--- title: "Joomla Article Form Builder: Show Clients Only the Fields They Need" date: 2026-09-26 description: "Show your clients only the fields they need when they edit Joomla articles on the site. Form profiles per menu item, drag and drop builder. Joomla 5 and 6." author: "Jeroen Moolenschot" --- # Joomla Article Form Builder: Show Clients Only the Fields They Need # Joomla Article Form Builder The article form, reduced to what your client actually needs. Joomla shows every author the full article form: alias, meta description, access levels, publishing dates, two image groups and three link slots. Article Form Builder lets you build a form profile per section of the site, so your client sees five fields instead of forty. No template overrides, no CSS hacks. - - Download free [Documentation →](https://www.joomill-extensions.com/documentation/article-form-builder) - Joomla 5.4 and 6 - Unlimited sites - YOOtheme and Cassiopeia ready Article Form Builder in 37 seconds The problem ## Your client wants to change a news item. Joomla hands them the cockpit. The standard site form is built for people who know Joomla. Your client sees tabs full of settings they never need and are afraid to touch. The result is a phone call to you, or a broken article. ![The standard Joomla site form with five tabs and dozens of fields](https://www.joomill-extensions.com/images/extensions/article-form-builder/before-standard-joomla-form.jpg) BeforeStandard Joomla: 40 fields in 5 tabs ![The same form with a News profile: Title, Photo, Text and Publish on](https://www.joomill-extensions.com/images/extensions/article-form-builder/after-news-profile.jpg) AfterNews profile: 4 fields, 1 tab ### Why CSS and overrides fall short Hiding fields with CSS or a template override looks tidy, but the fields are still in the form and their values still go along when the article is saved. And every override is one more file to maintain for each client site. ### One form per section, built in minutes A profile decides which fields an author sees, in which tabs and in which order, which fields get a fixed value, and which buttons are shown. Menu items without a profile keep the standard Joomla form. Features ## Everything a form profile does ![The profile builder with a field palette, tabs, a main and side column and field settings](https://www.joomill-extensions.com/images/extensions/article-form-builder/feature-builder.jpg) Builder ## A drag and drop form builder Drag the fields you need from the palette into tabs and put them in the order your client thinks in. Every drag also works with the keyboard, and moves are announced to screen readers. Rename any field to the words your client uses, "Photo" instead of "Intro Image", and add a help text such as "At least 1200 px wide". PRO PRO Hidden fields ## Hide it. Keep the value. Take any field out of the author's form and give it a fixed value. The category of the vacancies section is always Vacancies, the access level is always Public, and your client never sees either field. The value is set on the server for new articles and copies, so it cannot be changed from the browser. ![Field settings for Category with Hide from the author switched on, next to the News form without a Category field](https://www.joomill-extensions.com/images/extensions/article-form-builder/feature-hidden-fields.jpg) ![Three profiles, News, Vacancies and Events, each with its own fields and menu item](https://www.joomill-extensions.com/images/extensions/article-form-builder/feature-profiles.jpg) Menu Assignment ## One profile per section of your site News, vacancies, events, team members: each section gets its own profile. Attach it to a Category List, Category Blog or Create Article menu item, or tick menu items in the Menu Assignment tab, just like a module. Does the edit link skip that menu item, like the edit button in YOOtheme? Article Form Builder then uses the profile of the menu item for the article's category or its nearest parent. - ### Defaults and required fields Prefill category, status, access level, language and featured for new articles. Mark fields as required, or show the alias only when an article is created. - ### Tabs, columns and half widths PRO Give a tab a main and side column or two equal columns, and place short fields at half width. The form stacks when the content area is narrow. - ### Custom fields in the form PRO Place Joomla custom fields between the core fields, with default values, your own labels and help texts. - ### Free Text blocks PRO Drop an instruction, a warning or a sub-heading anywhere in the form. Style it as an alert or card with one class. Scripts and embeds are filtered out. - ### A calmer editor PRO Per editor field, hide the editor buttons (Article, Image, Page Break, Read More) and the Editor/Code/Preview tabs of JCE. - ### Only the buttons you want Choose Save, Save & Close or both; Cancel is always there. Switch the Versions button off per profile. PRO adds Save as Copy and Move to Trash. - ### Saving that keeps the rest Tags, images, links, the category and the featured dates stay as they were. Fields a profile leaves out are removed from the request on the server. - ### At home in your template Bootstrap or UIkit output. Automatic picks UIkit for YOOtheme and