Form field types
Every field type a hosted lead form can use, what each one accepts, how it is validated, and the limits on fields, options and answers.
A hosted lead form has fourteen field types. They differ in what the visitor sees, what counts as a valid answer, and whether the answer can be mapped onto a lead column. Pick the specific type rather than making everything Short text — the specific types validate, and a validated answer is one you can actually act on.
Before you start
Field types are chosen in
LeadsFormsyour formBuild, in the Field
type picker. You need leads edit to change a form.
Text
| Type | Accepts | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Short text | One line of free text | 500 characters |
| Paragraph | Multiple lines of free text | 5,000 characters |
Contact details
These are the types worth mapping onto lead columns.
| Type | Accepts | Notes |
|---|---|---|
An address in the usual name@domain.tld shape | Up to 320 characters. Stored lower-cased, so casing never splits a dedupe match | |
| Phone | Digits, plus a leading +, and the usual separators — spaces, dots, dashes, brackets | Up to 40 characters, and at least five characters long |
| Website | A URL. If the visitor types no scheme, https:// is assumed | Up to 2,048 characters. Only http and https are accepted |
Every form needs an Email or Phone field
Publishing is refused without one, because without it a lead cannot be reached and Merge returning visitors has nothing to match on.
Numbers and dates
| Type | Accepts | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Number | Any number | A non-numeric answer is rejected |
| Date | A calendar date | Stored as a plain YYYY-MM-DD date, with no time and no time zone |
Choices
All four take an Options list. An answer that is not on the list is rejected, so a visitor cannot invent a value.
| Type | Visitor picks | Shown as |
|---|---|---|
| Dropdown | One option | A select menu. Best when there are many options |
| Single choice | One option | Radio buttons. Best when there are a handful and you want them all visible |
| Multi-select | One or more options | A multi-select control |
| Checkboxes | One or more options | Tick boxes |
Up to 50 options per field, each up to 120 characters. A choice field with no options blocks saving.
Yes / no and Consent
| Type | Accepts | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Yes / no | A single true-or-false answer | Stored as yes or no |
| Consent | A tick | When marked Required, submission is blocked until it is ticked, and the failure is reported as a consent error rather than a generic missing field |
Use Consent with the form's Consent note and Consent link so the wording the visitor agreed to is on the page next to the tick.
Hidden value
Hidden value appears in the field type picker.
Hidden value has no way to set its value yet
The field editor offers no input for the value a hidden field should submit, so a hidden field carries nothing today. Do not build a form that depends on one. If you need to know which page a submission came from, use a separate form per page, or the capture API, which takes attribution in the request body.
Mapping to lead fields
Any field can be pointed at a lead column with Maps to lead field: Name, Email, Phone, Company, Website or Message. Anything left on None is still captured, but it lives on the submission record only — it will not appear on the lead.
A column can be claimed by one field at a time. Once a field takes Email, that pill disappears from the other fields.
Limits
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Fields per form | 60 |
| Answers per submission | 60 |
| Label | 120 characters |
| Helper text | 500 characters |
| Options per choice field | 50 |
| Characters per option | 120 |
What is not available
Four things the builder deliberately does not do
- File upload. Lead forms are anonymous, and there is no anonymous upload route, so the type is not offered on a lead form at all.
- Conditional or branching logic. Every field is shown to every visitor. Use One section per step to break a long form up instead.
- Per-field minimum, maximum or pattern rules. The editor exposes no control for these. You get each type's built-in validation and nothing more.
- CAPTCHA. Spam protection is the invisible honeypot, a keyword filter and the submission rate caps.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Save is refused on a choice field | It has no options | Add at least one option |
| A visitor says a valid phone number was rejected | The value is shorter than five characters, or carries letters | Phone accepts digits, a leading + and separators only |
| A website answer is rejected | The value is not a usable http or https URL | Ask for the domain, not a description |
| A date answer is rejected | It is not a real calendar date | The field stores a plain date — no times |
| An answer never reaches the lead | The field is not mapped | Set Maps to lead field, then save and publish |
| A hidden field submits nothing | The editor has no input for its value | Do not rely on hidden fields |
| A long form refuses to save | You are over 60 fields | Split it into two forms |