How to Use Forms on Document Authoring (DA) and Edge Delivery Services
This guide explains the difference between using the Edge Delivery Forms Block from AEM Block collection and full Adobe Experience Manager Forms capabilities — including when you actually need an AEM Forms license/add-on.
For many common website and marketing scenarios, the Forms Block available is sufficient and does not require additional Forms licensing.
Two Approaches to Forms in AEM Edge Delivery
There are generally two ways to build forms with Adobe Experience Manager and Edge Delivery:
When the Forms Block is Enough
The Edge Delivery Forms Block is ideal for lightweight business and marketing workflows where the primary goal is collecting and routing data.
Typical use cases include:
- Lead generation forms
- Contact Us forms
- Feedback forms
- Newsletter signup forms
- Demo request forms
- Event registration forms
- Partner inquiry forms
- Simple surveys
- Internal intake/request forms
These experiences can usually be implemented entirely within Edge Delivery without requiring Adobe Experience Manager Forms.
Simple Architecture: Submit to External Endpoints
A common pattern with the Forms Block is:
Capture data in Edge Delivery → submit to an external endpoint or workflow.
The form submission can be routed to:
- Adobe App Builder actions
- Serverless APIs
- Slack webhooks
- CRM systems
- Google Sheets
- Email automation platforms
- Custom backend services
This approach keeps the architecture lightweight while still supporting many real-world operational workflows.
Why Teams Prefer the Forms Block for Simple Scenarios
The Forms Block aligns naturally with the Edge Delivery philosophy:
- Fast performance
- Minimal infrastructure
- Easy authoring
- Low operational overhead
- Simple integrations
- Content-first workflows
Authors can manage forms directly through DA/spreadsheets using the same workflow they already use for site content.
This makes it especially useful for:
- campaign sites
- microsites
- demos
- POCs
- marketing experiences
- lightweight operational forms
Sample Use-cases
Good Fit for the Forms Block
Use the Forms Block when the form is primarily about collecting information and routing it somewhere else.
Examples:
- “Contact Sales”
- “Request a Demo”
- “Join Webinar”
- “Subscribe to Updates”
- “Customer Feedback”
- “Partner Inquiry”
- “Event Signup”
In most of these cases:
- simple validation is enough
- submissions go to external systems
- no complex workflow engine is required
Key Differentiation
Best described as:
Simple, fast forms embedded directly into content experiences.
Best described as:
An enterprise forms and workflow platform.
Optimized for:
- speed
- simplicity
- marketing workflows
- lightweight integrations
- easy authoring
Optimized for:
- adaptive forms
- complex business logic
- document workflows
- compliance requirements
- enterprise integrations
Use the Forms Block if:
- The form is relatively simple
- You mainly need data capture
- External systems handle the workflow
- Marketing/content teams own the experience
- Performance and simplicity matter most
Use AEM Forms if:
-
Complex workflows drive the experience
-
PDFs or generated documents are required
-
Advanced rules/conditions are needed
-
Compliance or regulatory requirements exist
-
Enterprise workflow orchestration is necessary
Demo
Below form is authored using the contact-us form sheet :
On successful form submissions, It sends the form data to external endpoint configured to send message to #aem-da-scdemos-feedback slack Channel to capture feedback from users.