Organize fields into reusable, configurable forms that can be easily assigned to programs, rentals, and other workflows. Fields usually include a question and store a response or value.
Updated July 17, 2025
Contents
Set the conditions on the form
Definitions
Details for each are provided later in this article.
Questions are prompts that encourage a response during program registrations, rental inquiries, and other guest-facing workflows. Read more about how to Create or Edit Questions.
Consider the question, “How did you hear about us?”
The choice of responses, also referred to as input options, might be:
- Internet search
- Friend or family
- Social media
When a guest views the registration page for a program and answers the question “How did you hear about us?” by selecting Friend or family, their response populates the Lead Source field.
Fields have multiple components. They usually include a question and store a response or value. Fields can be used to filter and display views and reports.
Field sets contain special fields for internal use. These admin-only fields do not include a question (prompt). They only have a field name and a value. They are configured in Settings > Field Sets. Field sets:
- Registration admin - appears on the edit registration page.
- Rental admin - appears on the edit rental page.
- Person admin - currently appears in the Person Fields section of the Edit Registration page. In a planned future release, this field set will appear on the edit person page.
Forms are collections of fields organized for a specific purpose. A field can appear on one or more forms. You can build a form for use on a:
- Registration page to capture information about new bookings.
- Remote registration page, where group leaders can make room assignments.
- Waiting list page for use when a program has reached capacity.
- Rental inquiry page to gather details from prospective group bookings.
This article assumes that the Expandable registration form option is enabled, which includes a default Welcome section at the top and displays as a collapsible-style form on the registration page. Not sure if this applies to you? Contact your friendly support guru for assistance.
Legacy forms are special forms that were automatically created when the new Forms feature was enabled for programs that existed before its introduction. These special forms allow the original registration questions to be retained. A legacy form can only be used by its original program. To make it available for other programs, you can activate it.
The structure
Here’s the structure using the above sample, How did you hear about us:
- Page: Registration page.
- Form: Registration form.
- Field: Lead source.
- Input type: Radio buttons.
- Input options: Internet search; Friend or family; Social media.
- Question
- Prompt: How did you hear about us?
- Field: Lead source.
- Form: Registration form.
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- Help text: Please tell us how you first became aware of our center.
- Response: Friend or family.
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List of forms
To view your list of forms, select Forms from the main navigation menu.
To adjust your view:
- Search the list by typing a keyword in the Search box.
- Sort the view by any column header that displays up/down arrows.
- Select an option from the View drop-down menu to focus results, for example, to view only Archived Forms.
- Choose + Filters to focus the display on forms with specific characteristics, like Registration or Archived.
- Set the Rows per page. Lower numbers will result in a faster page load time, while greater numbers will reduce the need to advance page by page.
Click x Programs for a Programs view filtered to show programs using this form.
Legacy forms
Special note: “Legacy forms” are only applicable to centers that were using Retreat Guru software before the release of the Forms feature. In general, centers with a software go-live date after July 2025 are not affected.
Programs created before the release of the Forms feature retain their original registration questions. No changes were made to the questions selected on the registration forms for those pre-existing programs.
When the Forms feature was released, a special legacy form was automatically created to hold the questions selected on the registration form for the pre-existing program. You can continue to use that legacy form for that program and make edits if needed.
For example, at the fictitious Drala Yoga center, the All Adventures Getaway program was in place before the release of the Forms feature. On the Edit Program > Registration tab, their registrar had selected the questions that appeared on the registration form for that program.
When the Forms feature was released, the questions they previously selected were used to automatically create a legacy form called Reg Legacy - All Adventures Getaway (form #28). Retreat Guru uses the program name and attaches the prefix “Reg Legacy” to indicate that it existed before the release of the Forms feature.
A legacy form is associated with a single program. It can continue to be used and modified for that program, but it is not available for use by other programs.
To modify the questions on a legacy form, click View Form. Any changes to the legacy form will only affect the single program.
Activate a legacy form
If you’d like to reuse this legacy form for other programs, you can activate it. Activating a legacy form will make it available in your forms list.
To activate a legacy form, click on View Form, and select Activate in the Actions drop-down menu.
