Create a sign-up form

1. From your dashboard, click “+ New sheet.”

   Log in and you'll land on your dashboard — the + New sheet button is at the top right.

2. Pick what you're organizing.

   Volunteer sign-ups (time slots people claim), Event RSVP (a simple yes/no with headcount), both, or Just a form (questions with no spots at all — a connect card, a prayer request, an interest list; see Build a plain form). The RSVP options start your form with a ready-made “Can you attend?” question — you can rename it or add slots alongside it later. Every card carries a link to the help article that walks through it, so the answer is one click away while you build.

3. Give it a title.

   Something volunteers will recognize, like “Easter Sunday Greeters” or “Meal Train for the Johnsons.” You can also add an optional description, event date, start and end time, and location — they show on the public page and in confirmation emails (on the page, the location is a link that opens it in Maps), and the date and time drive the calendar invite volunteers get (without a time, the invite is an all-day event). Nothing here is set in stone: the Edit details button on the sheet's editor changes any of it later.

4. Say how many spots (optional).

   Know your number — “about 30 spots”? Put it in How many spots? On an Event RSVP (or Both) it becomes the RSVP's Max attending, so yeses stop at 30 (see Collect RSVPs). On Volunteer sign-ups it starts the sheet with one slot called “Volunteers” that holds that many — rename it or add more on the next screen. Leave it blank to start without a limit. A plain form doesn't ask.

5. Create the sheet.

   It's created as a draft — nobody can see it until you publish — and you're taken to its editor.

Slots are the individual things people sign up for. On the Slots tab, use the Add a slot card:

• Slot name — e.g. “9am Greeter” or “Main dish.”
• Date (optional) — the slot's own calendar day, for sheets whose slots span many dates (see One slot per date below). Leave it blank and the slot follows the sheet's event date like always — the field says so underneath (“Uses sheet date (Tue, Nov 10)”).
• Start / end time (optional) — picked with the same time picker as the sheet's details and shown next to the slot. Leave both blank and the slot uses the sheet's start and end time (“Uses sheet time (11:00 AM)”). A slot saved with typed text like “After lunch” keeps it as written.
• Capacity — how many people (or dishes, or cars) you need. Once it's filled, the slot closes automatically. Check No limit instead for things that don't need a cap (like “bring a lawn chair”) — the slot stays open no matter how many sign up.

Remove on a slot (or an RSVP or carpool question) takes it off at once when nobody has signed up. If people have, it asks first, right on the card, and says how many sign-ups and waitlist entries go with it. Those people aren't emailed, so to let them know, remove them one by one with ✕ first.

Add as many slots as you like. You can reorder them by the grip handle on the left — drag it, or focus it and press ↑/↓, which is easier on a touchscreen — edit slots in place, or group them under headings — see Organize with sections.

Some sheets aren't one event — they're a calendar: altar flowers with a slot for every Sunday, a meal train with a slot for every night. Give each slot its own date and the whole sheet works date-by-date:

• The date shows on the slot's card, and the slot closes by itself once its day is over — no more sign-ups for last Tuesday's dinner.
• Confirmation emails, calendar invites, and reminder emails follow each slot's own date: someone bringing Thursday's meal is reminded before Thursday, not before whatever single date the sheet carries. A sign-up covering several dates gets one invite per date, all in one email.
• The sheet stays up (and isn't auto-archived) as long as any of its slot dates is still ahead, whatever the sheet's own event date says.
• Need lead time — flowers ordered by Wednesday, meals planned the night before? The Sign-up deadline card on the sheet's Settings tab closes each dated slot a set number of days before its date instead of on the day itself.
• Want to spread the spots around — one tag per family on an angel tree, no more than two Sundays on a rota? The Spots per person card on the Settings tab caps how many spots one email can hold on the sheet; the sheet says the limit at the top, and you can always add more for someone from the Sign-ups tab. Sheets that don't require an email can't count a sign-up that gave none.
• Long sheet, most of it full? Under Form fields, set Full spots to After the open ones and each section shows what still needs people first, with the filled spots after. Leave it In place when the order is the schedule.
• A location that's a link — a Zoom or Meet URL — shows as “Join link” on the page and opens itself, in the confirmation and reminder emails too, instead of going to Google Maps.

You don't have to add fifty Sundays by hand. On the Slots tab, the + Add dated slots button creates one slot per date across a range — pick the first and last date, whether it repeats every day, week, or other week, the capacity, and an optional title and time applied to each. For Sunday calendars, check Name Sundays by the liturgical calendar and the slots title themselves “First Sunday of Advent,” “Palm Sunday,” “Easter Sunday” — with a title too, they read “Flowers — First Sunday of Advent.”

