Custom domain

With a custom domain, your account's forms open on your company's address instead of the standard WiseData Forms address. A Clínica Vitta patient in Miami receives forms.clinicavitta.com/vitta-intake: an address she recognizes as the clinic's, which matters when she is asked for health information. The standard address keeps working for every form.

Before you start

• Only the account Owner sees Settings › Custom domain.
• Use a subdomain, such as forms.clinicavitta.com. The main domain (clinicavitta.com) does not work: it is your website's address.
• The subdomain must be free, not pointing to any website. It will only open this account's forms.
• One domain per account. To switch, remove the current one and add the new one.
• You will need access to your domain's DNS panel — where it was registered or where your hosting is. If someone else looks after your website, hand this article to them.

Step 1: add the subdomain

In Settings › Custom domain, type the address under Subdomain and click Add domain. You can paste it with https:// or a trailing slash: the screen keeps only the name. The status changes to Waiting for DNS, and the screen shows the two records you will create, each with Type, Name and Value and a copy button next to it.

Step 2: create the records in your DNS

In your domain's DNS panel, create both records exactly as the screen shows them. Copy them with the button instead of typing by hand.

1. TXT record — proves the domain is yours. The name starts with _wisedata-forms. followed by your subdomain (in the example, _wisedata-forms.forms.clinicavitta.com). The value starts with wisedata-forms-verification= followed by a code unique to your account.
2. CNAME record — takes people who open the link to the form. The name is the subdomain itself (forms.clinicavitta.com) and the value is the address the screen shows in the Value field.

Watch out for a detail behind most mistakes: many DNS panels fill in your domain automatically after the name. In those, you type only the part before it — _wisedata-forms.forms for the TXT and forms for the CNAME. If the panel already shows your domain next to the field, that is your case. Keep both records after the domain is active.

Step 3: verify

Go back to the screen and click Verify now. DNS changes can take a few minutes to take effect; if the record is not found yet, the screen tells you the TXT record was not found, and you just try again later.

Once ownership is confirmed, the status changes to Activating: the address's security certificate is being issued, which usually takes a few minutes. During this phase the screen updates itself every minute, and you do not need to click anything. When it is done, the status becomes Active, with the date under "Active since".

If another account proves ownership of the same subdomain before you, verification tells you the domain is already used by another account. Whoever creates the TXT record first keeps it.

Domain statuses

• Waiting for DNS — the TXT record is missing. Create both records and click Verify now.
• Activating — ownership confirmed, certificate being issued. Just wait.
• Active — forms already open on your address.
• Needs attention — the CNAME stopped pointing to us, or the certificate was not issued within 72 hours. The screen shows the reason and the records again; check them and click Verify now.
• Suspended — the account lost access to the feature or was locked for a few days. Ownership verification still stands: once the account is back in good standing, click Verify now.

While the domain is not Active, links in the dashboard keep using the standard address, and nothing stops working.

What starts using your domain

• Use your domain: the Public link card, the custom link, the embed code and dynamic QR codes — including printed ones, because their destination is decided at scan time.
• Stay on the standard address: static QR codes and invite links, because they have already been printed or sent and cannot depend on the domain staying connected.

On your domain, a form opens through its alias as well as its code. And only your account's forms open: if someone tries to open another WiseData Forms account's form through your address, they get the same form-not-found page. No one can use your brand to show a form that is not yours.

Removing the domain

Remove domain asks for confirmation and applies right away:

• Links in the dashboard go back to the standard address.
• Anyone holding a link with your domain can no longer open the form — including embed code pasted with your domain, which must be copied again and replaced on your site.
• Dynamic QR codes keep working, now leading to the standard address. Static ones and invites are not affected.

Where to go next

• Form link and custom alias (Share collection) — the alias that goes after your domain.
• Dynamic and static QR codes (Share collection) — which type follows the domain.
• Embed the form on your website (Share collection) — the code served from your domain.
• Invites: one link per person (Share collection) — why they stay on the standard address.

In short: in Settings › Custom domain, the Owner adds a free subdomain, creates in DNS the TXT record that proves ownership and the CNAME that brings in traffic, and clicks Verify now; once the domain is Active, links, aliases, embed code and dynamic QR codes use your address, which only opens your account's forms, while static QR codes and invites stay on the standard address.