Overview

Once your form is built and ready to go, publishing it takes just a couple of clicks. From there, how you share or host it depends on who needs to access it and how much control you want over that access.

CX Platform supports two access modes: public for open, link-based access, and private for secure, authenticated access tied to a specific user or transaction. Most forms start as public — but if you're collecting sensitive information or need to pre-populate fields with recipient-specific data, private access is the way to go.

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Publish your form

These steps apply to both public and private forms. Publishing makes your form live and generates the link you'll use to share or embed it.

1. Go to the Receive module and open the relevant form template.
2. In the template editor, review the template you're publishing is correct.
3. Click Save then Publish.
4. Click Click here to view the published form to confirm it's live and looking as expected.

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Public forms

Public forms are accessible to anyone with the link — no login required. They're a good fit for general enquiries, registrations, feedback forms, or any scenario where you don't need to restrict who can submit.

Once published, you can share your form's public URL by:

• Sharing the link directly — via email, SMS, or on your website.
• Using a QR code — useful for print materials, signage, or in-person events.
• Embedding it — drop it into your website or client portal so it loads inline, without redirecting users away.

You can add authentication to a public form if you want to limit who can submit it, without moving to full private access mode. This gives you a middle ground — open access with an optional layer of identity verification.

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Private forms

Private forms require a few extra configuration steps, but they give you much tighter control over who can access the form and what they see when they get there. They're the right choice when you need to pre-populate fields with user-specific data, protect sensitive content, or tie the form session to a specific transaction.

Access is managed through authenticated links or your own user login flows — using Single Sign-On (SSO), optional Multi-factor Authentication (MFA), or personalised, tokenised URLs sent via email or SMS.

To set up private access:

1. In the form template, go to the Details tab and set Access mode to Private / API.
2. Link to the form using another module or system, e.g. (a Receive form, online customer portal) the CX Platform API will pre-populate form data and generate a secure access token — a JSON Web Token (JWT) — for each user or transaction.
3. Redirect users to the secure form link using the token, which uniquely identifies and secures their session.

‍Public or private? If anyone should be able to submit the form without logging in, public is the quickest route. If the form contains personalised data, needs to be tied to a specific user or transaction, or requires controlled access, use private.

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Link to a form from an email

If you're sending a communication through the Send module and want to include a link to a form, you can connect them directly inside the template editor. The link will automatically include the security tokens needed for private form access.

1. In your email template, add a button or text link where you'd like the form link to appear.
2. Click the link icon to edit it, then change the link type from Site to Form.
3. Scroll down to the Forms section in the dropdown and select the relevant form.
4. Click Save to apply your changes.

That's it — the link in your email will now point directly to the form and include any necessary tokens automatically. Recipients click through to a form that's already populated with their details, and submissions come straight back into CX Platform.

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