Congratulations on signing up to use Submittable. Our Basic Plan is tailored for smaller organizations looking to make the best use of Submittable on a smaller budget.
This article will walk you through the basics to get off and running with Submittable, including how to:
Adding Team Members
Adding team members, such as administrators, reviewers, and/or judges who you will collaborate with, is an important step. If you're going to have a group of people as reviewers/judges for your incoming submissions, you'll want to create your team right off the bat.
Click More from the top navigation bar, and then select Team.
Click Add Team Member. Enter the name and email address of the team member, and optionally their title.
Select the team member's Permission Level.
Levels 4 and 5 are administrators, who can create forms and projects in Submittable, administer account billing, invite other team members, and view all submissions without being specifically assigned.
Levels 1, 2, and 3 are reviewers who can only interact with submissions assigned to them.
For more details about the team permission levels in Submittable and their significance, read this article.
Click Add Team Member. The new team member will receive an email inviting them to be a reviewer on your team account. If they already have a Submittable account, they’ll be automatically added to your team. If not, they can quickly join Submittable via the email link in your team invitation.
Building your first Form
In order to launch a Project, you first need to create Form(s) to place inside your Project. Forms and Review Forms hold the content of what your submitters will see when they submit to your calls, as well as the content your reviewers will see when completing their submission reviews. You should think of Projects as a house where Forms live. This means that you can move Forms in and out of Projects as needed, without changing the name or structure of your Project.
Creating a form
From the main page in your Submittable account, click Forms at the top navigation bar.
2. Click + New Form on the right side of the page.
You’ll be brought to the drag-and-drop form builder.
3. Name your form. This is the name you'll see when choosing a form to place in your Project.
Submission Name
Adding a Name Field gives you the ability to view and organize submissions by a unique identifier/title, such as the applicant's name, the title of the submission, or the name of an organization. To do so, check the Add Submission Name box, and in the box that says Submission Name Question, specify what you would like the submitter to enter as the name of their submission.
If you have any details or instructions to add, you can do so in the Additional Instructions for Submitter box.
Note: If you do not add a Submission Name, a numerical value will automatically be assigned to each submission as its identifier.
Submission Fees
You can add a submission fee to any form. Adding a Submission fee generates a required fee that will apply to all submitters. You can also add additional fees per response throughout your form using our Smart Fee system. To add a submission fee, check the box and specify the fee amount and currency. Add a description of the fee below in the Description box.
For more information about the processing fees Submittable charges, click the Information icon on the right.
Form Fields
Next, decide which Form Fields you would like to add to your form. Select a field from the options on the left, and drag it over to your form on the right. Available Form Fields are:
Name: To request a first and last name
Address: To request an address
Short Answer: To request a short text answer
Long Answer: To request a long text answer
Dropdown List: To allow a single selection from a list of options in a dropdown menu
Single Checkbox: To allow a single selection from a single option
Multiple Response: To allow for multiple selections from a list of options
Single Response: To allow a single selection from a list of options
File Upload: To request a file to be uploaded (you may specify accepted file types out of over 50 possible options)
Table: To embed a spreadsheet for the applicant to fill out
Number: To request a number only
Date: To request a date only
Email: To request an email address only
Website: To request a web address only
Phone: To request a phone number only
Reference Form: To request a reference for the applicant
Divider: Inserts a horizontal line between fields to help visually delineate a section change in your form
Field Options
Each form field includes a variety of Field Options. View the field options by selecting the field in the form builder and then selecting the + Field Options button at the bottom of the field. The available Field Options are:
Response Required: Require a response to the field
Inline: Displays fields with multiple options horizontally rather than the default, vertically
Concealed Response: Hides this response from team members at or below a level to be specified later for anonymous review or elimination of bias
Auto-Label: to automatically label a submission with a particular selection, either with the field value or a custom internal-use label
Enable Branching: Enables form logic for that field, which will dynamically open other fields based on an applicant's responses
Add Payment: Associates a payment with the form field
Note: Some field options are premium features that may not be available in your account. To upgrade or inquire about premium features, please contact account management at accountmanagement@submittable.com.
Formatting and finalizing your form
There are a few Form Fields that help to format your form.
Text Only: Add a field that contains only instructions to your form; requires no response from the submitter
Divider: Separate sections with a dividing line
Some additional tools are available to help you format your form.
Duplicate: To duplicate and edit a field, select the field you wish to duplicate, then select the duplicate option in the top right corner.
Delete: To delete a field, select the field option, then select the trash icon in the upper right corner.
Reorder: To reorder fields, simply select the field you wish to move and set your cursor outside of any text boxes. Then drag and drop the field to your preferred placement.
Other tools are available to finalize your form.
Auto-save: Your form will auto-save every few seconds, so you don't need to worry about losing your work.
Preview: To preview your form, select Preview in the top right corner of the screen. This will show you what the applicant will see when they fill out your form.
Save: When you're finished, click Save.
Configuring the Look and Feel of your Submittable page
By default, your organization’s name will appear at the top of your form in black text. Configuring the Look and Feel of your Submittable page lets you customize your webpage to highlight your organization or brand.
To begin, go to the More tab at the top navigation bar and select Configurations.
Then select Look & Feel.
As you make changes, you can refer to the Quick Preview on the right to see what your Submittable page will look like.
Header
You can upload a header image to replace that text. Header images are 982 x 220 pixels, and for best results, make sure the image you select is at least 400 x 90 pixels. Accepted file types are PNG, JPG, and GIF.
The tool will automatically resize any image that doesn’t fit, and you can grab the edges of the active perimeter to crop your header. Click save.
If you don’t add a header image, you can change the text and background color of your organization's name.
