Ask your own questions
Extra fields, consent and terms on the booking form.
The booking form's last step always collects the same five things: first name, last name, email, phone and an optional note. Anything else — a date of birth, a weight, a consent tick, a photo of a passport — is asked by the service, not by the form. Here is where to build those questions, how to make the answers change what happens, and where the answers land.
Where custom questions live
Custom questions are not in the Form Designer. They sit on each service, under Business › Services › open a service › the Eligibility tab, on a card headed Eligibility & intake. So they are per service, not per form: a travel consultation can ask ten screening questions while a flu jab asks none, and every booking form on your site behaves the same way.
Nothing appears until you switch on Collect eligibility / intake for this service — and the switch alone is not enough: without at least one question or the document upload, customers see no extra step.
Services
The Eligibility tab on the Yellow fever vaccination service.
- 1Business › Services — questions are built on the service, so open the one you want to screen for. Nothing to add under Booking Form.
- 2Eligibility — the last of the six tabs down the side of the service editor.
- 3Collect eligibility / intake for this service — the master switch. Off means the service books straight through.
- 4When is it collected? — during the booking, by a secure link afterwards, or never shown to customers.
- 5One question — the wording, its Type, Help text (optional), a Required tick, and its Eligibility rules.
- 6Add question — adds another card at the bottom. Each card carries Move up and Move down arrows and a bin.
- 7Consent statement (optional) — the tick box wording. Empty means no tick box.
Build the questions
- Fill in Section title and Intro / instructionsThe title heads the step. The box suggests "Eligibility screening"; leave it empty and the step gets no heading.
- Press Add question and type the wordingWrite it as you would say it over the counter. A question left blank is dropped when you save.
- Choose a TypeSix types, listed below. Single choice and Multiple choice need + Option pressed once per answer.
- Add Help text (optional) where it earns its placeSmall grey text under the question — good for units or examples.
- Untick Required where you can live without an answerNew questions arrive with Required already ticked. A required question shows a red asterisk and holds the customer on the step.
- Press Save serviceNothing is live until you save. Then book a test appointment yourself.
| Type | What the customer gets | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Yes / No | Two tappable pills | "Are you pregnant or breastfeeding?" |
| Single choice | A drop-down of your options | "Which country are you travelling to?" |
| Multiple choice | Tick boxes — any number | "Tick anything that applies to you" |
| Number | A number box | "Your weight in kg" |
| Text | A small two-line writing box | "Which medicines are you taking?" |
| Date | A date picker | "Date of your last dose" |
Decide when the questions are asked
When is it collected? has three answers, and it changes the shape of the whole booking.
- During the online booking — the questions become a step of their own, shown as Eligibility in the progress indicator, straight after the service is picked and before a time is chosen. Best when an answer might stop the booking.
- Secure link after booking — the booking goes through first, then the confirmation screen offers Complete your screening, opening a private one-off web address. Read the warning below first.
- Staff / admin only — the questions are saved but never shown anywhere. No step, no link, and no admin screen for your team to type answers into, so nothing is collected at all.
The confirmation screen tells the customer the form is "also emailed to you" — but no Booked email carries that link, and there is no merge tag for it. Nothing in the admin shows it either, so you cannot resend it. If they close that screen, take the answers at the appointment.
A booking form of the Short form type — and the [get_booked_short] shortcode — skips the eligibility step altogether, along with group bookings and add-ons. Never offer a service that must be screened through a short form.
Rules that flag or block a booking
Under each question is an Eligibility rules area. Press + Rule for a sentence to complete — If answer … then … — with two possible outcomes:
- Flag for review — the booking is allowed, and staff see it marked for a second look.
- Block booking — the customer cannot continue. Write the wording in the Message shown to the customer box; they see a pop-up headed Not suitable to book with your message and a Change my answers button. Leave it empty and Booked falls back to "Based on your answers, this service isn't suitable to book online. Please contact us."
The comparison offered depends on the type. Yes / No and Single choice compare with is; Number gets <, ≤, >, ≥ and =; Multiple choice uses includes; Text and Date offer is answered, equals and contains. A question with no rules reads No rules — any answer is fine. Changing a question's Type clears the rules you wrote for it.
The rules never leave your site. The form is sent your questions but not the pass or fail logic, so it asks your server as the answers come in — which is why the pop-up can appear before the customer reaches the bottom of the step — and everything is checked again on submission.
Even if Auto-approve new bookings is on under Settings › Booking rules, a booking with a flagged answer is held as Pending until someone confirms it. Check your Bookings list daily if you use flags.
Consent, terms and ID uploads
Whatever you type into Consent statement (optional) becomes a tick box at the bottom of the step, and the customer cannot continue without ticking it. It accepts basic HTML, so this is where a link to your terms or privacy policy belongs. On its own it will not create the step — you need a question or the upload as well.
Switch on Require secure ID / document upload to ask for a passport photo or a repeat prescription. Set the Upload label, and Minimum files — anything from one to five. Once the switch is on the upload is always compulsory. Images and PDFs are accepted, up to 12 MB each. These files are encrypted, kept out of your website's media library, and opened only by staff who are allowed to see them — unlike the ordinary Documents card on a customer record, which uses plain public links. If a red Secure uploads aren't ready yet warning sits at the top of the card, your site cannot lock files: collect no ID until it clears.
There is no site-wide terms tick box. For small print under every form, put your sentence in Footer HTML on the Code tab of Customisation › Booking Form — but that is a line of text, not a tick. For recorded consent, use the consent statement.
Travel health screening
The same questions as the customer meets them, between Service and Time.
- 1Section title and intro — your wording from the service, heading the step.
- 2A required question — the red asterisk marks it. Miss one and the form says "Please answer all required questions and complete any uploads before continuing."
- 3Secure upload — your Upload label, Booked's own reassurance line, then Choose file(s).
- 4Consent tick — your consent statement, terms link inside it. Continue will not pass the step until it is ticked.
Where the answers turn up afterwards
Open Bookings, click the appointment, and open the Eligibility & secure documents section. It shows a verdict — Eligible, Flagged for review or Ineligible — then every question with its answer, then any uploaded files. A secure-link screening nobody has completed yet shows no verdict. Answers are not repeated in the confirmation email or on the customer's record, so read them here before the appointment.
Yellow fever vaccination · 4 Sep, 09:15 · Bramhall branch
| Are you pregnant or breastfeeding? | No |
| Which country are you travelling to? | Ghana |
| Are you taking any regular medicines? | Methotrexate |
| Date of your last yellow fever dose | — |
The same booking after it was made, on Bookings › the appointment.
- 1The verdict — Flagged for review here, because an answer matched a flag rule. That is also why the booking sits at Pending.
- 2The answers — every question with what was given. An unanswered optional question shows a dash.
- 3Secure documents — uploads live only here, on the booking, never on the customer record. The panel reads "Encrypted at rest · staff-only · every view is logged": each View is written to that booking's Activity log. Your team can add files here too.
Keeping the form short
Every question stands between a customer and a booked appointment, so be ruthless.
- Ask only what changes what you do. Anything you can look up, or ask in the room, does not belong on the form.
- Keep Required for genuine blockers and untick it everywhere else. Optional questions still get answered by most people and trap nobody.
- A long questionnaire can go on Secure link after booking so the slot is held while it is filled in — accepting that the link is shown once and never emailed.
- Screen on the service that needs it. Questions on a five-minute flu jab slow down every booking you take.