AI Calculations Guide

When you click on a Calculation field, you’ll see its settings appear in the configuration panel. Click "Calculation Editor" to open up the calculation input and AI interface.

In the Calculation Editor, you will find the AI chat interface on the right of the screen. This is where you interact with the AI; you can give it instructions on what you want to achieve, and it will provide you with a formula and an explanation. We will cover prompting further down in this guide.

To the left, you will see the Calculation input. This is the section where your calculation formula is executed. Here, you can manually enter or update your calculation formula. Importantly for this guide, this area is where you send the AI generated code to be executed.

The "How to Use" tab opens a window displaying all available functions and operations for the Calculation field. Here, you'll find explanations of what the functions do and examples demonstrating how they can be implemented within your form.

To create a calculation using AI, simply type you instructions into the chat box. The AI will respond with:

• A calculation formula suggestion

• A preview of the result

• An explanation of how the formula works

  

Here's a breakdown:

• Calculation Formula — The AI generates a formula that you can review and apply to the Calculation field. It includes inline comments, indicated by double slashes (//), to briefly explain each part of the logic.
• “Result” preview — Highlighted in gold, this section shows an example of what the formula will output. It may use data from the most recent form submission.
• Step-by-step Explainer — Located below the Result preview, this section describes how the formula works, step by step, in plain language.

If the suggested formula isn’t quite right, you can:

• Provide additional instructions in the chat box to have the AI revise the formula.
• Click “Apply” to transfer the formula to the Calculation editor and make manual changes yourself.

Once the formula is in the editor, you're free to modify it directly—or prompt the AI again for changes based on the existing formula.

Read on for tips on how to create effective prompts.

Even with the help of AI, calculation errors can happen—whether due to unclear prompts, complex logic, or small syntax issues. The AI interface offers built-in tools to help you fix common problems easily!

If your calculation isn’t working and an error appears in the Live Preview, try using the Fix button in the AI interface. This tool automatically attempts to resolve any syntax or logic errors it detects in the formula.

Sometimes a formula works fine but is hard to read or edit—especially after multiple revisions. In these cases, use the Format button to reformat the calculation for better readability. This button restructures the formula into a cleaner, more organized format while keeping the logic intact.

If your calculation looks correct but you're still not getting the expected result, try publishing your form and testing it in the Live version. The Live Preview is helpful, but the published form provides the most reliable context for how calculations behave with real input data.

You can run a quick test to make sure the AI-generated calculation works as expected. To do this:

1. Open the Question Panel for your Calculation field.

2. Make sure the “Hide this question” option is turned off. This allows you to see the output of the calculation directly on the form during testing.

3. Go to your Live form and test to make sure the Calculation behaves as intended.

This is a useful step especially when extracting values, applying conditions, or combining logic across multiple fields.

Get help! If you’re still not getting the answer you want, you can always reach out to support@paperform.co and our team will be able to point you in the right direction.

You can use AI Calculations to extract specific parts of a text input—such as separating a full name into first and last names. Here's an example of how to do it using a text field that captures a respondent's full name called "Your Name".

Step 1: Extract the first name

For the first calculation, we are going to extract the respondents first name from the Your Name field.

1. Open a new calculation and within the AI interface, use a specific prompt such as:

   “Extract only the first name from the ‘Your Name’ question.”

2. Click Send.

1. Once you are happy with the AI suggestion, click “Apply”.
2. Review the calculation in the editor. The Live Preview should display an example output. You can also Publish the form and test the calculation with real input on the live form.

Step 2: Extract the Last Name

Next, we will use a second Calculation Field to extract their last name.

1. Duplicate the Calculation field that extracts the first name and title it appropriately.

2. In the AI interface, use a prompt like:

   “Modify this calculation to extract only the last name from the Your Name question.”

3. Once you are happy with the suggested changes, click “Apply”.

Now, the duplicated field will be updated to extract only the last name.

Step 3: Testing

Now that you have two Calculation fields where one outputs the First Name and the other outputs the Last Name of the respondent, we can run a test to make sure that the AI-generated Calculation is what we were looking to achieve.

Make sure to go into the Question Panel for both of the Calculation fields and disable the Hide this question option. This will ensure that the Calculation field is visible on the Preview or Published version of the form.

Lastly, test your setup, open the form in Preview or Published mode and enter a full name (e.g., John Smith) into the Your Name text input. Then, verify that:

• The First Name calculation field correctly displays John.
• The Last Name calculation field correctly displays Smith.

This ensures both calculations are functioning as expected based on the full name input.

Use AI Calculations to trigger an error message based on specific conditions—such as when a respondent enters an email from a free provider like Gmail or Hotmail. Here's an example:

Step 1. Create a new calculation question with the title Block common free email providers directly under your email question field.

Step 2. Enter a prompt to display an error message and prevent form submission when a free email provider is used.

Step 3. Click the down arrows to view either the complete calculation or explanation.

Step 4. Click the Apply button to accept the calculation and move it to your calculation input panel.

Step 5. Publish and test your live form with Gmail, Hotmail, and business domain email addresses.

In this example, you'll use AI Calculations to apply a 10% discount when a customer purchases more than two products—perfect for incentivizing larger orders through automated logic.

Step 1. Create a new Calculation field titled Multiple Product Discount.

Tip: You can choose to display the discount on the form, or keep the field hidden and use the result in your Custom Pricing Rules to adjust the final total behind the scenes.

Step 2. Prompt the AI to generate a calculation that applies a 10% discount if more than two products are selected.

Step 3. Click the Apply button to insert the AI-generated calculation into the editor.

Step 4. Use the result of this calculation in your Custom Pricing Rules to subtract the discount from the total, only when it’s greater than zero.

Step 5. Publish your form and run a test to make sure the discount is being applied as expected:

• Test 1: Select 2 products → No discount applied

• Test 2: Select 3 of the same item → 10% discount applied

• Test 3: Select 3 different products → 10% discount applied