic-after-x-days/168673/6):
>
> ```plaintext
> run:
> - exec: echo '* * * * * postgres /usr/bin/psql discourse -c "update topics set visible = FALSE where category_id = 19 and closed = TRUE;"' >> /etc/crontab
>
> ```
You could remove the `and closed = TRUE` part to make it unlist all posts in the category. Make sure to change the category ID as yours won’t be 19.
* * *
Someone probably has a better suggestion, or even a full-on plugin for this, but I can’t think of any other suggestions that aren’t external.
---
### Author:  [@BCHK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/BCHK)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2021, 4:11am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/anyway-to-make-forms-in-discourse-one-category/205223/3 "2021-10-05T04:11:25Z")
Interesting idea. That might be a work around if nothing else is available. The goal is to make this information public - so thats not an issue.
Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@Simsnet](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Simsnet)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2021, 4:15am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/anyway-to-make-forms-in-discourse-one-category/205223/4 "2021-10-05T04:15:56Z")
> [@BCHK](#):
>
> The goal is to make this information public - so thats not an issue.
Even better! All you’ll need to do then is make the template.
---
### Author:  [@renato](https://meta.discourse.org/u/renato)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2021, 4:20am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/anyway-to-make-forms-in-discourse-one-category/205223/5 "2021-10-05T04:20:45Z")
I think this plugin is close to what you want.
> [@Custom Wizard Plugin mage](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-wizard-plugin/73345):
>
> pavilionSummary Forms for Discourse. This plugin lets you make rich and powerful forms for your Discourse forum. Better user onboarding, structured posting, data enrichment, automated actions and much more for your community.hammer_and_wrenchRepository Link [https://github.com/paviliondev/discourse-custom-wizard](https://github.com/paviliondev/discourse-custom-wizard)open_bookInstall Guide [How to install plugins in Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/install-plugins-in-discourse/19157)people_huggingCommunity Community based support and discussions about this plugin are hosted on th…
---
### Author:  [@HAWK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/HAWK)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2021, 4:21am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/anyway-to-make-forms-in-discourse-one-category/205223/6 "2021-10-05T04:21:01Z")
It would probably be easier to just use Google Forms. They work nicely with Discourse.
---
### Author:  [@angus](https://meta.discourse.org/u/angus)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2021, 5:11am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/anyway-to-make-forms-in-discourse-one-category/205223/7 "2021-10-05T05:11:09Z")
Yes, the [Custom Wizard Plugin](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-wizard-plugin/73345) supports this kind of use case. It’s actually used by other health related forums for a similar purpose.
> [@BCHK](#):
>
> The goal would be for a pre-created form to come up as the entry box for this specific category of post.
It’s not possible to use Google Forms for this. Unless you either only had login via google (plus some custom code) or somehow imported all of your user details into a google spreadsheet.
---
### Author:  [@BCHK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/BCHK)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2021, 6:11am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/anyway-to-make-forms-in-discourse-one-category/205223/8 "2021-10-05T06:11:28Z")
Angus - Fantastic! Can you point me towards any forums that use it so I can see it in action?
---
### Author:  [@RGJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/RGJ)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2021, 6:36am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/anyway-to-make-forms-in-discourse-one-category/205223/9 "2021-10-05T06:36:52Z")
> [@Simsnet](#):
>
> You can unlist posts, which will make them only viewable to the creator, admins, and anyone with the link.
I wouldn’t “hide” health related info behind a link that is so easy to guess.
It’s better to use the [private replies](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-private-replies/146712) plugin for that.
(Although it’s even better to use the Custom Wizard for the entire purpose).
---
### Author:  [@angus](https://meta.discourse.org/u/angus)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2021, 8:40am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/anyway-to-make-forms-in-discourse-one-category/205223/10 "2021-10-05T08:40:03Z")
Yup, you can see it in action on three wizards on [thepavilion.io](http://thepavilion.io):
1. The welcome wizard after you sign up
2. The [bug report wizard](https://thepavilion.io/w/bug-report)
3. The [feature request wizard](https://thepavilion.io/w/feature-request)
Note that you need an account to use the wizards.
There’s documentation for the plugin here:
> **[Pavilion](https://pavilion.tech/)**
>
> Pavilion is the leading Discourse consultancy.
---
### Author:  [@HAWK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/HAWK)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2021, 2:03am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/anyway-to-make-forms-in-discourse-one-category/205223/11 "2021-10-07T02:03:42Z")
Note that the custom wizard plugin isn’t available on our hosted plans though @BCHK
---
### Author:  [@BCHK](https://meta.discourse.org/u/BCHK)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2021, 2:30am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/anyway-to-make-forms-in-discourse-one-category/205223/12 "2021-10-07T02:30:59Z")
No problem. This is for a different forum I am thinking of starting.
---
### Author:  [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2023, 7:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/anyway-to-make-forms-in-discourse-one-category/205223/14 "2023-10-16T19:13:15Z")
Check [Introducing Form Templates](https://meta.discourse.org/t/introducing-experimental-form-templates/278631)
---
### Author:  [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2023, 7:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/anyway-to-make-forms-in-discourse-one-category/205223/15 "2023-10-16T19:13:18Z")