By skyforbes 
From AI recognition to conversational forms — 12+ updates that matter
Here’s the thing about building form software in 2025: everyone’s chasing the same dream — beautiful, simple forms that anyone can fill out.
But we kept hearing a different story from our customers: “We have 500 PDFs. They’re not pretty, but they’re what we use. Can you help?”
So this year, we didn’t just make forms prettier — we focused on something harder: making existing workflows actually digital. Here’s how that played out.
The Core Problem We’re Solving
Most form builders assume you’re starting from scratch. Pick a template, drag some fields, share it. Done.
But real businesses don’t always work that way. They have:
- Government forms from 1987 that still need to be filled out
- Legal contracts their lawyers spent years perfecting
- Industry-specific forms they can’t just “redesign”
- Approval workflows that involve actual humans saying yes or no
That’s the gap we’re filling. Not “create any form you want” but “take the forms you already have and make them work in 2025.”
Everything we built this year follows that thread.
Act 1: Making It Easier to Get Started
The biggest barrier wasn’t designing forms — it was converting the ones people already had.
Upload a PDF. Any PDF. Government form, contract, application. Our AI looks at it and identifies the fields automatically.
Is it perfect? Not exactly — but it gets you 90% of the way there without saying a word. What used to take 45 minutes now takes about five.
One customer thought digitizing all their forms would take months. With AI recognition, it turned into a weeks-long project instead.
Why this matters: You can’t digitize your workflow if step one takes forever. We removed that friction.
Act 2: Giving You Control When You Need It
Sometimes you need your form to do something specific. Really specific.
Maybe it’s a loan calculator that updates in real-time. Maybe it’s custom validation that checks against your internal database. Maybe it’s just… weird.
So we let you write actual JavaScript in your forms. Not widgets. Not plugins. Actual code.
Why this matters: Most form builders force you to choose between “easy but limited” or “powerful but complicated.” We wanted both. Use the visual builder for 90% of your form, then drop into code for that one special thing.
Four Ways to Embed
Forms don’t live in isolation. They go on websites. And every website is different.
So we added four embed modes:
- Standard: Classic iframe embed
- Modal: Popup on button click
- Popup: Floating button in the corner
- Full Page: Take over an entire section
Save your styling once, reuse it everywhere.
Why this matters: Your form shouldn’t fight with your website. It should fit naturally, wherever you need it.
Act 3: Handling Real-World Complexity
Repeat Fields
Real life is messy. Forms ask for “up to 5 family members” but someone has 7. Or “previous employers” when someone’s had 12 jobs.
Repeat Fields let users add as many copies of a section as they need. Click “Add Another”, new section appears.
Why this matters: The alternative is either making 20 copies of the same fields (hoping that’s enough) or telling users “sorry, only 5 allowed.” Neither feels great.
Multiple Password Levels
Not all forms need the same security. Your company BBQ RSVP is different from patient intake forms.
We added three password levels:
- Opening the form
- Accessing saved progress
- Viewing shared submissions
Mix and match based on what you need.
Why this matters: Security isn’t one-size-fits-all. A patient portal and an event signup shouldn’t use the same protection level.
Timezone Management
When someone in Tokyo submits a form at 3 PM, do you want to see “3 PM Tokyo time” or “3 PM your time”?
Now you choose:
- Submitter’s timezone
- Your timezone
- Custom timezone
Why this matters: Global teams were constantly doing mental math. “Wait, if they submitted at 3 PM in Shanghai, and our deadline was…” Not anymore.
Act 4: The Details That Actually Matter
Government forms. Legal contracts. Insurance documents. They all have one thing in common: text needs to line up exactly right.
We added three spacing modes:
- Natural: Normal spacing
- Distributed: Spreads text evenly across available space
- Custom Blocks: Individual character boxes
Why this matters: When you’re digitizing a 30-year-old government form with pre-drawn lines, “close enough” isn’t good enough. It needs to be perfect.