Once activated, the form will appear in the list of forms. The “Reg Legacy” prefix still appears, but you can rename this form if desired. This form is now available for use in other programs.
The connections column indicates that our Reg Legacy - All Adventures Getaway form is used by one program. Click on x Programs to view a filtered Programs list.
Create a new form
You can create a form by duplicating an existing form or creating a new one from scratch.
Duplicate a form
To duplicate a form, click on an existing form name in the list and choose Duplicate from the Actions drop-down menu.
This action creates a copy of the original form.
You can rename the copy and add/remove questions and sections as needed.
Initially, this form will not be associated with any programs. You can either make this new form the new default form or enable it for one or more programs individually.
Add a new form
To create a new form from scratch, click Add New from the Forms page.
Use the Choose form type drop-down menu to choose the type of form you wish to create.
Only Registration and Remote Registration appear in the drop-down menu, as they are the only form types that support multiple forms. All other form types include a single (default) form.
The Quick Add, Multi-person, and Secondary are not separate forms, but rather subsets of the Registration form. More information about these subsets can be found in the "Add questions” section later in this article.
For example, the registrar at the fictitious Drala Yoga center creates a registration form for their Yoga Teacher Training program. They name the form Registration - YTT.
When they click Save, a new form is created. It automatically includes the default (and required) Welcome section, which in turn, automatically includes three default (and required) questions: First Name, Last Name, and Email.
No other questions may be added to the Welcome section.
However, if the Validate guest emails feature is enabled, the second input box will appear in the Welcome section. You can enable the validate guest emails feature at Settings > Registrations > General.
If you do not have the Expandable registration form option enabled, which includes a default Welcome section at the top and displays as a collapsible-style form, the Confirm email box will appear immediately below the Email input box in the participant information section.
Add questions to a form
Click + Add questions and choose from your pre-existing inventory.
At our sample center, a registrar might add Mobile phone, Address, Email newsletter, Gender identification, and Self describe.
The + Add questions allows you to select from existing questions in your inventory. If you need to add a new question that is not currently in your inventory, you’ll need to first create it at Questions > Add New.
The form now appears as follows.
A new section was automatically created with the default title Participant Info, and the added questions were placed within this new section.
When this form is selected to use on the Registration page for a program, you can apply a Text Customization to change the section title. However, only the default Participant Info title will show when viewing in Forms.
Indicators and options
Continuing with the sample form for registrations, let’s examine some of the indicators and options available when viewing a form.
The red * on a question indicates that it is required. The guest must answer this question before submitting the registration page.
Grab the hamburger icon to drag-and-drop questions to rearrange their order on the form.
Icons indicate if the question also appears on the Multi-Reg or Quick Add Reg forms.
If a question is marked as conditional, it will only display on the registration form when a specific response is provided to its trigger (parent) question. We’ll discuss conditional questions later in this article.
Click the kebab (three vertical dots) to view options.
The list of options will change based on the current state of the question on the form. Here are some examples. If the question is already marked as Required, the pop-up menu will display Not Required as an option (instead of Required). If a question is already marked Include on Secondary, the pop-up menu will display Remove from Secondary.
- Required - require a response to the question before submitting the form.
- Include on multi-person reg - when that feature is enabled on a program.
- Include on Quick Add Reg - so your registrar can easily add a response.
- Include on Secondary Form - it will show on the initial form and in the top section of the Secondary form.
- Add conditional questions - use this question as a trigger. When a specific response is given, other questions will be displayed. Those “other questions” will be marked is conditional on the form.
- Edit trigger question - shows on conditional questions, allows you to make changes to the trigger question.
- Edit Question - opens Questions > Edit Question, allowing you to modify the question configuration. Changes made to a Question are global. They affect every form where that question has been selected.
- Remove - it does not remove the question from your question inventory; it just removes the question from this form.
As we mentioned earlier in this article, the Quick Add, Multi-person, and Secondary form features are not separate forms, but rather subsets of the Registration form. When you add a question to a form, you can choose to have that question also appear in the related subset: multi-reg, quick add reg, or secondary.
Add a custom section
When you click + Add section, a new section will appear at the bottom of your form.
For example, if you add a section titled “The fine print” and add a description, the title and description will appear on the Registration page when viewed by the guest.
