Form fields can have help text, placeholder text, and predefined values.
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Help Text: Text that appears as a sub-heading to the field label, but doesn’t appear in the field entry area. Enter help text in the Basic tab of the field’s sidebar menu.
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Placeholder Text: Text in the field entry area that isn’t submitted if the field is left untouched by the user.
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Predefined Value: Text in the field entry area that is submitted if the field is left untouched by the user.
All form field types can have help text, and all form field types that accept user input can have predefined values. Only text and numeric fields can have placeholder text.
To enter placeholder text or predefined values,
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Open a field’s sidebar menu.
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Open the Properties tab.
Figure 1: Predefined values and placeholder text are entered in the Properties tab.
For example, many forms start with a Full Name field. You can use help text and/or placeholder text to inform users that you need their full names, regardless of length. Alternatively, if you’re asking users to specify how many sandwiches they eat for lunch, a predefined value of 1 probably makes sense.
Figure 2: The Full Name field here uses help text and placeholder text, while the sandwiches field uses a predefined value.
Remember, placeholder values aren’t submitted if the field is left blank, so you don’t have to worry about getting a bunch of submissions from Maximillian Aurelius Piroux the 11th.