This feature enables Avvoka users to share selected sections of a questionnaire with external users to collect data securely. Users can prefill answers for convenience before sending the form to external recipients.
This article explains how to set up the external questionnaires from a template. To learn how to use it in generated documents, see this guide instead: Sharing an external facing questionnaire from a document.
1. Enabling external questionnaire and advanced settings configuration.
Navigate to Advanced →Document Questionnaire→ and tick the box to "Enable the questionnaire to be shared externally"
Different settings will display for advanced configuration:
How many minutes until submission expires: This means the form will only remain active to submissions for the set time period. The default is equal to 7 days
Display form title on the top of the page: If this setting is active, the name of the form will be displayed to end-users answering the form
Display your organisation logo on top of the page: If this setting is active, the logo of the organisation will be displayed to end-users answering the form
Customise submission completion message: You can add a personalised message
Accept changes on submissions: If this setting is active, the answers to the form will not show as track changes in the document
Require email verification: A code will be sent to the email of the form recipient and will have to be inputted to allow access.
Tick the applicable options.
2. Creating a form in the questionnaire and assigning questions.
Navigate to the Questionnaire and locate the Questionnaire Forms (globe icon) in the top ribbon.
Click it and a pop up window will open. Select "Add New Form", then give it a name that makes it easy to identify.
You can create multiple forms within a single template as needed and allocate the necessary questions.
Choose whether to use the default email template or create a custom one for a more tailored experience. (You’ll find more details on this in the following section). Custom email templates are great for adding clear instructions or a personalized message for recipients.
3. Assign Questions to the Form
Tick the box next to each question you want to assign to the form. You can assign multiple questions to a form all at once for faster setup. After selecting the relevant questions, click the globe icon.
A dropdown will show. Choose the relevant form to allocate the questions to the selected form. You can assign all questions or just specific sections, depending on what you need to include. Sections and explanatory text can also be included in the external form.
Questions allocated to a form will show a globe icon next to them.
To remove a question form a form, select it and choose "No Form" from the dropdown
4. Adding a visibility condition to a third party form
Dynamic Visibility Conditions allow users to control when third party forms appear in a document workflow. Users can apply visibility rules to external (third party) forms so they are shown or hidden based on answers in the questionnaire. This makes it easier to manage multi-party workflows where certain forms are only relevant in specific scenarios.
Example: three third party forms are used. Using visibility conditions only the correct one will be triggered:
Transferor form
Transferee form
Combined form (used when both roles are the same entity)
How to configure it
Open the template and navigate to Questionnaire Settings.
Open the External Forms dialog.
In the Actions column for the relevant form, click the eye icon (Visibility condition).
The Condition Builder panel opens below the form row.
Build the condition using available questionnaire attributes and values.
Click Save.
How conditions are evaluated
Condition met → The form appears in the Sharable Questionnaire Forms section.
Condition not met → The form is hidden from the document sidebar.
No condition set → The form is always visible (default behaviour).
Conditions are evaluated dynamically at document runtime based on questionnaire responses.
Behaviour when a form has already been sent
If a third party form has already been sent:
The form remains visible in the editor sidebar.
A checkmark indicates that the form has been sent.
The form can still be re-sent (for example, if the recipient lost the email).
The visibility condition only controls whether unsent forms appear in the available forms list.
This ensures that once a form is part of the workflow, it remains accessible.
5. Customize Email Templates (Optional)
Go to Templates → Customizations → Email Templates.
Click Add Email Template or select an existing template to edit.
Add placeholders such as author email, client ID, or corporation name, and include any attachments if needed.
Adjust the email subject and content to provide clear instructions or a personalized message for recipients.
Go back to your template and select the email template next to the form name in the dropdown:
