On this page
- How to: publish an intake form
- Guest link or intake form?
- Which settings does a form have?
- When do template changes apply?
- Offer the form in more languages
- Offer the form on your website
- Set up logo and color
- What happens after submitting?
- How does Bricksta protect form and data?
- Involve customers in a running case
- Role, contact, task: what is what?
- Maintain roles for all templates
- Set up a role on the template
- What does the customer see and do?
- How does the customer sign in?
- How do you review a submission?
- Send and withdraw invitations
- Manage external contacts and revoke access
How to: publish an intake form
- 1Open the template, click Settings and choose the Intake forms tab.
- 2Click Add form. If there is none yet, the button is called New form.
- 3Enter the Title and pick the Intake task. Its fields make up the form.
- 4Click Save form. The form now shows up in the list as a Draft.
- 5Choose Publish in the row's ⋮ menu. Share the link via Copy link.
You need the permission to manage intake forms for this. By default everyone who may create templates or cases has it.
Guest link or intake form?
| [Guest link](/docs/gastformulare) | Intake form | |
|---|---|---|
| Points to | One task in a running case | No case yet, it creates a new one |
| Purpose | Help out mid-process | Start the process from outside |
| Examples | Hand in a document, answer a question | Contact request, application, appointment request, complaint |
Which settings does a form have?
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Title | The heading above the form, such as “Contact request”. |
| URL slug | The last part of the address /f/…/slug. It fills in from the title and stays fixed once published. |
| Intake task | The template task whose fields the customer fills in. |
| Consent text | The customer confirms it with a required checkbox. It is prefilled and can be adjusted. |
| Require email confirmation (double opt-in) | On by default. The case is only created after the click in the confirmation email. |
| Bot protection (Turnstile) | On by default. A short check above the submit button keeps out automated submissions. |
You set the title of new cases in the template settings, tab Defaults. Via Insert field the fields of this form are offered there too.
When do template changes apply?
When you publish, Bricksta freezes the fields of the intake task. If you change the template later, it only takes effect after Re-publish in the ⋮ menu. That way no submission in progress breaks.
Deactivate in the same menu switches the link off. An older form only shows logo, color and the language switch after you republish it once.
Offer the form in more languages
If your organization has content languages, the language switch sits at the top of the template settings. Pick a language and open the form via Edit in the ⋮ menu. Enter the title and consent text in that language.
The translation applies right after saving, without republishing. Bricksta never shows an unreviewed AI translation; until then visitors see the base text. More under Translate content.
Offer the form on your website
All you need is the published link. Always get it via Copy link: it contains a long identifier of your organization, and a hand-typed link easily leads nowhere.
| Route | How to | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Button or link (recommended) | Put a link on the website that opens the copied link in a new tab | A button such as “Start a request” |
| Embed (iframe) | Pick an element for embedding HTML in your website builder, such as “Custom HTML” in WordPress or “Embed” in Wix | The form in the middle of the page |
For the iframe, put the copied link into src: <iframe src='YOUR-COPIED-LINK' style='width:100%; min-height:1000px; border:0'></iframe>. An iframe does not grow with its content, so the minimum height prevents cut-off fields.
Set up logo and color
Under Organization → Branding you upload a logo (PNG, JPG or WebP, at most 2 MB) and pick an accent color. Both appear on intake forms, in the customer portal and in emails to customers, also inside the iframe.
If white text is hard to read on your color, Bricksta warns you. To get back to the neutral look, use Remove logo or Reset to default in the row's ⋯ menu.
What happens after submitting?
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| The customer fills it in | They see your fields with required fields and checks, plus an email field and the checkbox. They can switch between German and English. |
| They click Send request | With email confirmation they get an email with a confirmation link. Without it, the case is created right away. |
| They confirm | Bricksta creates the case. The click proves the address and the consent. |
| The case appears | In the case list with the Intake badge. The entries are in the intake task. |
| They track the status | The confirmation email contains a link into the customer portal. |
The customer completes nothing: your team reviews the entries and works the case on. How to involve them again later is covered under Involve customers in a running case.
How does Bricksta protect form and data?
| Protection | What it does |
|---|---|
| Email confirmation | Without a click on the confirmation link no case is created. That stops spam from other people's addresses. |
| Consent as proof | Bricksta stores the version of the consent text used per submission, including the reviewed translations. |
| Bot protection (Turnstile) | Cloudflare checks every submission. You don't need to set anything up. |
| Throttling | Too many requests per email, per sender and overall are turned away. |
| Published fields only | The form never shows internal structure, roles or other cases. |
| EU region | Data and all emails to customers (via the Resend service) run through the EU. The page links to the imprint and privacy notice. |
With bot protection, Cloudflare receives the sender's IP address, when the form opens and on submission. Bricksta itself stores it only as a non-reversible hash. If you don't want that, turn bot protection off per form.
Involve customers in a running case
If you need the customer again mid-case, for a document or an approval, hand individual tasks to an external role. The customer completes them in the customer portal.
