Type @ in any text that supports it (see below). A mention menu appears listing your form's fields grouped by type:{' '} Hidden Fields, Answers, Repeating groups, Calculated Fields, and{' '} Metadata. Pick a field and formbase inserts a variable chip at your cursor.
In the editor, piped values show as a chip (e.g. @First name). When a respondent fills out the form, formbase replaces each chip with their actual answer.
To type a plain @ instead — an email address or a handle — press Esc to close the menu and keep typing. The menu also closes on its own when nothing matches what you typed after the @.
Choice option labels and matrix row and column labels take mentions too, but a narrower menu: only Hidden Fields, Calculated Fields, and Metadata — the values that exist before anyone answers. An option label is how the option reads in the summary, in exports, and in the logic picker, so it cannot depend on another answer.
Button labels and repeating group titles take no mentions. Two related features work differently:{' '} redirect query parameters pick a field from a dropdown for each parameter, and input defaults put a value inside a field instead of in text.
A mention shows a value as text the respondent can't change. To put a value inside a field so the respondent can confirm or edit it, use a field reference as the field's default instead: type @ at the start of a Text Input, Text Area, Email, Phone Number, Website URL, or Number field. That menu lists only Hidden Fields and Calculated Fields, because those have a value before the respondent starts answering. See{' '} Default values from other fields.
That is the technique for a share link, where a value can only arrive through a URL parameter and so needs a hidden field
to land in. On a request you don't need any of it: the caller pre-fills a visible question directly when
they create the request, using prefill, and can mark a key readonly so the recipient sees it but cannot change
it. Build a hidden field when you want to carry data the respondent should never see, not just to pre-fill an answer. See{' '}
Requests don't need a hidden field to pre-fill.
In body text the @ menu lists five groups, in this order:
A field that a chip points at but that no longer exists shows the tooltip "Referenced field was deleted" and renders as empty at fill time. If you delete a hidden or calculated field and add another with the same name, existing chips reconnect to it on their own. Question references never reconnect that way — titles change and collide, so they stay broken until you re-insert them.
Beyond field answers, the Metadata group carries runtime values. Some are available everywhere; others only in email templates. The name below is what the chip reads.
> Drop a 6 Digit PIN into the respondent confirmation email as a reference number. Respondents can quote it in follow-up > conversations, and you can search for it in the submissions table. >
name parameter mapped to the Name question and a{' '}
plan parameter mapped to Plan. The preview shows the URL respondents are sent to:
Repeating groups let respondents add as many entries as they need, so a single reference can pull in more than one value. How the @ mention resolves depends on what you point it at.
In an integration column the whole group appears as numbered, labeled rows instead, so each entry stays readable: "1. Full name: Jane Appleseed, Age: 34, 2. Full name: Marcus Lee, Age: 29".
A mention left pointing at a deleted field is a publish error, not a warning: the issue indicator in the toolbar flags every stale reference — in form content, email templates,{' '} translated emails, and integration message templates — and publishing stops until each one is fixed. Open the flagged location, remove the broken chip, and re-insert the correct field.