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ServiceM8 how-to

Can a ServiceM8 form alert the office when it records a fault?

Natively, yes, but only to the ServiceM8 Inbox. A Form Inbox Follow Up automation (Settings, Automations) creates an Inbox message when up to three answer conditions are met, on form or job completion. To text or email a foreman instead, use Zapier's form completed trigger with a filter, or a form.response_created webhook.

Last checked 25 Sep 2026 against the sources listed at the end of this page.

Partly

Partly: Form Inbox Follow Up raises an Inbox message on a fail answer; a text or email to a person needs Zapier with a filter or a webhook.

Step by step

  1. Make the fault answer machine readable: a Multiple Choice question such as 'Result' with Pass and Fail options, not free text.
  2. Native alert: go to Settings, Automations, click New Automation, choose Form Inbox Follow Up, and pick the form.
  3. Set up to three conditions (for example Result equals Fail). The message is created if any condition is met.
  4. Choose timing: on form completion for urgent faults, or on job completion to get one message for a multi asset job.
  5. Test it by completing the form on a test job with a fail answer and checking the Inbox.
  6. For a text or email: in Zapier, use ServiceM8's 'Send email when forms are completed' Zap, pick the form, add a filter step on the Result answer, then an email or SMS step to the foreman.
  7. For a webhook: subscribe to the form.response_created event, fetch the form response by its UUID, read field_data, and send your alert when the rule matches. Return HTTP 200 quickly.

Gotchas

  • Skip Question If conditions never notify anyone. They only change which questions the tech sees.
  • Form Inbox Follow Up allows three conditions per automation, triggered on any match. More complex rules need another automation or a webhook.
  • An automation set to job completion will not fire if the tech completes the form but the job stays open.
  • The ready made Zap emails every completion until you add a filter, and Zapier filters are not on its Free plan.
  • ServiceM8 object webhooks say which fields changed, not their values. Your code must call the API to read the answers.
  • A callback that fails is retried for up to 72 hours, so alerts can arrive late or twice if your endpoint is flaky. Store the form response UUID to avoid double texts.

What the official help article misses: It explains the Inbox message but does not say the alert stays in the Inbox rather than reaching a person, does not mention the Zapier or webhook routes for SMS and email, and does not explain the difference from Skip Question If. Read ServiceM8's article.

What ServiceM8 does on its own

Forms have two kinds of logic, and people mix them up. Skip Question If conditions only change the form itself: they hide or show later questions based on an answer (equal to, not equal to, greater than, less than, contains, does not contain, all or any). They do not notify anyone.

Form Inbox Follow Up is the notification. It is an automation, set up in Settings, Automations, New Automation, Form Inbox Follow Up. You pick the form, set up to three conditions on its answers, and the automation creates a message in your ServiceM8 Inbox when any of them is met. The form's answers are included, and the message is ready to convert into a follow up job. You choose whether it fires as soon as the form is completed or when the job is completed.

That covers a lot: a failed extinguisher becomes a quote job, an "unsafe" answer becomes an urgent callback. What it does not do is push the alert to a person. It sits in the Inbox until someone in the office opens it, which is not good enough when a foreman needs to know before the tech leaves site.

Getting a text or email to a person

Zapier is the no code route. ServiceM8's help centre documents a ready made Zap, "Send email when forms are completed in ServiceM8", which emails the form's information every time the chosen form is completed. On its own that emails every completion, pass or fail. Add a Zapier filter step on the answer you care about, so the Zap only continues when the answer is a fail. Filters need a paid Zapier plan. Swap the email step for an SMS app if the foreman lives on his phone.

A webhook is the developer route, and the right one when several forms and people are involved. ServiceM8 supports an event webhook, form.response_created, fired when a form response is submitted. Your server fetches the response through the API (the answers are in its field_data, stored as JSON), checks them against your rules, and sends the SMS or email. API access is listed from ServiceM8's Starter plan.

Choosing between them

If the alert is "put it on the office's list", use Form Inbox Follow Up and stop there; it needs no extra tools and keeps everything in ServiceM8. If one form needs to reach one person quickly, Zapier with a filter is an afternoon's work. If you want rules like "text the on call foreman for gas faults, email the property manager for access issues", build the webhook, because the rules live in code you control rather than in a pile of Zaps.

Sources

  1. Form Inbox Follow Up automations are created in Settings, Automations; up to three conditions trigger an Inbox message if any is met; the message includes form responses and can be converted to a job; it can be created on form completion or job completion. The Automation and Forms add-ons must be active. ServiceM8 Help Center, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  2. Skip Question If supports equal to, not equal to, greater than, less than, contains, does not contain, and all or any matching across multiple conditions, and controls whether a following question is skipped. ServiceM8 Help Center, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  3. ServiceM8's help centre documents a Zapier Zap, 'Send email when forms are completed in ServiceM8', which emails the form information when the chosen form is completed. ServiceM8 Help Center, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  4. Zapier filters let a Zap continue only when data meets a set condition, and are not included on Zapier's Free plan. Zapier, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  5. ServiceM8 event webhooks include form.response_created (form response submitted). ServiceM8 Developer, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  6. ServiceM8 object webhook updates only indicate which fields changed, not their values, so the record must be fetched through the REST API; failed callbacks are retried for up to 72 hours. ServiceM8 Developer, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  7. A form response's field_data holds the form answers as a JSON array captured at submission. ServiceM8 Developer, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  8. On ServiceM8's Australian pricing, API access is listed from the Starter plan and Zapier on all plans. ServiceM8, checked 25 Sep 2026.