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I'm trying to create a custom form on a SharePoint site, but I'm having some trouble with it. Most tutorials I've found seem to assume the SharePoint software, but I'm running Linux and only using SharePoint Online. I'm a beginner when it comes to SharePoint, so any advice would be appreciated!

EDIT: Let me clarify based on @Yugo's suggestions - I want to create a public facing form that any anonymous user can fill out and submit, similar to the contact forms you see all over the internet (such as the one on this site). It seems like I need to do something with a list, but embedding my created list as an App Part shows the list itself, not a form to fill out. I also saw mentions of Form Designer, but a third party solution seems unnecessarily convoluted.

Is there at all a way to create a public facing form on a SharePoint page without resorting to third party solutions?

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  • what form do you expect to be created? a list form?
    – Jinxed
    Commented Aug 2, 2016 at 19:24
  • I'm not sure. A lot of the resources I found online did mention lists but everything seemed to assume some level of basic understanding already, so I don't know what the difference between a list form or other forms is. What I want is a set of fields for the site user to enter information, then a submit button that I can hook up to some kind of action.
    – A Decker
    Commented Aug 2, 2016 at 19:42

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Ok so after your comments, when you add an "app" into a Sharepoint site, you can select to create a List (Think of a document library, without the documents), into which you will add columns with information (Metadata).

Sharepoint will create a new form based on the columns for the list, that is used whenever you add a new item into that list.

Picture 1 Example of an empty list with columns added:

Example of a List with columns

Picture 2 Example of a new item being added into the list:

Example of a new item being added into list

If you require more information on how to create a list and add columns into it, please refer to this Microsoft article. Good luck!

Edit: To reply to the end question, it's not possible to add public facing forms that can be filled by non-logged users from a Sharepoint site without 3rd party software.

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  • Is there a way to put the form on the site itself, so a visitor to the site can fill it in instead of someone in the backend? When I add the app as a Web Part, it just embeds the same thing that you see in the backend, with the ability to edit the form and everything.
    – A Decker
    Commented Aug 2, 2016 at 19:53
  • I'm sorry, could you rephrase the question I'm not getting to where you are going.
    – Yugo
    Commented Aug 2, 2016 at 20:12
  • I'll try to explain it better. I created the form as you said, by adding a list app and making the columns my field names. I can add data to the list directly with the "+ new item" button above it. However, I'd like to embed this form on my site, so users who don't have admin access can enter data and submit it. I can go to the page I want the form to be on and add the form as an app (via Insert -> App Part), but that creates the same thing I see when I visit the app in the backend - the ability to add data with "+ new item" and edit the form. I just want a set of fields and a submit button.
    – A Decker
    Commented Aug 3, 2016 at 12:46
  • When asking a question you should always try to structure it as best as you can with all the information needed, that being said, what you want to do is something that out of the box can't be done without workflows since you will have to impersonate a special permission level of another user in order to fill this form without access to the list. You could create a special permission level for "visitors" or all users and break inheritance for it, but this is something completely different than what you are initially asking.
    – Yugo
    Commented Aug 3, 2016 at 13:01
  • Like I said, I'm a beginner when it comes to SharePoint, so I didn't realize so much extra information was necessary. All I want to do is add a form to a page, which is a very common thing to want to do (see: any contact page, such as the one for this very site). Do I really need to set up special permissions and workflows to do that (both things that I am unfamiliar with in a SharePoint context)? Maybe I'm not looking at this the right way, but it seems odd and a little backwards that such a simple task has such a convoluted method to achieve it.
    – A Decker
    Commented Aug 3, 2016 at 13:12

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