Smart Forms for Jira

Form Builder Layout

Layout element

Place form fields side by side in two or three columns. Use Layout to group related short fields — names, dates, quantities — so respondents can scan and fill them without excessive scrolling.

How it works

A Layout element is a container with a column grid. You set the number of columns and their width ratio, then place individual form elements into the cells.

A few things to know before you start:

Each cell holds one element. If a cell is already occupied, adding a second element to it has no effect — move the existing one out first.

The Layout has no visible border. Column structure is visible in the builder but invisible to respondents.

An empty Layout does not appear in the published form. If you add a Layout but leave all cells empty, respondents won't see it.

The Layout background colour matches the form. You cannot set a separate background on the Layout itself.

Form Logic applies to the whole Layout, not to fields inside it.

Tutorial

Add a Layout

  1. Open your form in the builder and go to the Build tab.

  2. Drag the Layout element from the element library onto the form canvas. — [screenshot: dragging the Layout element into the canvas]

  3. A Layout starts as two equal columns by default. Each column is a single cell that holds one element.

A Layout has no visible border in the builder and takes the same color as the form itself, so it blends into the form rather than looking like a boxed-in section.

Add elements to a Layout

Each cell holds exactly one element.

  1. Click an empty cell. It highlights blue to show it's the active insertion zone. — [screenshot: an empty cell highlighted blue]

  2. With the cell selected, click any element in the element list to drop it into that cell.

  3. Repeat for the other cells.

You can also drag elements straight into a cell, and drag an element back out of the Layout into the main form. If a cell is already filled, a second element won't be added to it — move the existing element out first, or use another cell.

Long labels, descriptions, and formatting (font, size, and so on) are never cut off. The cell grows taller to fit its content, so the whole label or description stays readable.

Change the number of columns

Use the buttons at the top of the Layout to switch between 2 and 3 columns. — [screenshot: the column-count buttons at the top of a Layout]

Switching from 3 columns to 2 moves the element in the third column out of the Layout and back into the main form. It isn't deleted — but check where it landed so it doesn't end up out of order.

Adjust column widths

The buttons at the top of the Layout also set the width ratio of the columns, so you can make one column wider than another (for example, a wide text field next to a narrow dropdown). The default is equal-width columns. — [screenshot: the column-ratio options]

Clone or delete a Layout

Cloning a Layout copies the whole container, including every element inside it.

Cloning a single element inside a Layout places the copy in the nearest free spot — the next open cell to the right, or the next row down if the row is full.

Deleting a Layout removes all the elements inside it along with the container. A confirmation dialog appears first so you don't lose fields by accident.

An empty Layout won't appear in the published form. If you leave a Layout with no elements in it, form-fillers simply won't see it.

Layouts and Form Logic

Form Logic applies to a Layout as a whole, at the top level — you can show or hide an entire Layout with a rule, but you can't build show/hide rules between individual elements inside the same Layout.

Because of this, adding an element that already participates in a logic rule into a Layout will reset that element's Form Logic. When you do this, the builder shows a confirmation dialog:

  • Confirm — the element moves into the Layout and its logic is cleared. This can't be undone.

  • Cancel — the action is cancelled and the element is not added to the Layout, so its logic stays intact.

If you need conditional behavior tied to fields that live in columns, apply the rule to the Layout itself (show/hide the whole block) rather than to the fields inside it.

How columns look for people filling out the form

On smaller screens, a Layout stacks vertically — columns become one single column so the form stays usable on mobile. There's one breakpoint for this, and it's the same whether the Layout has 2 or 3 columns.

How columns appear in responses

  • Summary view — answers are listed one below another (not in columns).

  • Individual (single response) view — the response is shown in the same column layout as the form.

  • PDF export — matches the form's layout, columns included.

  • Excel (XLSX) export — each element gets its own column, read top to bottom, then left to right, following the element order in the Layout.

Troubleshooting

An element disappeared after I switched from 3 columns to 2

It wasn't deleted. The element that was in the third column was moved out of the Layout and back into the main form. Scroll through the form to find it and drag it where you want.

I can't drop a second element into a cell

Each cell holds one element only. Move the element that's already there out of the cell first, or drop the new element into a different cell.

My Layout isn't showing up in the form

An empty Layout is hidden from the published form. Add at least one element to a cell and it will appear.

The "horizontal" option isn't doing anything

The horizontal option in Layout is currently non-functional and has no effect. Use the column count and width settings to arrange elements side by side.