Using Sections in Forms (Design, Permissions, Collapsing, Duplication)

📄 Using Sections in Forms: Structure, Permissions, and Conditional Logic
 

Sections are the backbone of Ontraccr form design. They help you organize information, control visibility, and streamline the user experience. This article walks through how to add, configure, and customize sections in your forms.

🧩 What Are Sections?

Sections are groupings of fields used to structure your forms. Each section can:

• Be given a custom title
• Be collapsed or expanded by default
• Be duplicated (by users)
• Have restricted visibility or editing permissions based on roles, teams or users
• Be shown conditionally based on other answers

🛠 How to Add and Configure Sections

1. Go to Step 2: Fields when editing or creating a form
2. Click the ➕ Add Section button
3. Name the section — You can rename sections by clicking the ✏️ (pencil) icon
4. Click the ⚙️ (gear) icon to configure the section

⚙️ Section Configuration Options

1. Default Collapsed

• Checkbox: Default Collapsed
• Starts the section closed by default
• User must manually expand it to view or fill it

🧠 Use Case:

• Reduce noise for field workers
• Collapse optional or admin-only sections

2. Enable Section Duplication

• Checkbox: Enable Section Duplication
• Adds a “Duplicate Section” button when filling out the form
• Duplicates all fields within the section

🧠 Use Cases:

• Photo sections (upload + describe multiple photos)
• Equipment or site inspections with repeatable elements

⚠️ Limitations:

• Duplicated sections use the same name
• All fields in the section become optional
• Custom PDFs are not supported for duplicated sections (use standard PDF template)

3. Restrict Permissions

Allows you to control who can view or edit the section.

Add roles, users, or teams

Setting each to:

• ✅ Can View
• ✅ Can Edit

To ensure any users, roles, or teams cannot see the section, manually select each one and ensure the Can View & Can Edit boxes are unselected

🧠 Best Practice:

✅ Add every role and explicitly uncheck access if you want to restrict visibility.

This removes ambiguity later.

Example:

🔐 If a user is in multiple roles/teams, access will be granted if any of them allow it.

4. Show This Section Conditionally

• Checkbox: Show this section conditionally
• Set logic using AND/OR statements and previous field answers

🧠 Use Cases:

• Only show “Incident Details” if “Was there an incident?” = Yes
• Only show “Injury Description” if “Was anyone injured?” = Yes

💡 Design Tips

• Name your sections clearly (e.g., "Job Site Info", "Attachments", "Supervisor Notes")
• Use collapsed sections for optional inputs
• Use conditional sections to keep forms clean and focused
• Use permissions to streamline forms per user type (e.g., admins see more than field staff)