- 1Open the template, then Settings → External roles tab → Add role.
- 2In the Role field, pick a role such as “Customer”. If it is missing, create it via New role.
- 3Optionally pick the Email field the address comes from. Click Add role.
- 4On the task in the template editor, switch on External and pick the role.
- 5When the task comes up, the customer gets an invitation by email. After they submit, click Accept or Reject.
Role, contact, task: what is what?
| Term | Meaning | Where |
|---|---|---|
| External role | A placeholder such as customer, guarantor or supplier, not a person. Who fills it is decided per case. | On the template |
| External contact | The actual person with an email address. They fill one role per case. | Organization → External contacts |
| External task | A task with the External switch on. Only it goes outside; everything else stays internal. | In the template editor |
External roles carry no permissions. External participants have neither an account nor rights; they only work through their portal access.
Maintain roles for all templates
Open Organization → External contacts → Roles tab. Enter a label, such as “Project lead (customer)”, and click Add role. Each row shows how many templates use the role.
| Case | What happens |
|---|---|
| The role already exists | Bricksta reuses the existing entry. “Bürge” and “BÜRGE” count as the same role. |
| Rename (⋮ menu) | Takes effect in all templates right away. Running cases keep the old label. A label already in use is blocked. |
| Delete (⋮ menu) | Templates keep their role. It just no longer follows later renames. |
| Translate | With content languages you translate the label via the language switch. The customer then reads “You are taking part as …” in their language. |
Set up a role on the template
| Setting | What you choose |
|---|---|
| Role | A role from the catalog. New role creates one and adds it to the catalog right away. |
| Email field | Optionally the field the address comes from. If you open the roles from a task, only fields of earlier steps are offered. |
| Sees progress | The customer sees the stages and their status under “How far it is”, without step names, amounts or fields. Takes effect in running cases right away. |
Without an email field you invite the person later on the case via Invite external. You remove a role via the ⋮ menu of its row.
If you pick Contact as the recipient in the task editor and no role exists yet, a hint appears below the role field. Create role takes you straight to role management.
What does the customer see and do?
| Topic | How it works |
|---|---|
| Invitation | When the external task becomes actionable, an email with a direct link arrives. On opening, the customer confirms their address with a one-time code. |
| Portal header | Your organization's name and the case title. Without a title it shows the template name, so give the case a title of its own. |
| Filling in | The customer only fills the fields of their task and submits. The portal flags missing required fields right away. |
| Fields they can fill | Almost all: text, number, date, yes/no, choice, checklist, rating, scale, signature, groups, dataset lookups and files. |
| Locked fields | Fields only for certain roles, person, contact and company fields, live-system lookups, and calculated or carried-over values. They see them with a lock. |
| Language | Emails go out in the contact's language, otherwise in the organization's base language. |
How does the customer sign in?
The customer signs in with their email and a one-time code, on the same page as your team. At /portal they then see every case they are a confirmed participant in, even across several organizations.
You don't have to tell them the address: every portal email points to /portal in its footer, and inside the portal See all your requests leads there. An expired link offers signing in by email as the way out.
How do you review a submission?
When the customer submits, the case owner gets a notification that jumps into the case. The task then shows submitted.
| Status or action | What happens |
|---|---|
| waiting externally | The task waits for the role. Your team can't start or complete it, and the form is write-protected. |
| Accept | The task is done and the case moves on. |
| Reject | The task goes back to the customer with your reason. They revise it and submit again. |
| Fill in on their behalf | Lifts the write protection when the customer doesn't respond or gives the answers verbally. The history shows who entered them. |
Send and withdraw invitations
If the address is in no field, invite the person on the task via Invite external. In the dialog you also pick their language. The task then shows “Invited · address@…”.
| In the task's ⋯ menu | What happens |
|---|---|
| Resend invitation | The same address gets a new email, for example when the first one got lost. |
| Withdraw invitation | The person's link stops working and you can invite someone else. Access ends for all tasks of the same role in the case. |
| After submission | Withdrawing is blocked. You then decide via Accept or Reject. |
Manage external contacts and revoke access
Under Organization → External contacts every external person appears once, even across several cases. Use the toggle to switch between contacts, companies and roles. With New contact and New company you create them yourself.
| In a contact's detail view | What you see or do there |
|---|---|
| Data | Email, phone, function and company. Confirmed and unconfirmed addresses are listed separately. |
| Cases | Every case with the person's role and their access: active, read-only, expired or revoked. |
| Language | All emails to the person go out in it. For a language marked “email texts only”, system emails such as the invitation go out in English. |
| Revoke | Per case, or all of the person's accesses at once. The revocation takes effect immediately. |
| Lift a revocation | The person gets a fresh link; the old one stays blocked. |
For everyday cases such as a wrong address, use Withdraw invitation on the task. This list is the place for offboarding and for access or erasure requests. You need the permission to manage contacts for it.