Question Settings: Labels, Help, Required & AI Extract

Every question you add to a form in Input Hub comes with a small set of shared settings that apply regardless of field type. This guide covers the five universal settings: Label, Help text, Required, Internal only, and AI Extractable. Each lives on the field card in the form builder at https://input.ziplineos.com.au.

For how each field looks to the user, see Display Modes. For value constraints (length limits, date rules, accepted file types, and so on), see Validations. For rules that show, hide, or require questions conditionally, see Show, Hide & Require Questions with Rules.

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Label

The label is the question text — the words the user actually reads. It is required for every field type except Image, where it becomes an optional title above the image. For Message (Display) blocks (the Display field type), the label doubles as the internal title visible to brokers in the form builder; it is not displayed to applicants as a question heading.

Labels support merge-field tokens: you can insert a token that resolves to the value of another field on the same form. For example, a label like "What is {{first_name}}'s date of birth?" pulls in the answer from a "First name" field. This makes question text feel personal and contextual without duplicating fields. For the full picker — form fields, system tokens, and how tokens resolve — see Merge Fields.

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Help text

Help text is optional guidance shown directly below the label. Think of it as a one-sentence instruction that answers the question before the user has to ask it: "Enter the figure from your most recent Notice of Assessment" or "Include area code for landline numbers."

For Image fields, help text becomes the caption displayed below the image.

Like labels, help text supports merge-field tokens, so you can echo another field's answer into the hint — useful for personalised instructions that reference context the user has already provided.

Help text does not replace validation feedback. If you want the form to enforce a format, use a validation rule (see Validations) alongside help text that explains what to enter.

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Required

The Required toggle makes a question mandatory. When it is on, the form cannot be submitted until the user provides a non-empty answer for every visible required field — the Continue button stays disabled and any missing questions are flagged.

A few things worth knowing:

• Required is not shown for display-only field types. Image and Message (Display) fields never collect an answer, so the toggle does not appear on their cards.
• A required question that is hidden by a visibility rule does not block the form. The platform only checks questions the user can actually see. If a condition hides a required field, it is silently skipped. See Show, Hide & Require Questions with Rules for how to combine the two safely.
• false and 0 are real answers. An unticked checkbox or a zero entered in a number field both satisfy Required. Only null, empty strings, and empty arrays count as blank.

Required Later (File and Files fields only)

File and Files fields have an additional Required Later toggle. When this is on, the upload is deferred: the question is removed from the form body and surfaced instead in the dedicated Documents section, where it can be uploaded at any point before the deal closes. The user can complete the rest of the form without uploading the file now — the platform tracks it as outstanding until it is provided.

Use Required Later for documents that are gathered after the initial fact-find: signed approvals, valuations, or post-settlement paperwork. Required Later does not apply to any other field type.

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Internal only

The Internal only setting has one job: "Hide this question from the Collect (client) portal. Brokers still see and validate it."

When a question is marked Internal only, applicants using the Collect portal at https://collect.ziplineos.com.au never see it — it does not appear in their form, and they are never asked to answer it. Brokers working in Input Hub see it and are still required to fill it in if it is marked Required.

This is the right setting for fields that brokers need but that would confuse or alarm applicants — internal reference numbers, lender codes, notes for the credit team, or calculations visible only to the originator.

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AI Extractable

When AI Extractable is on, the AI attempts to fill the field automatically from any documents uploaded to the deal. This is most useful paired with a File or Files field that uploads an ID document, payslip, or other structured document — the AI reads the upload and populates the text fields you have flagged.

AI Extractable is available on these field types:

Field type	Example use
Short Text	Name, licence number, reference ID
Long Text	Address description, notes block
Number	Numeric figure from a form or certificate
Money	Income or balance from a payslip
Date	Expiry date, issue date, date of birth
Date & Time	Appointment or settlement timestamp
Dropdown	Visa subclass, marital status
Email	Email address from an identity document
Phone	Contact number from a statement
Address	Address parsed from a utility bill

The toggle is not available on choice fields with long option lists, file fields, nested forms, or display-only fields.

Extraction Hint

Below the AI Extractable toggle you will find an optional Extraction Hint field. This is a short, plain-English note to the AI that gives it extra context for finding the right value. Without a hint the AI does its best based on the label alone; a good hint meaningfully improves accuracy for non-obvious fields.

Effective hints describe:

• Where the value appears on the document — "Found top-right of the card", "In the header row of the first table."
• The format to expect — "AU licence numbers are alphanumeric, 7–9 characters." "The date uses DD/MM/YYYY."
• Which of several similar values to pick — "Use the net (after-tax) figure, not the gross figure."

AI extraction fills fields as suggestions — users can review and edit the values the AI populated before submitting the form. Nothing is locked; the AI is a time-saver, not a final authority.