How do I adjust what users can see or edit at each workflow step?

Modified on Wed, 9 Apr at 8:27 AM

Customizing what users can see or edit at each workflow step ensures they have the right information and permissions for their tasks. Droplet’s Visibility settings let you control which fields are visible, editable, or hidden at every step of the workflow. This is an important step in your form design process to make the workflow smooth, match your needs, and protect sensitive data.

The Three Heads of Visibility

Visibility and editability control how components behave at different workflow steps:

Editable
The field is visible and users can modify it.

Visible
The field is visible but locked for editing.

Hidden
The field is completely hidden from users.

By default, when you add components to your layout, Droplet sets them as editable at the start step and visible for all other steps. You can customize these settings in the Visibility Layer to meet your needs.

The Visibility Layer

In the Form Builder, click the Visibility tab in the upper-left corner (atop the Components Library).

Choose a form component (or group of components) using either the Form Canvas or the lower-left Layout Tree.

Use the right-side panel to configure the visibility settings for each step: Editable, Visible, or Hidden.

Best Practices

Group Related Components

Use containers like Groups, Sections, or Tiles to group related components. Then, set visibility settings on the container itself. If a container is hidden, all components inside it will also be hidden.

For example, approval fields for an approver can be hidden from the person initiating the form all at once by simply making the approval section hidden on the Start Step.

To do this, use the lower-left Layout Tree to select a parent container. Then, you can choose from either Visible or Hidden in the right-side panel.

Preview in the Tester

Although hidden components are shown with a striped overlay in the Visibility Layer, which makes it easier to verify settings, toggle between workflow steps in the Workflow Tester to see how the form looks for users at each step.

Visibility for Notifications

Often, email notifications include a link for the recipient to view the submission. By default, this link will show all fields in the form. If you’d like certain fields (like sensitive information) to remain hidden in those notifications, you can customize the Visibility Layer for each notification. This helps protect personal or private data and keeps extra details away from recipients who don’t need to see them.

Switch from Build to Visibility on the left side panel.

On the right side panel, switch from Steps to Notifications.

Select the component or container you want to hide from any given notification.

Set it to Hidden for all notifications where you do not want that component visible. Save.