Have you ever wondered about the best way to collect files from your customers? Receiving files per email can be overwhelming, and file management can be tedious and chaotic. Learn how Dropbox integration for SuperSaaS can help you safely collect data from your customers and keep it organized.
Collecting data through forms
Adding forms to the reservation process enables your customers to provide additional information and upload files. From cover letters and resumes to application forms, they can submit it all through a single form. All the documents submitted by your customers will be immediately uploaded from the customer’s browser to the linked folder in your Dropbox account.
When creating a form, you have the option to integrate a file upload button, which then asks you to connect to Dropbox. In our documentation we explain in detail how you can link your dropbox to your SuperSaaS account. After linking Dropbox, you can add the ‘file upload’ section to your form. Each file upload button allows your customer to upload exactly one document. If your customers need to upload multiple files, you can add multiple file upload buttons to your form.
Multiple Forms
In SuperSaaS, you can create multiple forms for various purposes. For example, a photographer could allow customers to upload inspiration pictures when scheduling a photo shoot, or a language institute could collect homework assignments for each upcoming class. Just as forms can be used for different goals, they can also be used in diverse ways.
Link a form to a (new) user
Do you want clients to only submit certain files or information once? Then you might want to consider adding a form to a user instead of a reservation. When a form is added to a user, your clients only have to fill out the form when they register as a new user. Already have customers with an existing account? Don’t worry, you can add the form to the sign-up process and let existing users fill in the form the next time that they log into their account by using the setting ‘as above, but also require existing users without a form to complete one on their next visit’.
Forms linked to users are great for when you want to use them as registration forms for memberships, students, or to communicate your terms and agreements.
In a booking process
Adding forms to the booking process has many advantages. It creates the opportunity for you to offer additional services, provide information, or request files needed for the appointment. SuperSaaS forms come in handy when customers don’t require an account to book with you, but you still need to collect important information for their booking.
Stand-alone
Forms do not necessarily have to be linked to a reservation process or user but can be used alone. When creating a form, you can choose to create forms ready for integration or to use as stand-alone. You can also convert stand-alone forms into integrated forms and vice versa.
The biggest difference between the two is that a stand-alone form has its own URL. Your audience can easily access a standalone form through your website or via a link shared by you. Stand-alone forms may come in handy for collecting feedback for your service or as a registration form for a special event.
Dropbox automatically creates separate folders for each folder if you have multiple forms. This makes your Dropbox dashboard a lot more organized.
File arrangement
Collecting data from multiple customers can be overwhelming if not arranged correctly. The easiest way to collect files is by downloading the files directly from the forms in SuperSaaS. The files in the form are downloaded from your Dropbox to your computer. In the form under supervise, you can easily collect files and store them per response. During the entire process, no files are saved or processed on our SuperSaaS servers.
If downloading files takes too much time, another way you can recognize which file belongs to which client is by letting users log in or create an account. The username of the client will automatically be included in the file name when uploaded to the Dropbox folder. You decide whether users sign up with their email or create a personal login name on the Access Control page in your dashboard.
Files uploaded will not keep their original file name when stored in a form. For example, a document uploaded with the file name JaneDoeCV will show up as Username-random-combination-of-numbers-and-letters. See the following example:
Documents uploaded by users without a username (for example, when a form is used outside of a reservation process), will not have a username attached to them but only receive a generic file name. To create an overview in Dropbox, you might want to sort files by either type, extension, or modified.
Type divides files into types of documents, such as images and documents. Not to be confused with the extension filter. With this filter, you can easily see which files are documents or images. It is convenient when you need to collect different types of file types.
Extension classifies files into formats. With the type filter, documents with different formats can fall under the same type; however, with the extension filter, files are only grouped together when they have the same format. For example, under type, a PDF file will most likely be grouped as a document, but in the extension filter, the PDF can only be found with other PDF files.
Modified shows files in order of last edited or last added. This might be handy when you need the last added files from your folder.
More tips for file arrangement
Dropbox offers automation features to automate folders, making organizing files even more convenient. With Dropbox automation you can choose a category to sort files by, set rules to automatically rename files or create tags to organize and find files. Each folder can only use one automation.
The rename files option, also called naming convention in Dropbox, can come in handy when storing files from forms. We will look at the setting date uploaded; but there are many more options that you can use as you see fit.
Date uploaded: With this function, Dropbox automatically adds the upload date to the file name, making it easier to see what date the files were uploaded. Despite having the modified filter, with the date uploaded naming convention, you can immediately see on what date the files were created and added to the folder.
In short
Use forms to let customers upload files in SuperSaaS. Forms can be linked to a reservation process but can also be used as a stand-alone form. All uploaded files are stored within your linked Dropbox account, where you can retrieve documents. Dropbox creates separate folders for each form. Documents uploaded will not keep their original file name but instead will be given a generic file name, making it hard to identify to which customer the file belongs. As a solution, let your customers fill out their form while they are logged in, or use the Dropbox naming convention to identify which user uploaded files or on what date files were added to your Dropbox folder.