Background
You can also change the background color of your page. Enter a color using a hexadecimal value, or click on the box to select a color from the color wheel.
Text
You can customize the text throughout your page by selecting a text color and font.
Links - Change the color of the links and link rollovers on your form with the Link Color option.
Submit button - You can change the text to something that better fits your opportunity, such as "Apply" or "Enter Contest".
Customizing your email templates
Response templates let you customize the responses your applicants receive at various points in the review process, such as when their application is received and when it has been accepted, declined, or completed.
In the top navigation bar, click More, select Configurations. Then, on the left side of the page, select Response Templates.
Submittable provides by default a generic response template for when a submission is first received, as well as accepted or declined. You can edit these default templates by selecting Edit on the right.
Or create a new template by selecting Create a response template. Response templates are a flexible, highly customizable tool, and you can create templates that meet the exact needs of your process, such as requesting a reference or a progress report.
Double-click the placeholder tags provided at the bottom to pull personalized data into your template.
Click Save when you're done.
For more information about response templates, read this article.
Creating your first Project
A Project is the stage when you configure General settings, Assignments and Notifications, and your Review Workflow so you’ll be ready to send your opportunity into the universe.
General Settings
You'll be able to configure several general settings for your project.
Name: Enter the name of your project. This is the link that your applicants will select from your Submittable page when they choose to apply.
Guidelines: Enter any general guidelines that you need applicants to know before submitting, such as what type of content you are looking for or who is eligible to apply. You can use rich text formatting here, such as headings, bold, italic, or underlined fonts, bulleted or numbered lists, or a quote callout or hyperlink, by selecting the icon from the top menu. You can also include photos or videos.
Form: Select the form that this project will utilize. (This is an important reason you need to have your form created before you create your project.) You can reuse forms for as many projects as needed.
Starts On: Select a date to begin accepting submissions. If you do not select a start date, your project will automatically go live once completed.
Expires on: Select a date that your opportunity will close to submissions. If you choose to leave this blank, your project will be available indefinitely.
Hidden: The hidden box prevents the project from being listed on your organization’s Submittable page. Submitters can only apply by receiving a direct link. This is a good option for opportunities that are not meant to be publicly available.
Limit Multiple Submissions: To limit each submitter to a single submission, check the Limit Multiple Submissions box.
Join Discover: Discover is Submittable’s public library of calls for submissions trafficked by our robust community of creatives and opportunity seekers. To make your project discoverable to tens of thousands of Submittable users, simply enter a few tags so that they’ll be able to find you in a search. You can use tags such as "poetry", "contest," or "grant". Begin typing the desired tag, then select it from the dropdown menu to apply it. If you wish to use a tag that you cannot find, contact support@submittable.com to suggest a new tag.
Live: The Live checkbox makes your project live. By default, you want it checked. Note, even when checked, the project will not go live until the Start date you designate. If, for any reason, you need to take your project down in the future, simply uncheck this box to override all other settings and make the form unavailable.
Archive: Archiving the project is a step you can take when your call is complete, and you are ready to remove it from your Submittable page. Note, this option does not also archive submissions. It’s important to review all submissions, assign a terminal status (accepted, declined, or complete), and archive all submissions before archiving your project.
Assignments & Notifications
The Assignments & Notifications tab contains a number of configurable tools pertaining to communicating with you and your submitters.
Concealed Threshold Level: When designing your form, you have the option to mark certain fields as "concealed". These are generally fields that you may wish to hide from reviewers in order to preserve anonymity and eliminate bias. Setting the Concealed Threshold Level determines which team members will not see fields designated as "concealed responses". For example, if you want to conceal certain fields for all level 1-3 reviewers but keep them visible to all admins (Levels 4 and 5), set the Concealed Threshold Level to 3.
Default Note Visibility: This setting lets you control which team member levels can view notes on submissions. The system default is that notes are visible to all team members assigned to the specific submission. You can alternatively change the setting to make notes visible only to the person who created the note, or to Levels 4 and 5 administrators.
Auto-Assigned Team Members: Auto-assign is an extremely handy tool that automatically assigns team members to a submission. This option lets you determine which team members from your account will be in the auto-assignee pool for this project. Select all to make all team members eligible for auto-assignment. (On the next tab, you can turn auto-assign on or off for each stage of your review process.)
Receive an email alert for each submission?: Checking this box will trigger an email with every new submission received to all of the pool of auto-assignees. If no auto-assignees are specified, the email will go to the main organization email address provided. Unchecking this box will turn off these emails.
Choose an auto-response: If you customized a Response Template to send to submitters as a confirmation of receipt, select your template here. If you make no change, applicants will receive a generic message confirming their application was submitted.
Success URL: The success URL is the location to which submitters are redirected after submitting their application. By default, they will be routed to your organization’s main website page. Enter a different website address here to change that default.
The Review Process
The final step in creating your Project is setting up your review process. There are several different types of review processes in Submittable. The Basic plan comes with Submittable's Yes/No voting capability.
Yes/No/Maybe Voting: If you purchased a Basic account, you have basic up/down, a.k.a. Yes/No/Maybe voting. (Although you will have access to the Review Designer tab in your Project, you will not be able to use any review forms in your account unless you upgrade.) Once you start receiving submissions, reviewers will have the option to give them a yes, no, or maybe vote - you don't have to do anything further at this stage to set up that review process.
Interested in adding a Custom Review process, or Multiple Stages or Review to your account? Contact our Account Management team here.
Launch Your Call
When your Project is finalized, you're ready to launch your call for submissions! On the Submissions tab in your Submittable account, click the View Your Site button in the top right to be taken to a page that lists all of your live Projects. Share this link or click into a Project to share a link directly to that opportunity.
You're now ready to go with Submittable! Have fun.