Survey grids are everywhere. Rate 10 products across 5 categories. That’s 50 cells to click.
Now you can select entire rows or columns at once. Check “5 stars” down a column, or “N/A” across a row.
Why this matters: The easier your form is to fill out, the more people complete it. Small friction adds up.
Act 5: Making Forms Feel Human
Conversational Mode
Long forms are intimidating. Seeing 47 questions at once makes people want to close the tab.
Conversational forms show one question at a time. Like texting with a friend.
The best part? You don’t rebuild anything. Toggle a switch, your classic form becomes conversational. All your logic, all your fields — just presented differently.
Why this matters: You spent time building that form. You shouldn’t have to choose between “intimidating but complete” and “friendly but starting over.” Now you don’t have to.
Workflow Reminders
Forms are just step one. Then someone needs to review it, approve it, sign it.
We added reminders: send an invitation, set up to 3 follow-ups if they don’t respond. If they complete it early? Remaining reminders auto-cancel.
Why this matters: Real workflows involve real people who forget. A gentle nudge keeps things moving without being annoying.
Act 6: Enterprise Needs
Submission Limits & Auto-Unpublish
Event with 50 spots. Workshop with 25 seats. You need the form to close automatically at the limit.
Now it does. Hit your submission cap, form auto-unpublishes and redirects to wherever you want (waitlist, thank you page, etc.).
Why this matters: The alternative is checking constantly or dealing with over-bookings. Neither is fun.
Client project wrapping up? Transfer the entire form — including all submissions — to their account.
Optional bonus: preserve the folder structure. It lands in their account already organized.
Why this matters: Forms aren’t always yours forever. Sometimes you need to hand them off cleanly, without exporting/importing/reconstructing.
Web Form Templates
Not everyone has a PDF to start from. Sometimes you need to build from scratch.
We added templates for common scenarios: applications, checklists, surveys. Real templates you’d actually use, not generic examples.
Why this matters: Blank pages are paralyzing. A good starting point gets you to “done” faster.
The Through-Line
Look at everything we built this year. AI recognition. JavaScript. Timezones. Text spacing. Conversational mode. Enterprise workflows.
They all answer the same question: How do we help real businesses digitize real workflows?
Not only “how do we make the prettiest surveys”.
Not only “how do we add more template options”.
But “how do we take what you’re already doing — with paper, PDFs, email chains — and make it work digitally?”
That’s harder. It means:
- Supporting messy PDFs from 1987
- Giving technical teams code access without overwhelming everyone else
- Handling global teams across timezones
- Making forms both easy to fill and easy to manage
- Securing patient data differently than BBQ RSVPs
Most form builders pick one thing and do it really well. Beautiful surveys. Huge template libraries. Deep integrations.
We picked something different: be the bridge between “how we’ve always done it” and “how it should work now.”
What’s Next
We’re not done. 2026 is about going deeper:
Smarter AI: Beyond recognizing fields to understanding context. “This is a medical form, here are the HIPAA-required fields.”
Better Collaboration: Real-time editing, commenting, change tracking. Like Google Docs but for forms.
Your Voice Matters: Share feedback or feature request — our development team actively responds and prioritizes what matters most to you.
The goal stays the same: make it easier to digitize the workflows you actually have, not just create new ones.
Try It Yourself
Every feature we talked about? Live right now.
👉 Start your free trial — 15 days, full access
📚 Read the documentation — Written by humans, for humans
🎥 Watch video tutorials — See it in action
Questions? Talk to us — We actually respond.
P.S. — If you’re still manually entering data from PDFs into spreadsheets, we should talk. There’s a better way, and it doesn’t involve throwing away everything you’ve built.
Happy form building! 🚀
From the PlatoForms team — making forms that work for how you actually work.
Learn more about PlatoForms 2025 Year in Review: How We Made PDF Forms Actually Work for Businesses