Save and publish forms

A form must be published in order to make it available to users. Published forms are automatically saved. Use the Save button to save changes to the form design without publishing.

In addition to the standard SharePoint publishing, forms can also be published to the Nintex external platform.

Note: Only forms created with the Classic Forms Designer can be published to the Nintex external platform.

Save a form

Use the following steps to save a form.

To save a form

1. In the Nintex Forms Ribbon, click the Save button.

2. A progress indicator will display while the saving process occurs. If designing and editing a form in Nintex Workflow using Nintex Forms, a confirmation dialog is displayed when the form is saved. 

   The Confirm save dialog displays the following information:

   • The device specific layouts that will be published with the form.
   • The External Forms Settings configuration for the form (if Nintex external forms has been enabled). Click the Change link to modify these settings.
   • Any mobile details as far as Nintex Mobile layouts created.
   • The option to skip Confirm save and Save completed dialogs. Selecting this option will no longer show the dialogs for the current form, on the current browser, until the option is reset. When selected, a notification appears informing the user when the form has been saved successfully.

   A Form saved successfully message will be displayed just below the Ribbon at the top right of the design canvas.

   Note: If designing and editing a form in Nintex Workflow using Nintex Forms, only the Save button is available in the form designer Ribbon. The form is published when the workflow is published.

Publish a form

Before a form becomes available to users within SharePoint lists and libraries, it must be published.

Note: If there are any form or control settings that have not been configured, the Publish button will be disabled.

To publish a form

1. In the Nintex forms Ribbon, click the Publish button. The Confirm publishing dialog opens.
2. The Confirm publishing dialog displays the following information: 

- The device specific layouts that will be published with the form.

- The External Forms Settings configuration for the form (if Nintex external forms option has been enabled).

- To modify the settings, click the Change link.

   3. Click Publish.

This may take a few seconds. A Form published successfully message displays.

If the Publish and Close option is selected the form closes immediately after a successful publish.

The form is automatically saved before it is published. It is not necessary to Save and then Publish a form.

Note: If a published form has controls that are connected to columns, workflow variables or labels that are associated to a bound control; property changes made to the columns or workflow variables will be automatically synchronized to the Nintex form without needing to republish the form.

Publish forms to the Nintex external platform

In addition to the standard SharePoint publishing, forms can also be published to the Nintex external form platform to provide access through the internet.

Only the following form types can be published to the platform:

• List new item form
• Site workflow start form (requires Nintex Workflow)
• Workflow task form (requires Nintex Workflow)

To configure settings for Nintex external form publishing

1. In the Nintex Forms Ribbon, click External Forms Settings.

2. In the dialog, select the Publish to Nintex external platform option.

3. Once all desired options have been set, click Save.

To publish a form to Nintex external platform

• Ensure that settings for Nintex external forms publishing have been configured. For more information, see Publish external forms settings.

Important

If a published form has controls that are connected to columns, workflow variables or labels that are associated to a bound control; property changes made to the columns or workflow variables will be automatically synchronized to the Nintex form without needing to republish the form. However, if the form has already been published to external forms, it must be republished to external forms for the changes to reflect on the external form.

If a workflow is configured to start when a new item is created:

• When a list form is submitted by an anonymous user, the workflow will run under the identity of the form designer.
• When a list form is submitted by an authenticated user, the workflow will try to run using the authenticated user's credentials if the user can be found in Active Directory. If the user credentials cannot be found, the workflow will run under the identity of the form designer. If the user is found but has no access to the list, the workflow will run under the identity of the form designer.

Unsupported features

The following are controls that cannot be rendered by external forms. These controls do not appear in the form when viewed through the Nintex external platform:

• External Data Column
• Managed Metadata
• Recurrence
• People
• List Item
• List Lookup
• List View
• Workflow Diagram

Note: Task delegation scenarios are not supported in the Nintex external platform. If a workflow task form has a delegation link, it will be hidden.

Related information

Forms designer

Design forms in Nintex Workflow