The submission form and the Inbox
Every new idea lands in the Inbox. The questions people answer when they submit, and the questions you answer while an idea is in the Inbox, are both edited in the same place: Inbox > Form & step settings in a collection, or Inbox in a workflow.
Who can do this: Collection managers and Admins in a collection. Admins in a workflow.
What the Inbox is
The Inbox is the first stop for every new idea. It is not a step: it always exists, and it has no name, colour or delete option. Ideas stay in the Inbox until someone moves them to a step.
Submitters can delete their own idea only while it is in the Inbox. See How to edit or delete your idea.
Where to find it
- In a collection: open the collection and choose Manage. Click Inbox in the left sidebar, then the Form & step settings tab.
- In a workflow: open Menu > Admin > Workflows, click the workflow, then click Inbox in the sidebar.
The page has three cards: Form questions, Inbox questions and Inbox settings. In a collection there is also a card for automatic comments.
Form questions and Inbox questions
The two question cards look alike but are used at different times.
| Form questions | Inbox questions | |
|---|---|---|
| When | Asked when someone submits an idea. | Answered after the idea is published, while it is in the Inbox. |
| Who answers | The person submitting. They answer every question on the form. | Collection managers and Admins, plus the Inbox panel and the idea’s assigned reviewer while the idea is in the Inbox. |
| Typical use | Title, description, which site or department, expected benefit, files. | A first triage: “Is this in scope?”, “Which team owns this?” |
Inbox questions work like questions on any other step. Each person gives their own answer. The Inbox panel and the idea’s assigned reviewer answer while the idea is in the Inbox. Collection managers and Admins can answer at any time, and add or correct answers later too. See Rating ideas and answering step questions.
To add or change questions, see Question types and settings.
The default form questions
Every new workflow, and every collection started without one, has three form questions:
| Question | Type | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Text, single line | Yes |
| Description | Text, multiline | Yes |
| Attachment | File upload | No |
All three are visible to everyone who can see the idea, and answered by contributors. They are ordinary questions. You can rename them, change their help text, make them optional, reorder them or delete them.
Good to know: A new question you add to the form is visible only to collection managers by default. The submitter answers it but cannot see their own answer afterwards. To let them see it, set Visible to to Contributors or Everyone. See Who can see and answer a question.
Title and description of an idea
The title and description shown on an idea’s card come from the form questions marked with Use as:
- Use as Title: the answer becomes the idea’s title.
- Use as Description: the answer becomes the idea’s description.
Only one question can be used as the title and one as the description. Use this setting on Text questions only.
If you delete the Title question, Hives uses the first text answer as the title instead. Without a Description question, ideas have no description on their card.
Required questions
Turn on Required to make people answer a form question before they can submit. Until they do, the submit button stays disabled and a tooltip lists the questions still to answer. The same check applies when someone edits their answers later.
Required has no effect on moving ideas. An idea can always be moved to another step, even if a required question has no answer.
Inbox settings
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Panel | People who review every new idea while it is in the Inbox, before it moves to a step. They see every idea in the Inbox, even hidden ones. Panel members must be active members of your hive, not guests. |
| Reminder days | Days until a reminder is sent to the collection managers, after an idea has landed in the Inbox. Set 0 to turn reminders off. |
| Hide ideas while in Inbox | Hides new ideas from ordinary members and share-link visitors until they move to a step. Collection managers, Admins, the submitter, contributors, assignees and the Inbox panel and reviewer still see them. Useful when you want to screen ideas first. |
| Allow reactions while in Inbox | Lets people like or vote on ideas in the Inbox. Reactions must also be on for the collection. |
| Enable reviewer | Shows a review card on ideas in the Inbox, so a collection manager can assign one reviewer to each idea. |
Click Save in the Unsaved changes bar to keep your changes. Read more about panels and reviewers in Reviewers and panels.
Common questions
Where do I change the questions on the submission form? In Inbox > Form & step settings, in the Form questions card. There is no separate “Form” item in the sidebar.
Can people attach files when they submit? Yes, through a File upload question, such as the default Attachment question. The first image uploaded through the form becomes the idea’s cover on its card. See Adding files to an idea.
Do Inbox questions appear on the submission form? No. Only Form questions appear on the form. Inbox questions are answered afterwards, on the idea.