Organizing a day per section — a meal train's “Tuesday” over its main, salad, and dessert? Give the section the date instead and every slot under it takes it; see Organize with sections.

The other direction — many shifts within one day — has its own button. + Add shifts (by time) takes a start time, an end time, and a shift length and lays out every slot between: every hour of a 24-hour prayer vigil (6:00 PM to 6:00 AM runs overnight), twenty-minute pastor appointments, photo-directory sittings. Each slot gets its own start and end time, the same title, and optionally the same date and section; the last shift is clipped to the end time when the range doesn't divide evenly.

Dates moved — the baby came early, the retreat slipped a week? Move all dates, next to Edit details under the sheet's title, asks for the new first day and shifts the event date and every section and slot date by the same number of days, so a two-week meal train stays two weeks and Sundays stay Sundays. Every sign-up stays put. When people have already signed up, the form offers to email them about the move: one email each, listing their old and new dates with a fresh calendar invite. Leave the box ticked, or untick it to move quietly. Either way the public page shows the new dates right away, and on Basic and Pro the reminder goes out for each slot's new day.

Sometimes you don't need people to claim a spot — you just need to know who's coming. Pick Event RSVP when creating a sheet and your form starts with a “Can you attend?” question — or add one to any existing sheet with Add an RSVP or carpool question on the Slots tab. It works on every plan, and you can mix it with regular slots — one page can ask “Can you attend?” at the top and still fill the potluck dishes below it.

• People answer yes (with how many are coming) or no. By default there's no limit on how many can say yes.
• Have a seat limit? Set Max attending — when you add the question, or with Edit on its card on the Slots tab. It counts each yes's headcount (a party of 4 takes 4 seats), and the card shows “12 of 30 coming.” Once it's full, the page says “All 30 seats are taken,” new yeses are turned away, and no answers still go through. Someone already coming can answer again with the same email to keep or lower their headcount, but not raise it past the seats that are open. With the sheet's waitlist on, a full RSVP offers Join the waitlist just like a full slot. Leave it blank for no limit. The max can't go below the number already coming.
• Answering again with the same email updates their earlier response, so changed plans never need a phone call.
• A yes gets the usual confirmation email (and 48-hour reminder, on paid plans). A no on its own is just recorded — no emails, and it never syncs to your ChMS.
• Your dashboard shows every answer with a yes/no badge and the total coming; the CSV export has an RSVP column with each answer and headcount.
• When the RSVP is the only question on the sheet, people answer and fill in their name and email right inside that card, then tap Send my RSVP. There's no separate “Your sign-up” panel.
• A sheet started as Event RSVP begins with the note field turned off, since nobody needs a note to say they're coming. Turn it back on in the Sign-up form fields card on the Questions tab.

Started an Event RSVP and realized you need slots — or the other way around? Use the Sheet type card on the Settings tab instead of rebuilding. Pick Volunteer slots, Event RSVP, Both, or Just a form, and it lists exactly what will change before anything does:

• Slots or questions the new type has no place for are removed, and what it needs is added — an RSVP becomes a “Reserve a spot” slot with the same count as its Max attending, and a lone slot becomes an RSVP capped at the slot's count.
• Settings the old type turned on for you are reset to the new type's — for example the note field an Event RSVP starts with off. Anything you changed yourself stays as you set it. On the Questions tab, a setting still at its type's starting value says so (“Hidden — default for RSVP sheets”).
• A change never deletes a response. If it would remove a slot or question people have already answered, it's blocked and names them — remove those people on the Sign-ups tab first (each gets the usual email), or keep the type.

For events people travel to — retreats, youth trips, conferences — add a carpool question with Add an RSVP or carpool question on the Slots tab (e.g. “Need a ride or can you drive?”). It works on every plan and mixes with slots and RSVP questions on the same page.

• Drivers tap “I can drive” and say how many seats they can offer, with an optional note like “Leaving from the north lot at 8:30.” Each driver shows on the form as a car with seats remaining.
• Riders claim a seat in a specific car — the driver gets an email with the rider's contact info so they can sort out pickup — or tap “I need a ride” to join the looking for a ride list until a seat opens up.
• People who are sorted tap “I don't need a ride” — it records that they answered (so you're not left wondering who forgot), takes no seat, and sends no carpool reminder. No more “skip this question if you don't need a ride” note in the description.
• A car can never be overbooked: once its seats are claimed it shows as full. If a driver drops out, their riders move back to the looking for a ride list instead of disappearing.
• Answering again with the same email updates the earlier answer — a rider can switch cars, and a rider who ends up driving can flip to offering seats.
• Your dashboard shows each answer with a driver, rider, or no-ride-needed badge (and who's riding with whom); the CSV export has Carpool and Riding with columns. Carpool answers are travel logistics, so they never sync to your ChMS.

