The Form Node
A Form node pauses the workflow and asks the visitor for details the conversation cannot supply: an email address, a file, a date. Because the visitor types into labelled fields, a form is the most reliable way to capture a lead.
Add the Fields the Visitor Fills In#
Each field carries a Label, a Field ID (Variable Name), a Type and a Required Field switch. The label is what the visitor reads. The field id is the variable the answer is written to, and it is the half your integrations read.
Name the three contact fields exactly name, email and phone. A field labelled "Your email address" fills the Email column, the email notification and the ClickUp task only when its id is email. See how a lead is captured.
Keep the form short. Two answered fields give you more than six abandoned ones, and a detail the visitor already typed can be passed in as a workflow parameter rather than asked for twice.
Choose a Type for Each Field#
The type decides what the visitor is shown and what the form accepts:
| Type | What to use it for |
|---|---|
| Text Entry | One line. Names, reference numbers |
| Number / Currency | A figure, with an optional prefix, minimum and maximum |
| An address, checked before the form submits | |
| Phone Number | A mobile number |
| Date Picker | A date, with an optional earliest and latest |
| File Upload | 10 MB per file, five files per submission |
| Dropdown Select | One choice from a list you define |
| Rating / Poll | A 1 to 5 scale |
| Checkbox | A tick, with an optional link, for terms acceptance |
A required checkbox has to be ticked rather than merely present, so it records an explicit consent.
A Text Entry, Email or Phone Number field can also carry a Validation Preset: Standard Email, Mobile Number (Intl), Number Only or URL / Website. The preset is checked in the form, so the visitor corrects a malformed value rather than sending it on.
Connect the Cancelled Port or the Run Ends Silently#
A Form node has two outputs. Success carries a submitted form. Cancelled carries a visitor who taps Cancel on the web, which the form offers until the first field is answered. The secure link sent on WhatsApp and Instagram has no Cancel control, so nothing a visitor does there reaches Cancelled.
A visitor who walks away is released by a timer instead, ten minutes after they stop typing on the web and an hour after the link was sent off it. On the default Idle Timeout (Minutes) of 10, both releases arrive too late: the run has already ended, so nothing leaves by Cancelled and no lead is recorded. Raise the limits below where visitors take their time.
A form waiting for an answer is not exempt from the workflow's time limits. The link stays valid for one hour, and the run does not: it ends after Idle Timeout (Minutes) without a reply, 10 minutes by default, and after Total Run Time (Minutes) from the moment it started, 20 by default. A visitor who opens the link half an hour later resumes nothing. Raise both under Execution Limits in the workflow's settings, on the bot's Workflows tab, where visitors take longer than that to answer.
Deliver the Form on WhatsApp and Instagram#
On the web the form renders inside the chat panel. On the other two channels the visitor is sent a secure one-time link, fills the form in on a page, and is offered a link back into the thread.
On WhatsApp holds the alternative. Leave it on Secure form link unless you already maintain a flow in Meta's tooling, in which case Native WhatsApp flow renders in the thread and you supply the flow id and a button label. Either way, say what you are about to ask for in Message sent with the link: off the web that sentence is all the visitor reads before deciding whether to open it.
Read the Answers in Later Nodes#
Every answer is stored under the node's label, stripped to letters, numbers and underscores, so a node labelled Ask for details with a field id of email writes Ask_for_details.email. Those are the names the variable picker offers in every later node, and renaming the node renames all of them. A File Upload field also writes .referenceUrl and .originalName under its own name.
What a Paused Form Costs#
A conversation stays open while a form is unanswered, and it is charged again for each hour it remains active. So a visitor who returns to the secure link more than an hour after the conversation started is charged as a second conversation, and a form nobody returns to adds no charge. See what counts as a conversation.
Common Questions#
Can I Collect a File on WhatsApp?#
Yes, through the secure link. The upload happens on the form page rather than in the thread, and the limits are the same on every channel: 10 MB per file and five files per submission.
Does a Paused Form Use Up the Step Limit?#
No. Pausing ends the run, and resuming starts a new one with the counter reset.
Can Two Forms Run in One Workflow?#
Yes, one after another. Each stores its answers under its own label, so give them different labels.