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Microsoft Office Live Home > Business Applications > Sharing information between lists and your Web site
Collect customer information through a Web page

You can collect information from visitors to your public Web site by adding a Form Designer module. Visitors to your public Web site type information into a form that is connected to a list in the Business Applications and Contact Manager sections of Microsoft Office Live Small Business.

For example, if a contractor wants to let potential clients request bids online, the contractor can add a customer-input form to his or her public Web site and connect it to a list named Bid Requests in Business Applications. When visitors to the Web site type their information into the form, it is automatically saved in the Bid Requests list.

 Note   You cannot collect customer information for lists located in the Document Manager application.

 Caution   Do not use the Form Designer module to collect sensitive data, such as government identification, credit card information, financial account numbers, or other data that should be encrypted while being transferred from your customer's browser. Customer information submitted with the Form Designer module is transmitted in a clear, unencrypted format across the Internet. If you want to collect sensitive information, use a provider that offers SSL-enabled hosting.

There are two ways to add a form to your public Web site. If you're working in Business Applications or Contact Manager, you can go to the Sharing Sidebar and select Forms. Or, for more flexibility, go to Web designer and add a Form Designer module that lets you choose your own template, or add multiple modules to your page.

What do you want to do?

Add a form to your public Web site using the Sharing sidebar

  1. On the Office Live Small Business Home page, at the top, click More, and then click Business Applications or Contact Manager.
  2. On the Business Applications Home page, on the left navigation bar, click the application that contains the list in which you want to save visitor information. Then click the name of the specific list that you want.
  3. On the Sharing sidebar, click Forms, and then click Build form.
  4. In the Build a Form dialog box, create a name that will appear at the top of your new Web page, and create the Web address (URL) that will appear in the address bar of the new Web page. Then click Build form. For more information about creating page names and Web addresses, see Add or delete a Web page.
  5. The Build a Form dialog box closes. The Site Designer automatically opens in a new browser window, and your new Web page appears. Instructional text appears at the top of the page. Right-click the instructional text, and then click Properties.
  6. Select the fields that you want to include on your public Web page. Required fields are automatically included. You can also reorder the fields by using the Move up and Move down buttons, and create your own labels for the fields by changing the Display name text.
  7. To use an existing layout, select it from the Input tab, using the Layout drop-down list.
  8. If you want visitors to see a completion message after they submit information using your form, edit the success message.
  9. Click OK. Your form appears on the page.
  10. Drag the form to the place on the page where you want it to appear.
  11. Click Save. Your form appears on the Web page in the layout that you selected.

 Note   Form sizing is automatically set. To change the form sizing, you must have the advanced Web site design features activated. To learn more about using the advanced design features, see Customize a form on a Web page using the advanced design features.

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Add a Form Designer module to your public Web site

  1. On the Office Live Small Business Home page, at the top, click Web Site.
  2. In Page Manager, next to the name of the Web page that contains the list that you want to publish, click Edit.
  3. In Page Editor, on the toolbar, click Module, and then click Form Designer.
  4. In the Application and List boxes, choose the application that you want, and then select the list that you want your form to connect to.
  5. In Form Designer, select the check boxes for the fields that you want to include on your public Web page. Required fields are automatically included. You can also reorder the fields by using the Move up and Move down buttons, and create your own names for the fields by changing the Display name text.
  6. To use an existing layout, select it from the Input tab, using the Layout drop-down list.
  7. If you want visitors to see a completion message after they submit information using your form, edit the success message.
  8. Click OK. Your form appears on the page.
  9. Drag the form to the place on the page where you want it to appear.
  10. Click Save. Your form appears on the Web page in the layout that you selected.

 Note   Form sizing is automatically set. To change the form sizing, you must have the advanced Web site design features activated. To learn more about using the advanced design features, see Customize a form on a Web page using the advanced design features.

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Access data from a form

The data from your form will be located in the business application and list that you chose when you configured the Form Designer module.

  1. On the Office Live Small Business Home page, at the top, click More, and then click Business Applications.
  2. Under Business Applications, click the name of the application that you selected when you configured your form.
  3. Under Lists, click the name of the list you selected when you configured your form.

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Update a form when you change the list it connects to

If you make changes to the list that your form connects to, you may also need to update your form.

For example, if you go to a list in a business application and delete a column that appears in a form, you must delete that column from the form on your Web site, too.

  1. On the Office Live Small Business Home page, at the top, click Web Site. Page Manager appears.
  2. In Page Manager, next to the name of the Web page that contains the form that you want to change, click Edit.
  3. In Page Editor, right-click the module, and then click Properties.
  4. Change the relevant fields in the form to match the list it connects to.
  5. Click OK to confirm the changes.

 Note   If you receive an error message, try deleting the module from the Web page, and then try adding it again.

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Remove a form from your public Web site

  1. On the Office Live Small Business Home page, at the top, click Web Site. Page Manager appears.
  2. In Page Manager, next to the name of the Web page that contains the form that you want to change, click Edit.
  3. In Page Editor, right-click anywhere in the module that you want to remove, click Delete, and then click OK.

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Troubleshoot the Form Designer module

Some column types cannot be included in a form

If you receive the error message: The list you selected requires columns that cannot be included on a form, this means that one or more of the following column types has been marked as being a required column in your list:

These column types cannot be included in a form. If these columns are included in your list, but are not marked as required columns, the Form Designer module automatically omits them from the columns that you can choose to include on the form. If they are marked as required columns, the Form Designer module will not be able to create a form for that list.

To mark a column as not required:

  1. On the Office Live Small Business Home page, at the top, click More, and then click Business Applications.
  2. On the Business Applications Home page, on the left navigation bar, click the name of the application that contains the list that you want to modify.
  3. Click the tab that contains the list, and then, on the actions bar, click Settings.
  4. On the Customize page, in the Columns section, click the name of the column that you want to modify.

     Note   If you are not sure which column you need to modify, locate the column types Person or Group, Calculated, or What's New Field, and then look to see if they have a check mark under Required.

  5. Below the text Require that this column contains information, select No, and then click OK.

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See Also