ClientTrack Form Overlay Editor
What to know about ClientTrack's Form Overlay Editor Design Tool
Written by Kristine Umble
Updated at August 8th, 2025
Table of Contents
Form Overlay Editor
The ClientTrack Form Overlay Editor is a design tool that can be used as an alternative to the ClientTrack Form Designer tool, to make visual or cosmetic updates to a form such as changing labels on a field to match organization or program naming conventions or updating help text to provide context, or disabling a field that is not needed for data collection. Without needing to copy a form first in order to customize it, designer users can use the Form Overlay Editor to apply changes to forms that their users will be able to see and interact with.
Form overlays can be applied to both baseline and custom forms but changes are applicable to only the workgroup they are made in. Form Overlay changes are also sync-able. When making overlay updates, they must be done in a lower ClientTrack environment (i.e., Train) and then scheduled to sync to Production just the same as any other updates made to forms or other components in ClientTrack.
Permissioned Access to Form Overlay Editor in ClientTrack
Users are given access to the Form Overlay Editor in their ClientTrack environment when either Read or Write permissions for Form Overlay are selected for their user account under Tool Access Permissions.
Read Permissions: Users can access the tool from the form toolbar and open the Form Overlay editor in read-only mode for the selected form. Users are not able to make edits or otherwise interact with the editor in this mode, but they will be able to view the changes that have been for the form and see if overlay changes have been made for the form in other workgroups.
Write Permissions: Users can access the tool from the form toolbar to open the Form Overlay editor in edit or write mode for the selected form. Users can make edits and changes to elements on the for, review and/or undo edits, view if changes have been made to the form in other workgroups, and save any changes made for the for in the workgroup they are logged into.
Using the Editor
When Designer users have read or write access set in their user permissions for Form Overlay, they will see the icon for the editor in the toolbar located in the top right corner of a form in ClientTrack.
With Write permission access to the tool, the Form Overlay Editor can be used in the following ways to apply visual or cosmetic updates to a form:
- Change labels or text by clicking on the following form elements:
- form title
- page header description
- field name
- section header name
2. Disable or hide an element by clicking on the Disable icon next to it. Note: For data elements that have been configured on the form to be required, users will be prevented from disabling these elements so as not to compromise data collection or interfere with business rules.
3. Make a form data element required. Generally, users will be able to make a field not otherwise required, required. However, the overlay editor will not allow users to make required fields that have condition rules that affect required status, or conversely, make an already required field not required. Similar to the caveat for disabling field elements, users will be prevented from altering the rules or required status of these elements so as not to compromise data collection or interfere with business rules.
Form Overlay Editor Toolbar
Remove Overlays Button
Changes made to form elements are listed in the Remove Overlays page, accessed by clicking the Remove Overlays button in the Overlay Editor toolbar.
Changes can be undone by selecting the checkbox next to the change and clicking the Remove Selected button.
Understanding Impacts of Overlay Changes to a Form
Note: Please use caution when making revisions to or removing previous changes already made to a form using the Form Overlay Editor, as this could cause potential user confusion or data quality impacts if the previous changes had been in effect for a period of time, especially when overlays are applied in Production environments.
Form Overlay Editor Help
Click the Overlay Editor Help button from the editor's toolbar to open the Form Overlay Help page. This page provides information to get a better understanding of the tool's purpose and contains general instructions for using it. In addition, the page contains a link to the ClientTrack Help Center to access more information or support.
If applicable for the form, the page will also list any technical considerations under a section called Form Technical Notes. Note: This section will not display on the page if the form does not contain any technical notes.
Form Overlays are Sync-able
Previously, form overlays were not sync-able so the same change made in one environment would have to be made again separately in all applicable other environments. Now, form overlay changes can be synced from lower environments to upper environments along with other configurations that have been made to forms and other components in ClientTrack. Because overlay changes are now sync-able, users should make overlay changes to forms in Train (or other applicable lower environments) and no longer make direct overlay changes in Production as syncs from Train will overwrite Production overlays and the ability to make overlay changes in Production will be going away in a future release. Once overlay changes are ready to be applied to Production (or applicable upper environments), users should schedule a sync with their Support staff member to move the changes upward.
When to Use Form Overlay vs. Form Designer
The Form Overlay Editor is the ideal tool to use instead of the Form Designer when changes that need to be made are strictly cosmetic such as label changes for existing fields, making a field that is not required, required, or when adding some section text where there is none.
If the form requires more than a cosmetic update, such as to add rule logic, embed stored procedures, or to add custom data fields, then the Form Overlay Editor should not be used. Instead, those changes should be made using the Form Designer tool.
