🔗 Link field (connecting records)
The Link field shows in the form the records that are connected to the loaded record in onOffice — e.g. the owners of a property — and, depending on the settings, allows adding, creating, editing and removing such connections. Writing always happens only when the form is submitted.
Each field always represents exactly one relation type from the perspective of the loaded record. You can combine several link fields in one form (e.g. “Owners” and “Tenants” one below the other).
Typical use cases
- Brokerage agreement: The customer opens the form via their personal link, sees the co-owners already on file and adds another owner via the mini form — who is created in onOffice and connected to the property when the form is submitted.
- Internal form: Your team quickly connects existing addresses to a property via the inventory search (e.g. prospects or contact persons) — without opening onOffice.
- Data maintenance: An owner corrects their name via the edit pencil or adds their email address.
Creating the field
- In the form editor, open the field type palette (+ Add field) and select the “Link (linked records)” tile (onOffice data group).
- In step 2, choose the relation type — the list is split in two:
- On the property (shows people): owners, buyers, tenants, occupants/users, prospects, contact persons (broker/all), tipsters, offer recipients.
- On the address (shows properties or contacts): owned properties, purchased/rented/occupied properties, properties as a prospect, managed properties, tipped properties, offered properties — as well as contact persons of the address (contacts of a company main address).
Prerequisite: “On the property” requires a loaded property in the form (e.g. via the property link or prefilling), “On the address” a loaded address or one created within the form.
The switches at a glance
| Switch |
Effect |
| Show existing connections |
Shows the connected records as a list (addresses: name and city — deliberately without customer number and email; properties: street, city and property number). |
| Add via inventory search |
Displays a search field: matches from your inventory can be pre-selected with a click (“NEW”) and are connected when the form is submitted. Caution: The search makes your inventory (within the form filter) searchable for form visitors — intended for internal forms. |
| Creation via mini form |
Displays “+ Create new entry”: The visitor fills in the fields you configured; when the form is submitted, the record is created in onOffice and connected. Suitable for public forms — nothing from your inventory is disclosed. |
| Edit connected records |
Shows a pencil on each entry: The mini form opens prefilled with the current values of the configured fields. Only these fields are displayed and written — never the entire record. |
| Remove existing connections |
Shows an × on each entry. Removed entries are only marked until submission (with undo) — the connection in onOffice is only released when the form is submitted. The records themselves are preserved. |
The mini form (creation & editing)
For creation and editing you configure a shared field list:
- Data fields of the target record (address or property, including custom fields) — each field is rendered according to its type (select lists, multi-select, date, number …) and can be marked as a required field.
- Layout elements: heading, description (explanatory text), divider and collapsible section — e.g. for “Additional details (optional)”.
- You control the order via the arrows.
Up to 10 new records per field are possible per submission.
Duplicate check on creation
By default, propform checks before creation whether the record already exists — based on the check fields you selected (e.g. email). If there is a match, the existing record is connected instead of creating a new one; the existing data is not overwritten. This matches the mechanics of the duplicate check in the form settings.
Required field & hint text
- Required field: After submission, at least one record must be connected — existing connections count, as do newly created and search-linked ones; removed ones do not. Visitors see the usual required marker (*) and a message at the field as long as no entry is present. The check also runs server-side.
- Hint text: appears below the field like with other fields; macros are resolved.
Display in the propform PDF
If your form creates a propform PDF, the link field appears in it as a list: one small block per connected or newly created record with the mini form fields as label-value rows — in a brokerage agreement, for example, all owners appear in the document.
- The PDF shows the state after the submission: records that were already connected before plus those created/connected in this submission; removed connections do not appear.
- Existing records only appear if "Show existing connections" is enabled on the field — otherwise the PDF only shows what the visitor created or connected themselves.
- Which details appear per record is determined by the field list of the mini form — without configured mini form fields there is nothing to display.
- With the document signature enabled, the visitor already sees the list in the document view — so they sign exactly what will later appear in the PDF.
Security
- Only signed records: Only what the server itself delivered (inventory list or search results under the form filter) can be connected, edited or disconnected. Manipulated requests are silently discarded.
- Field configuration rules: Which relation, which switches and which mini form fields apply is always decided by your configuration — never by the visitor's request.
- Minimal display: The connection list deliberately shows no customer numbers or email addresses; the edit prefill only delivers the configured fields.
- Filter respected: The inventory search only searches records within the property or address filter stored on the form.
Tips
- For public forms (e.g. brokerage agreement): enable “Show” + “Creation” (+ “Edit”/“Remove” if needed), leave the inventory search off.
- For internal forms: enable the inventory search — your team connects existing records in seconds.
- The tipster is a normal relation type here: A “Tipsters” field on the property shows the connected tipster addresses; “Tipped properties” on the address shows the opposite direction.