Once published, your public page lists every open slot. A volunteer picks everything they're signing up for — a serving slot, a potluck dish, an RSVP answer, a carpool answer, all in one visit — and each pick lands in a Your sign-up panel. The panel slides up on their first pick, right where they are — no hunting down a long page for the form. There they enter their name and email once (plus an optional phone number — no account needed) and hit one Confirm sign-up button for the lot. Signing up for more than one thing? Add another closes the panel to keep picking, and a Finish signing up bar stays at the foot of the screen to bring it back. If any pick can't go through (say a spot filled up a moment earlier), nothing is saved — they adjust that pick and confirm again.

Descriptions — the sheet's, a section's, a slot's — show exactly as you typed them, line breaks included, and any web address or email in them becomes a link: “Park at https://maps.app.goo.gl/…” or “Questions? office@ourchurch.org.” Links open in a new tab so nobody loses their picks. Start an address with https:// or www. for it to be recognized.

They get one confirmation email listing everything they signed up for, with a change / cancel link per slot and — when the sheet has an event date — add-to-calendar buttons and an attached calendar invite whose details recap every commitment, so nobody forgets what they said they'd bring. On paid plans a reminder email follows before the event — two days ahead by default, or the day before or a week before, from the Reminder timing card on the Settings tab.

That link doesn't just cancel: volunteers can edit their own sign-up — fix how many they're bringing or a typo in their note (a dedication headed for the printed bulletin, say) — without calling the church or giving up the spot. Quantity changes respect the slot's capacity, and RSVP and carpool answers still update by answering again on the page with the same email.

You don't have to publish to check your work: while a sheet is a draft, the Preview form button on its editor opens the volunteer-facing page exactly as it will look — content, field settings, and design — visible only to your organization's admins, with the sign-up buttons disabled.

You get an email too — on every plan. The moment a sign-up comes in, every admin on your account gets a notification email carrying the whole submission: the person's name, email, and phone number, each slot or answer they picked (with times and quantities), and any notes they left — no digging through the dashboard to find out what the email was about. Replying to the notification reaches the volunteer directly.

• Notifications are on by default. Turn them off (or back on) account-wide under Notifications in the account menu at the top right of your dashboard.
• Each form can go its own way: the New sign-up emails card on the sheet's Settings tab overrides the account-wide setting for that form only — handy for muting a busy potluck sheet, or for hearing about just the one form that matters most.
• You'll also hear when a volunteer cancels a sign-up, so a dropped spot never goes unnoticed.

Those are just the defaults. On the sheet's Questions tab, the Sign-up form fields card lets you tune the form for each sheet — on every plan:

• Name is always required — a sign-up needs one.
• Email is required by default, but can be made optional.
• Phone is optional by default, and can be made required (handy for day-of coordination) or hidden.
• The note field has three settings: shown (volunteers can add a note only you see, on the dashboard and CSV export), shown publicly (each note also appears on the sign-up page next to the person's name — flower dedications, who's bringing what), or hidden. When notes are public, volunteers see a heads-up under the note box before they submit.
• You can also give the note field your own label — “Dedication — printed in the bulletin,” “What are you bringing?” — so the form asks for exactly what you mean.
• Who signed up controls whether the public page lists names on slots and RSVP answers: first name and last initial, like “Anne B.,” so two Annes can tell each other apart. Hide them on sensitive sheets — support groups, benevolence meals — and the page shows only the spots-left counts. (Carpool cards always show driver names: riders pick a car by its driver.)
• “How many?” is asked when a slot has room for more than one person. Switch it to hidden and every sign-up takes exactly one spot. That fits sheets where a count means nothing, like a memorial list. RSVP headcounts and carpool seats aren't affected.

These rules are enforced when the form is submitted, so a required phone number really is required — not just marked that way. The phone and note settings apply to RSVP and carpool questions too; email is the one exception — a sign-up that includes an RSVP or carpool answer always asks for it (even on email-optional sheets), because it's how answering again updates the earlier response, and how a driver hears who's riding along. A required phone is only demanded of people actually coming — a lone RSVP no isn't blocked for skipping it.

Need the form to ask for more than contact details — a t-shirt size, allergies, a yes/no with a follow-up? Add custom questions from the sheet editor's Custom questions card.

