Right Sidebar in Form and Survey Builder

Modified on: Thu, 18 Sep, 2025 at 2:23 PM

The Right Sidebar in HighLevel’s Form and Survey Builder centralizes styling and configuration while you build. Use Styles, Themes, and Advanced Settings to control your form or survey's layout, input appearance, spacing, colors, and more!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Overview of the Right Sidebar in Form and Survey Builder

The Right Sidebar is the form and survey builder’s control panel for visual and layout settings. It includes tabs for Styles, Themes, and Advanced, so you can fine‑tune how your form or survey looks and behaves. Keeping all design controls within reach makes it faster to preview changes and maintain consistency.

The right sidebar consists of 3 tabs:

Styles: Fine-tune layout and look of your form or survey
Themes: Apply ready‑made presets for consistent branding
Advanced: Access extra options for specialized needs

To open the right sidebar from within the Form or Survey Builder, click the Styles & Options button in the upper right corner of the builder. Click the Style & Options button again to collapse it.

Styles Tab

The Styles tab is where you set the core layout for your form or survey. From this tab, you control the layout, color scheme, and branding. Controls within the Styles tab include:

Layout: Define the overall arrangement and field presentation, including how inputs and labels appear, widths, spacing, and padding. Click here for more information on Element-Level Label Alignment
Footer (Surveys): Manage footer content and appearance specifically for surveys.
Colors & Background: Set font settings, choose background colors and where supported, apply background or header imagery to match your brand.
Miscellaneous: Apply or turn-off agency‑level branding

Themes Tab

The Themes tab lets you quickly create professional looking forms and surveys using presets. Use Themes to accelerate the setup, then use Styles to fine‑tune spacing and widths afterward.

To apply a theme to your form or survey, hover over the desired theme and select Use Theme. In the pop-up, confirm your selection by clicking Proceed.

Please Note: Switching themes will result in the loss of the current style modifications.

Advanced Tab

The Advanced tab provides extra options for specialized needs beyond core layout and theme controls. Use it when you need deeper fine‑tuning while keeping the form maintainable. Control types within the Advanced tab include:

Form: Adjust the form container’s borders, corners, and shadow
Input Field: Style the input elements themselves, including text and focus colors, borders and corners, width, padding, and shadows
Label: Control label typography and color
Short Label: Configure short‑label typography and color
Placeholder: Customize placeholder text appearance
Custom CSS: Add custom CSS for precise control.

Please Note: Custom CSS takes precedence over Styles and Themes and may impact theme styling.

Element-Level Label Alignment

Element-level label alignment lets you set a different label position for each field, instead of applying one global alignment to the whole form or survey. Use it to fine‑tune visual rhythm and spacing, especially in compact layouts.

Here is what you need to know before using Element-Level Label Alignment:

Available in Forms, Surveys, and Quizzes (only available for forms with the Single Column layout)
Existing forms retain their global alignment unless explicitly updated at the field level
Applies to standard fields such as text inputs, drop downs, radios, and more
On mobile, alignment automatically defaults to Top, ensuring a clear, user-friendly layout regardless of desktop settings

How to set Element-Level Label Alignment

In the Form or Survey Builder, select a single field
In the right sidebar that pops up, locate Label Alignment
From here, select the desired label alignment for that element using the Arrows (Top, Left, Right or Form Default)

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do changes in the Right Sidebar save automatically?
No, click Save in the builder to commit your changes.

Q: Will changing Themes later overwrite my detailed styling?
A new Theme can reset parts of the visual style. Re‑check your Styles after switching. Custom CSS still overrides Themes and Styles, so review CSS for conflicts.

Q: How do I quickly test different theme presets without losing my current look?
After applying a new theme to your form or survey, you can revert to the pervious look by hitting the Back button in the upper-right corner of the builder.

Q: What happens to per‑field label alignment if I switch the layout to Two Column or Single Line?
Element-Level label alignment is only available in Single Column. Switching layouts removes per‑field control and the labels will default back to the default setting.

Q: If I change the global label alignment later, what happens to fields I already set?
Fields set to Form Default update to the new global automatically. Fields explicitly set to Left/Right/Top keep their per‑field choice.