Bootstrap for Cassiopeia. Override the layout in your template when you need to. - ### Accessible builder Every drag has a keyboard equivalent: Enter adds a field, arrow keys move it, Delete removes it. Moves are announced to screen readers. See it work ## From forty fields to five in 37 seconds Watch a News profile being built: fields dragged into place, the category hidden with a fixed value, and one profile for every section of the site. How it works ## A simpler form in three steps - ### Install the package 1 One package installs the component and the system plugin. Joomla 5.4 or later, Joomla 6, PHP 8.1 or later. - ### Build a profile 2 Go to Components \> Article Form Builder and drag the fields your client needs into place. Hide what they should not touch and give it a value. - ### Assign it to a menu item 3 Tick the menu items in the Menu Assignment tab. Your client opens the edit form under that menu item and sees only their fields. Free vs PRO ## Start free. Go PRO when your client needs more. | Feature | Free | PRO | | --- | --- | --- | | Unlimited form profiles | ✓ | **✓** | | Drag and drop builder with tabs | ✓ | **✓** | | Profile per menu item and Menu Assignment tab | ✓ | **✓** | | Default category, status, access, language, featured | ✓ | **✓** | | Required fields and create-only fields | ✓ | **✓** | | Versions button on or off | ✓ | **✓** | | Bootstrap and UIkit output, template override | ✓ | **✓** | | Server-side protection of fields left out | ✓ | **✓** | | Hide fields with a fixed value | – | **✓** | | Default values for every field and custom field | – | **✓** | | Main and side column, two columns, half-width fields | – | **✓** | | Joomla custom fields in the form | – | **✓** | | Own labels and help texts | – | **✓** | | Free Text blocks | – | **✓** | | Hide editor buttons and JCE tabs | – | **✓** | | Save as Copy and Move to Trash buttons | – | **✓** | | Updates and personal support | – | **1 year** | ## One price. Every site you build. Buy once per year, install on every client site. No per-domain fees. ### Free Every section its own simple form € 0 forever - Unlimited profiles - Drag and drop builder - Menu Assignment - Defaults and required fields Download free ### Article Form Builder PRO For client sites that need more - Everything in Free - Hide fields with a fixed value - Columns and half-width fields - Custom fields, labels and help texts - Free Text blocks and a calmer editor - Save as Copy and Trash buttons - 1 year updates and personal support ### Joomill Extensions Bundle All commercial Joomill extensions - Article Form Builder PRO included - Admin Customizer, Opening Hours, Price List and more - Unlimited sites FAQ ## Frequently asked questions Something missing? [Contact me](https://www.joomill-extensions.com/contact), you get a real answer from the developer. - ### Does Article Form Builder replace the frontend editing of Joomla? No. It works on the article form Joomla already has. Your authors log in and click edit as they always did; they just see a simpler form. - ### Can I have a different form for each part of my site? Yes. Create as many profiles as you like and attach each one to the Category List, Category Blog or Create Article menu items of that section. Menu items without a profile show the standard Joomla form. - ### Is a profile a permission? No. A profile shapes the form; the Joomla ACL still decides who may edit what. An author who opens the edit form under a menu item without a profile gets the standard Joomla form. If you rely on a profile, make sure those authors cannot reach a com\_content menu item without one. - ### What happens to fields the form does not show? They keep their value. Tags, images, links, the category and the featured dates of an existing article stay as they were. Fields left out of the profile are removed from the save request on the server. - ### Does it work with YOOtheme Pro? Yes. In Automatic mode the form uses UIkit tabs, buttons and inputs in YOOtheme. The YOOtheme edit button is supported too: Article Form Builder finds the profile through the menu item of the article's category. - ### Does it work with JCE? Yes. PRO can hide the Editor/Code/Preview tabs of JCE and the editor buttons per editor field. - ### Which content can I edit with it? Joomla articles (com\_content), including their custom fields in PRO. - ### Which Joomla versions are supported? Joomla 5.4 or later and Joomla 6, with PHP 8.1 or later. - ### On how many sites can I use it? On every site you build or maintain. ## Stop handing your clients the full Joomla form Build the form they need once, attach it to their section, and let them edit their own content without calling you. - - Download free ## Custom Fields **Extension Name:** Joomla Article Form Builder **Extension Alternative Name:** Joomill Article Form Builder **Cache Key:** articleformbuilder **OCH categorie:** 45,46 **Prijs Gratis versie:** 0 **Prijs PRO versie:** 20 **Extension URL:** https://www.joomill-extensions.com/extensions/article-form-builder **JED URL:** http://extensions.joomla.org/extension/article-form-builder **Extension Download URL:** https://www.joomill-extensions.com/downloads/article-form-builder **Buy Now URL:** https://www.joomill-extensions.com/buynow/article-form-builder