Forms and short surveys
Write the questions. Send one link. Read the answers in one table.
The RSVP, the feedback round, the sign-up for Thursday. Piskes Forms turns a handful of questions into a page anyone can answer without an account, and puts every answer in a table only you can open.
Add the questions
Short text, long text, a dropdown, a checkbox or a date. Mark the ones that must be answered, and save.
Copy the link
One button copies it. Anyone who has the link can open the form and answer it, without signing in to anything.
Read the table
One row per answer, one column per question, and the respondent’s email address if they chose to give one.
Checked on the way in
An answer is checked against the form it was sent to.
The browser is not trusted to do it. Each submission is checked on the server against the questions of that one form before it is stored.
Required means required
A required question left empty is refused on the server, even if someone skips the page and sends the answer by hand.
A dropdown answer is one of its options
Anything else is refused, and so is an answer to a question the form does not have.
The owner stays private
A respondent is sent the title, the description and the questions. Not who made the form, and not anything else it belongs to.
Honestly
Against asking by email, and against a full survey tool.
If you need the right-hand column of a full survey tool today, use one. This is the small version, and it is new.
| Asking by email | A full survey tool | Piskes Forms today | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answers in one place | Spread across a thread | Yes | One table per form |
| Respondent needs an account | No | Usually not | No |
| Answers checked against the questions | No | Yes | Yes, on the server |
| Branching, scoring, file upload | No | Usually | Not yet |
| Closing the form at a deadline | Stop replying | Usually | Not yet |
| Export to a spreadsheet | Copy and paste | Usually | Not yet |
| Spam and bot filtering | Your mail filter | Usually | Not yet |
Before you share a link widely: a form accepts answers from the moment it is created, and today it cannot be closed, only deleted. There is no spam or bot filtering yet. For a link you mean to post in public, that matters, and we would rather you knew now.
Closing a form
There is no open or closed switch and no deadline. Deleting the form is the only way to stop answers arriving.
02Spam and bot protection
No CAPTCHA and no filtering on the answer page. A link that reaches the wrong audience can fill the table with junk.
03Exporting answers
No CSV download, and the table shows the latest 200 answers with no further pages.
04Reordering questions
Questions stay in the order you added them. There is also no preview tab; open your own link to see what a respondent sees.
05A note when someone answers
Nothing tells you a new answer arrived. You find out by opening the form.
06Sharing a form with colleagues
A form and its answers belong to the person who made it. Nobody else in your workspace can open or edit it.
Questions
The ones worth asking before you send the link.
Who can see the answers?
Only the person who made the form. The answer table is behind your Piskes sign-in, and nobody else in your workspace can open it.
Does the person answering need an account?
No. They open the link, answer, and see a short thank-you. They can leave an email address if they want to; it is optional and it is not verified.
Can someone answer twice?
Yes. Every submission is stored as its own row. There is no one-answer-per-person rule yet.
What if I change the form after people have answered?
The change is live as soon as you save. The table follows the form as it is now, so a question you delete drops out of the table; answers already stored are not rewritten.
Can I keep a form from being deleted?
Yes. A form under a Piskes Vault hold cannot be deleted, and its answers go nowhere while the hold is on. Editing is still allowed.
Is this the same as the forms on a Piskes website?
No. Contact forms on a site made with Piskes Website Builder collect their enquiries separately. The two do not share answers yet.
Make one form for the thing you are asking about this week.
Five questions, one link, one table. If it turns out you need branching or an export, the list above told you first.