Guide

Customers & Pets

Sending Forms to Clients

An intake form reaches a client in one of four ways: automatically when they book, sent by hand from their profile, filled in by your team during a booking, or from a shareable link you post anywhere.

Updated 27 September 2026 - 7 min read
Open in Petboost

When to collect, on the form's Settings tab, decides whether a booking sends the form. You can also send and resend a form from the client's profile, fill it in for the client while booking, or share its link.

Send a form automatically when a client books

There is no separate automatic send switch. Send after booking and Required before booking both send the form automatically; Send manually never does.

  1. Open Fields & Forms and select the form.
  2. Open the Settings tab.
  3. Under When to collect, choose Send after booking or Required before booking.
  4. Under Apply to services, choose All services, or Specific services and pick them.
  5. Under Frequency, choose Every appointment or Once per client.
  6. Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
  7. If the form is inactive, select Activate Form.
  • Send after booking sends the form by SMS and email once a booking is made for a linked service
  • Required before booking puts the form in self-serve checkout, and the pet owner must complete it before they can confirm. When your team makes the booking, the form is sent afterwards instead
  • Send manually sends nothing when a booking is made. Use Send Form on the client's profile when you want this client to get it

The form must also be active, not archived, and linked to the service or set to all services.

What happens when a booking is made

When the form is active and When to collect sends it, a booking for a linked service creates a pending submission, unless the frequency or a choice your team made skips it.

  1. Your team or the pet owner makes a booking for a linked service.
  2. Petboost checks the form's frequency.
  3. If the form is due, the pet owner gets an SMS with a direct link to the form and an email with the link and instructions.
  4. The submission appears as Pending on the form's Responses tab.

For a self-serve booking with Required before booking, the form is in checkout and must be completed before the booking is confirmed. Bookings your team makes still send it afterwards.

Frequency

  • Every appointment creates a new pending submission for each booking of a linked service. An old pending one does not block a new send
  • Once per client counts per pet owner account, not per pet and not per service. Any completed submission, including one your team fills in on the client's behalf, blocks the automatic send and Send Form. Completing the form for one dog blocks it for a sibling on the same owner account

Detaching a completed form from an appointment does not reset Once per client. Submissions cannot be deleted. To collect the form again, change the frequency to Every appointment, or Duplicate the form and send the copy.

A different form for each service

Different forms can go with different services, such as:

  • A boarding health questionnaire linked only to boarding
  • A grooming waiver linked only to grooming
  • A general liability agreement linked to all services, with Once per client

Only bookings for linked services send the form automatically. One form on a booking with several matching services is sent once. Several forms on one service each follow their own frequency. Courses are linked the same way, through the course's lesson service.

Silent bookings

If your team selects Book silently on a booking, which skips both the SMS and the email for it, the form is not sent either, and the booking creates no pending submission.

Send or resend a form by hand

Sending and resending live on the client profile's Fields & Forms tab, not the Paperwork tab, which holds agreements and uploaded documents. The appointment's Forms & Responses section can send and resend too.

  1. Open Customers & Pets and select Manage on the pet.
  2. Open the Fields & Forms tab.
  3. Under Form Submissions, select Send Form.
  4. Choose the form under Select a form..., and optionally the pet under For pet (optional).
  5. Select Send Form. Petboost sends it by SMS and email.

Send Form creates a new pending submission. When the form is Once per client and the owner has already completed it, Petboost refuses the send with "This client has already completed this form."

To remind a client about a form they have not filled in, select Resend on the pending submission. It sends the same submission again and does not create a second one. A completed, archived or inactive form cannot be resent. Use Send Form only when you want a new pending submission and the frequency allows it.

Fill for owner or send to owner while booking

When your team books a service that has a form linked, they choose:

  • Fill for owner: your team completes the form during the booking, and the client gets no form SMS or email for it. Use it for phone bookings and walk-ins when the client is with you
  • Send to owner: the form is sent to the client once the booking is made

Either choice stops the automatic send, so you do not get a second pending submission.

Every active form has a link you can share through any channel.

  1. Open Fields & Forms and choose the Forms tab.
  2. Open the actions menu on the form's row and select Copy shareable link.

On the form itself, the link is under Shareable Link on the summary card, which is under Share form link & details on a narrow screen. Select it to copy it.

Use the link in a WhatsApp message or a Facebook Messenger conversation with a client, on your website as a button or link, in your social media bios, or on printed material with a QR code. It opens the form in a browser, with nothing to log in to. The client fills it in and submits it, and the submission is recorded on their profile.

If the client completes a form from the link and then books within 24 hours, while the submission is still not linked to a booking, Petboost attaches it to the new booking instead of sending the form again.

SMS and email delivery

The SMS is a short message with the form name and a link that opens straight in the client's mobile browser, with no login. The email holds the form name, a short description and the link, and backs up the SMS in case it is missed. Both go out at the same time, and the client only has to complete the form once, whichever they use.

The Sent via column on the form's Responses tab shows, for every row, SMS, email, both, Self-service booking when the form was collected in online checkout, or Not sent. When a send used a mobile number or an email address, it is listed under the channel. If no channel is stored and the booking was not self-service, the column shows a dash.

Frequently asked questions

Can I send a form without a booking?

Yes. Use Send Form on the client's Fields & Forms tab, or share the form's link directly.

What if the client does not have a mobile number on file?

Petboost sends the email only. Add a mobile number to their profile to send by SMS too.

Can I resend a form that the client has not completed?

Yes. Select Resend on the pending submission. It sends the same link again. Use Send Form only when you mean to create a second pending submission.

Does the client need a Petboost account to fill in forms?

No. A form sent by link can be filled in without logging in, and the submission goes on the client's profile from the link.

I detached a completed form from an appointment. Will it send again?

No. Detach only clears the link to the appointment. The submission stays Completed, and Once per client stays satisfied for that owner. Change the frequency or Duplicate the form if you need to send it again.