Next, you can drag and drop questions already on your form into the new section. You could also add new questions to this section.
Here’s what your sample form looks like after you moved questions into the new section.
You can remove the section header if you wish by clicking Ⓧ. This will remove the section header, but will not remove questions that were in that section. Questions that were in the section will be automatically relocated to the section directly above.
You may drag and drop a section to relocate it on the form. When you relocate a section, all questions within that section are moved with it.
Types of forms
Registration forms
The most common use of a Registration form is to collect information needed to complete a booking or sale. For example, to register a participant for a retreat or program.
You can create multiple Registration forms and choose one to be the default. The default will be used for all new programs.
The Registration form includes a primary form and an optional secondary form.
In the previous sections of this article, a sample Registration form was used to show how to create a form, add questions, make questions conditional, add sections, and manage forms. Let’s continue with that example.
To specify which registration form a program will use, go to Programs > (choose a program to edit) > Registration > Registration Questions > Registration form.
For example, choose Registration -guest leader from the drop-down menu.
With that form selected for the program, the registration page will appear as follows.
Remote registration forms
The Remote Registration form enables teachers or group leaders to initiate the registration process for their participants and assign rooms. Read more about Remote Registration.
You can create multiple Remote Registration forms and choose one to be the default.
The remote registration form includes a primary form only. There is no secondary remote registration form option for the group leader. However, you (as the registrar) may enable the option to auto-send the Multi-Person Notification email to the newly added participant to collect additional details.
Here’s a sample remote registration form:
You can choose this Remote Registration form for use by one or more programs.
For example, go to Programs > (choose program to edit) > Advanced > Remote Registration for Group Leader. Choose Remote Registration - default from the drop-down.
Here’s the remote registration page pop-up as viewed by the group leader:
Waitlist form
The Waitlist form can be used to collect information from aspiring participants after the program has reached its maximum capacity. It helps you capture a list of prospects in case a space becomes available in a previously “full” program.
You can create multiple Waitlist forms and choose one to be the default.
The waitlist form includes a primary form only. There is no secondary form option.
Here’s a sample waitlist form:
The waitlist can be enabled on a program-by-program basis.
Read more about how to Manage a Waiting List.
To enable, go to Programs > (choose program to edit) > Registration > Capacity & waiting list. Check the box to Enable a waiting list.
When the program reaches its maximum capacity, the waitlist form will automatically be displayed instead of the registration page. Here’s an example:
Rental inquiry form
The Rental Inquiry form allows prospective clients to express their interest in hosting their group or conference at your site.
There is only one Rental Inquiry form, the default.
The Rental Inquiry includes a primary form and an optional secondary form.
Here’s a sample rental inquiry form:
For this sample, the rental inquiry will appear as follows.
Read more about Rentals for Groups and Conferences.
Default forms
The default forms are used when a new program or rental is created.
Only one default can be designated in each system area (registration, remote-registration, waitlist, and rental-inquiry).
- You can create multiple registration forms and choose one to be the default.
- You can create multiple remote registration forms and choose one to be the default.
- You can create multiple waitlist forms and choose one to be the default.
- There is only one rental inquiry form, the default.
- There is only one person admin field set, the default.
- There is only one registration admin field set, the default.
- There is only one rental admin field set, the default.
Default forms are identified in the "Default" column of the Forms list view.
To change the default in a system area to another form, select the form you’d like to be the new default, and choose Set as default in the Actions drop-down menu.
You can not choose a form that has been archived to become the default. You must unarchive the form first. More information on archiving is provided in the next section.
Archive a form
When a form is archived, it no longer appears in a program’s registration form drop-down menu, and it can not be selected for a program. However, existing programs that utilize the archived form can continue to do so.
Archived forms do not appear in the default list view of forms. To view archived forms, choose Archived Forms from the View menu on the Forms list page.
A default form can not be archived. You must make another form in the same system area the new default before archiving the old form.
You can unarchive an archived form. Filter the forms list to view Archived Forms.
Choose the archived form that you wish to unarchive. Select Unarchive from the Actions drop-down menu.
Questions
Questions are prompts that direct the guest to respond during program registrations, rental inquiries, and other workflows. Read more about how to Create or Edit Questions.
Create/edit by selecting Questions on the main navigation.
To make a question conditional, configure that on the form, not on the Edit Question page. See the section below for more about conditional questions.
Making a question required is also done on the form, not on the Edit Question page.
Having the configurations for conditional and required on the form, rather than on the question itself, allows for more flexibility. A question can be conditional or required on one form and not on another.
Conditional questions
A conditional question is one that only appears on the form when a specific response is provided to another question.
For example, if a guest responds to the question, “How did you hear about us?” by selecting “Other source”, you can display a follow-up question like “Tell us about that other source.”
If they had answered, “Google search”, the “Tell us about that other source” question would not have appeared.
Conditional questions are configured on the form, not on the Edit Question page.
The general approach:
- Create the questions at Questions > Add new.
- Add the questions to the form, both the trigger (parent) question and the conditional (child) question.
- Configure the relationships. Designate the trigger question and the conditional questions.
Create the questions
At our sample center, the registrar created the Diet Notes question to capture special dietary requests, such as gluten-free, no dairy, no nuts, and other medically severe restrictions.
Their question looks like this:
If a guest selects the Other medically severe restriction input option, the center wants to display a follow-up question to collect details about the restriction. They want the follow-up question to be conditional - to appear only if a guest checks the box next to Other medically severe restriction on the Diet notes question.
They created the follow-up question and named it Other diet restrictions.
Add the questions to the form
At the Drala Yoga sample center, the registrar would like to add questions to the default registration form.
They go to Forms and select the one named Registration.
On that form, they click + Add questions, select Meal type, Diet notes, and Other diet restrictions questions, and click Add to form.
With these questions added, their form appears as follows.
When new questions are added, they appears at the bottom of the form. You can use the hamburger icon to reorder the questions if needed. In most cases, you will want the conditional (child) question to appear after the trigger (parent) question to support a logical flow.
Move the new questions into the Participant info section, and the form looks like this.
Set the conditions on the form
Next, the registrar establishes the relationship between the Diet notes question and the Other diet restrictions question.
They click the kebab (three vertical dots) on the Diet notes row, and choose Add conditional questions.
A pop-up shows the trigger question (Diet notes) with option + Add response.
They click + Add response to set the condition.
They choose Other medically-severe restrictions as the response that triggers the conditional question. Select Other diet restrictions as the question that appears when triggered.
Finally, they click Done to save their configuration and close the pop-up.
The Diet notes question now shows the has condition indicator, and the Other diet restrictions question shows the is conditional indicator.
To modify the relationship, click the kebab (three vertical dots) and choose Edit trigger (parent) question.
Click + Add question if you want to display additional conditional questions when the response to Diet notes is Other diet restrictions.
Click + Add response if you want to show one or more conditional questions when the response to Diet notes is another value. For example, if the guest response is No peanuts or tree nuts, you may wish to show a message (question input type = Message HTML) that advises your facilities are not nut-free.
Here’s how the sample form will appear on the guest registration page, including the conditional questions. Since No peanuts or tree nuts and Other medically-severe restriction are both checked, both conditional questions appear.
Field sets
Field sets contain special admin-only fields, for internal use. They don’t have a prompt (question). They only have a field name and a value (response).
The admin field sets are configured in Settings > Field Sets.
Default field sets:
- Registration admin - appears on the edit registration page.
- Rental admin - appears on the rental page.
- Person admin - appears on the edit person page (future feature).
For example, the admin-only field HKP Notes is in the Registration Admin field set and is used by the registrar to capture special requests for the housekeeping team.
This field is associated with a registration and appears on the edit registration page.
Since it’s admin-only, it does not appear on the registration page. It’s for internal use only.
There is only one person admin field set, the default. The field order in the field set determines the order in which the fields are displayed on the edit person page.
There is only one registration admin field set, the default. The field order in the field set determines the order in which the fields are displayed on the edit registration page.
There is only one rental admin field set, the default. The field order in the field set determines the order in which the fields are displayed on the edit rental page.
Congratulations, you are now in great form! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for improvement, please don't hesitate to contact your friendly support guru.