Some details don't belong on a shareable link: the delivery address for a grieving family's meal train, a gate code, dietary needs. The Only for confirmed sign-ups card on the sheet's Questions tab holds that text — it appears on the thank-you page right after someone signs up and in their confirmation and reminder emails, but never on the public page. Works on every plan.

The After they sign up card on the sheet's Settings tab holds three optional notes, every plan:

• Thank-you note — your words on the thank-you page the moment someone signs up (“See you Sunday! Park in the back lot.”), and again at the top of their confirmation email under “A note from <your church>.” It isn't shown to someone who answered an RSVP with “No.” This is public text; the address and gate code still belong in the private-details card above.
• Next step link — a web address that becomes a Continue to ourchurch.org button on the thank-you page: your website, a giving page, the next form to fill in. It's a button, not a redirect, so the recap and calendar buttons stay on screen. Only https links are accepted.
• Closed note — shown under the standard notice while the sheet is closed or locked (see the sign-up window): “The schedule is set — email Deacon Ray to swap a Sunday.”

The thank-you page also offers Sign up someone else, for the parent registering three kids or the coordinator keying in a friend.

For something that happens every week (or day, month, or quarter) — Sunday greeters, a monthly meal train — you don't have to rebuild the form each time. On the sheet's Settings tab, the Recurring form card lets you set it to repeat daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Then, on the morning of each event day:

• The next occurrence is created automatically, with the same time slots and sections and a fresh, empty sign-up list. It keeps the form's setup too: contact fields, custom questions, private details, design, link-preview image, and its New sign-up emails and waitlist settings.
• Each occurrence is named with its date — e.g. “Sunday Greeters | Sep 13, 2026” — so you can tell them apart on your dashboard.
• If the current occurrence is published, the next one goes live immediately at its own link, so people can sign up for the next date right away. The current sheet and its sign-ups stay put.

Repeats are scheduled from the sheet's event date, so it needs one. To stop the series, set the form back to Does not repeat (or archive it) — past occurrences and their sign-ups are kept.

Keep upcoming dates open

By default only the next date is open, and it appears on the current one's event day. To let volunteers pick a date weeks or months out — “the last weekend of November” — choose Keep open in the same card:

• The next 2–12 dates: that many upcoming occurrences are always open, and one more appears as each date arrives.
• Every date through… a last date (up to a year after the event date): every occurrence up to it opens at once, so a whole season — August to December — is open, and the series ends there.

The new dates appear within the hour of saving. Each is its own sheet, with its own link, sign-up list, confirmations, and reminders.

• Several leaders building sheets under one account? Each sheet has a Managed by card on its Settings tab — the person who runs it. Sheets you create are yours to begin with. The dashboard's My sheets switch shows only the ones you manage (the owner can flip back to All sheets), and a managed sheet's sign-up emails go to its manager and the owner instead of every admin — see Emails & notifications.
• Typo in the location? Event moved an hour? The Edit details button under the sheet's title edits the title, date, time, location, and description any time — the public page updates immediately. If people have signed up, the form (like a slot's edit form and a section's date) offers to email them the change: ticked by default, and only a real change to the date, time, or location sends anything — see Emails & notifications. (On a recurring form it edits the series name; each occurrence keeps its date in the title.)
• Slots with their own start/end times use those on calendar invites; slots without times fall back to the sheet's event time, and with neither the invite is an all-day event. A slot with its own date puts the invite (and the reminder email) on that day instead of the sheet's event date.
• The Free plan includes 3 active sheets; Basic and Pro are unlimited.
• People (in the dashboard nav) lists everyone who has ever signed up across your sheets — how many times, and when they last served. Click a name to pull up everything they've signed up for; the dashboard search finds anyone by name, email, or phone too.
• Sort by (next to the dashboard search) orders your sheets by event date — soonest first, with undated sheets like connect cards at the end — or by newest first or title. The dashboard remembers your pick in that browser; archived sheets follow the same order, with the most recent event first.
• Duplicate copies a sheet's slots and sections into a fresh draft — along with its contact fields, custom questions, private details, design, link-preview image, and its New sign-up emails and waitlist settings, but none of its sign-ups. It's a one-off copy, separate from recurring forms above.
• Archive unpublishes a sheet and tucks it out of your list without losing any sign-ups; restore it any time. Sheets with an event date are archived automatically the day after the event — unless slots on the sheet carry their own dates that are still ahead, in which case it waits for the last of those (recurring forms keep going — each past occurrence is archived as the next one takes over). Sheets from before automatic archiving launched in September 2026 are left as they are.
• Delete removes a sheet and every sign-up on it for good. Only the account owner can delete — admins can archive instead, which keeps everything.