Eligibility Forms

Determine applicant eligibility before they submit.

Pam English avatar
Written by Pam English
Updated over a week ago

Eligibility Forms enable organizations to add an eligibility step in front of any initial form. Inserting a screening stage ahead of an application form will prevent ineligible applicants from proceeding, and ensure that only qualified applicants will be able to continue to the main submission process.

Create an Eligibility Form

To create an Eligibility Form, follow these steps:

  1. Click Forms>Eligibility Forms>+New Form

2. Name your Eligibility Form.

3. Add form fields, including Text Only, Single Checkbox, Single Response, and Dropdown List.

4. When finished creating an Eligibility Form, click Save.

5. In the navigation bar at the top of the page, click Projects.

6. Select the Project title for which you are requiring an eligibility form.

7.  Scroll down to the dropdown selection for Eligibility Form and select the desired form.

8. In the box that says Ineligible Message, enter a message for applicants to see if they are determined to be ineligible to continue the application process.

9. When applicants begin the application process, they will complete the eligibility form first, after which the system will automatically determine whether or not to move them into the initial form associated with your project. If they are not eligible to continue, they will see the Ineligible Message.

Testing an Eligibility Form

Testing enables you to see your submitters' experience when they complete a submission. It will also allow you to confirm that your form works the way you intend.

  1. Make sure the Project you are testing is Live. This setting is under the General Settings tab for the project you are testing.

  2. If there is a required fee for your submission, remove it while testing and add it again before accepting your actual submissions.

  3. Open the Project and click the View My Site button in the upper right corner. This will bring you to your organization's submission portal page, where submitters will select forms to complete. From this list, click Submit or Apply next to the form you want to test, and you will be brought into the form you want to test. Note: when a submitter clicks on a form for the first time, they will be prompted to sign into their account or create an account and enter information such as their address, email, and phone number. You will not see this step when making a test submission because you are already signed in to your Submittable account.

  4. Complete your test submission. Make it obvious that this is a test submission—in the title, for example.

Once your test submission is complete and submitted, you should receive email notifications as both the submitter and the receiver of your test submission. Check your account-associated email address to see these notifications and understand what happens on both ends of a successful submission. Checking the notification will also enable you to make sure you've set up and sent the correct response template.

Where did my Eligibility Form go? Since the Eligibility Form's purpose is to gain entry to the submission form, it is not saved with a saved draft or after submission. In order to see it again after successfully moving through the eligibility form once, you'll need to delete the saved draft that was created. To do that, follow these instructions:

1. Click your initials in the upper right corner, then My Submissions in the User Account section:

2. Now click on your Saved Drafts tab:

3. Find the draft you're testing in, and click Delete:

Now you can return to the testing steps outlined above and begin a new Eligibility Form.


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