Visiting form reference

The screen that decides what a host is asked when they invite a guest and what a visitor is asked at the door — the six questions you cannot change, every setting on a field you add yourself, and which form a given visit ends up using.

Updated 18 Aug 2026

A visiting form is the set of extra questions asked about a visit. Unlike the booking form, you do not compose it from the built-in questions — those six are fixed. What you build here is everything on top of them, and where each answer travels afterwards.

Open Visiting form

The forms on this site, with one selected. The panel lists its fields and where it applies.

The form itself

Setting	What it does	When to change it
Name	Names the form in the list and in the picker on every other screen	Name it after the group of visits it serves — a site, a purpose, a tenancy — not after its fields
Branch management	Limits the form to one branch of the organisation	Only on a multi-branch site where each branch runs its own forms

Below those sits the field list: the six built-in questions, then every field you have added, in the order they appear on the form. Drag your own fields to reorder them, select one to configure it, and choose Add field for a new one.

The field list. Only the fields you added — ringed — can be moved or opened.

Built-in fields

These six exist on every visiting form and none of them can be renamed, reordered or switched off. They have no editor: selecting one does nothing. What each of them asks for is decided elsewhere — see Set up a visiting purpose.

Field	What it collects
Period	When the visit starts and ends
Visiting location	The building, and the room where one is booked
Visiting purpose	Why they are coming
Visitors	The guests themselves — name, address, and whatever their visiting purpose asks for
Inviter	The person in your organisation who is expecting them
Visiting purpose	The free-text note about the visit

The list really does say Visiting purpose twice. The third row is the category the visit is filed under; the last is the free-text note beside it. They are separate questions that share a name.

Fields you add yourself

Every field you add carries the same settings.

Setting	What it does	When to change it
Name	What the person filling the form sees	Always fill it in for every language your site uses — a name given only in English renders in English on a Japanese screen
Description	A one-line hint under the field	Use it for the rule people get wrong, not to restate the name
Icon	The mark beside the field	Pick something recognisable; it is how people find the field in a long form
Field type	What kind of answer is accepted — see the table below
Select option	The choices, for Select and Multiple select	For a short fixed list. A long or shared list belongs in a data set
Data set	Which reusable list backs an Autocomplete field
File type	Limits an upload to images, videos, PDFs, or anything	At least one type must be chosen
Required	The form cannot be submitted without an answer	Turn on for anything you intend to reconcile or report on later

Where a field appears

Five switches, and they do not divide the way their labels suggest. The first three decide which form asks the question; the last two decide who reads the answer afterwards.

A field named Vehicle registration, and the five switches under it, drawn as two groups. Under a blue heading Which form asks it, three switches each lead to the places that ask the question: Invite visitor form reaches Host, inviting and A booking's visitors; Visitor walk-in form reaches Visitor, at the door and, ringed in orange, Reception desk, with a line beneath reading the desk reads this switch, not the one named after it; Reception walk-in form reaches only A full appointment, marked not the walk-in form. Under a teal heading Who reads the answer, Show in email reaches the visitor's invitation and Show in reception page reaches the desk, on the day. A grey band along the bottom reads: the visit record and the export carry every answer, whatever the switches say. — The first three switches decide which form asks. The last two decide who reads the answer.

Setting	What it does	When to change it
Enable input in invite visitor form	Asks the question on the host’s invite screen, and in the visitor section of a booking	The default place to ask. Note the booking’s visitor section shows only fields with this switch on — a field turned on for reception alone never appears there
Enable input in visitor walk-in form	Asks it on the visitor’s own self-registration screen — and on the receptionist’s walk-in form	This is the switch the reception desk actually reads, despite its name. Turn it on for anything you need from an unexpected arrival
Enable input in reception walk-in form	Asks it only when a receptionist books a full appointment on someone’s behalf	Leave it alone unless your receptionists create appointments rather than register arrivals. It does not drive the walk-in form its name describes
Show input value in email	Puts the answer in the visiting invitation and its update and cancellation notices	Leave off for anything the visitor should not be sent in writing
Show input value in reception page	The desk sees the answer beside the visitor on the day	Turn on for anything reception has to act on — a vehicle, an escort, a delivery

Whatever these switches say, the answer always reaches the visit’s own record and the visitor export — one column per field.

A field's five switches, under its name, icon and type.

A field with the visitor walk-in switch on, asked at the reception desk.

The visiting invitation, carrying a field set to show in email.

Field types

Field type	Accepts
Text	One line of free text
Number	A number. Drops leading zeros and prefixes, so not for identifiers like `AB-0042`
Rich text	A formatted paragraph
Yes / No	A single switch
Phone number	A telephone number
Date	A calendar date
Time	A time of day
Select	One choice from the options set on the field
Multiple select	Several choices from those options
Autocomplete	One entry from a data set, searched as the person types
Upload file	One file, of the accepted types
Upload multiple file	Several files

There is no combined date-and-time type. A visit that needs both already has Period.

Data sets

A data set is a reusable list of options that Autocomplete fields read from. Define it once and every visiting form can use it — which is what separates it from Select, whose options live on the one field that declares them.

Visiting keeps its own catalogue. A data set built for booking does not appear in the picker here, and the two never share entries.

Open Visiting data set

Setting	What it does	When to change it
Name	Names the data set in the picker on a field
Entries	The rows themselves
Key	The code stored alongside the answer	Set it to whatever your other system reconciles on. Renaming the display text later then leaves past visits intact
Display text	What the person filling the form reads	Fill it in for every language your site uses
Import from Excel	Loads the rows from a spreadsheet	For any real list — a tenancy register is not worth typing
Export	Writes the rows back out	Take one before a bulk change, so a bad import can be undone

Which form a visit uses

Applies to carries two independent scopes, and a form has to pass both.

Setting	What it does	When to change it
Specify location	Limits the form to certain buildings and rooms	Leave off to apply everywhere. On a multi-site estate, on
Specify visiting purpose	Limits the form to certain visiting purposes	Leave off to apply to every purpose. Turn on for questions only contractors or interviewees should meet

A scope left off matches everything rather than nothing — which is why a form with both switches off is asked on every visit on the site. And every form that passes is used: they are merged, not ranked, so a visit that satisfies two forms is asked everything both of them ask.

A visit tagged Offision Annex and Interview, tested against three forms drawn side by side. Each form shows two rows, Location and Purpose, with a green tick or a red cross and the reason beside it. All visits has both scopes left off and both tick, verdict applies. Annex interviews matches on Offision Annex and on Interview, verdict applies. VIP arrivals has Location left off and ticking, but Purpose set to VIP and crossed, verdict not asked — one failed test is enough. An arrow labelled merged, not ranked falls from the two that applied into a single blue band holding Vehicle registration, Escort required and a note reading plus three more, from both forms. — A form applies when both its scopes match or are left off, and everything that applies is merged.

A form scoped to one building and one visiting purpose.

There is no default form and no override. Nothing on a visiting purpose can replace the form the way a booking purpose can replace a booking form.

What this does not control

What a visitor is asked about themselves. Name, address, company, photo and terms belong to the visiting purpose — see Set up a visiting purpose. This screen asks about the visit, not the person.
Visitor attributes. Those are a separate set of fields kept against a person, on their own screen, and they persist between visits. A field here is answered once per visit.
Visitor surveys. A survey is attached to a visiting purpose and answered after the visit.
Who may invite anyone at all. Permissions and visiting policies decide that.
What appears on the badge. That is the badge design, not the form.
Booking forms. Booking has its own form builder on its own screen, and the two never share fields or data sets.