<p>OK, heard from Barrel Strength / Sprout support. His reply:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Please create any fields that you need before adding the tab, then
  please go ahead and add the tab(s) then drag and drop the fields that
  you need into the new tab (rename the new tab in this step if you
  want) and finally save the form. The new tabs need to have at least
  one field to be saved with the form.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Since you can't create an empty tab, the trick is to create all your fields <em>first</em> -- or at least, one field per tab. Then, after you create the tabs, you can drag a single field to each tab and save the form. That will keep the tabs. After that, when you create a new field, you can select the tab it belongs to in the dropdown.</p>

<p>I <em>think</em> that's how it also works in the native Craft field manager? So hopefully this helps somebody even if you're not using Sprout Forms (which is <strong>awesome</strong>, by the way.)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-28T17:49:50.830Z
We'll be updating the UI around this for Craft 3 to make this workflow more intuitive. This is how the native Craft field manager works. However, when we piggy back on that UI for the Forms use case it becomes a bit more unintuitive as the available fields are not known ahead of time (In Craft, you create all your fields before you build your field layout. In Sprout Forms, you start building your layout and then need to create the fields you want to use.)
Ben Parizek
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-31T16:16:28.527Z
Sweet, thanks @BenParizek! I'm excited to see the next upgrade. Sprout Forms strikes just the right balance of ease-of-use for simple forms and custom configurations for more complex applications. Happy customer here!
Nathan D Huening
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-28T14:34:13.003Z
2017-07-28T14:34:13.003Z
Nathan D Huening
<p>Strange bug: I'm creating tabs in a new form, but they're not saving. Goes like this:</p>

<ol>
<li>Create a new tab</li>
<li>Re-name tab</li>
<li>Save form (to add / create a field)</li>
<li>Newly created tab is gone</li>
</ol>

<p>Same thing happens whether it's my form or one of the default example ones ("basic" and "contact"). The "basic" form has two tabs; I checked the db to see if the tab data (names, number, etc.) is saved anywhere there but I can't see any table that contains it. </p>

<p>So maybe it's stored in a file somewhere? Which means maybe some kind of permissions issue? Much obliged for any guidance.</p>

<plugin-sproutforms>
Form tabs aren't saving in the Sprout Forms plugin
# Form tabs aren't saving in the Sprout Forms plugin

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-07-27)

Strange bug: I'm creating tabs in a new form, but they're not saving. Goes like this:

1. Create a new tab
2. Re-name tab
3. Save form (to add / create a field)
4. Newly created tab is gone

Same thing happens whether it's my form or one of the default example ones ("basic" and "contact"). The "basic" form has two tabs; I checked the db to see if the tab data (names, number, etc.) is saved anywhere there but I can't see any table that contains it.

So maybe it's stored in a file somewhere? Which means maybe some kind of permissions issue? Much obliged for any guidance.

**Tags:** plugin-sproutforms

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2017-07-28. Score: 1

OK, heard from Barrel Strength / Sprout support. His reply:

> Please create any fields that you need before adding the tab, then
> please go ahead and add the tab(s) then drag and drop the fields that
> you need into the new tab (rename the new tab in this step if you
> want) and finally save the form. The new tabs need to have at least
> one field to be saved with the form.

Since you can't create an empty tab, the trick is to create all your fields *first* -- or at least, one field per tab. Then, after you create the tabs, you can drag a single field to each tab and save the form. That will keep the tabs. After that, when you create a new field, you can select the tab it belongs to in the dropdown.

I *think* that's how it also works in the native Craft field manager? So hopefully this helps somebody even if you're not using Sprout Forms (which is **awesome**, by the way.)

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: We'll be updating the UI around this for Craft 3 to make this workflow more intuitive. This is how the native Craft field manager works. However, when we piggy back on that UI for the Forms use case it becomes a bit more unintuitive as the available fields are not known ahead of time (In Craft, you create all your fields before you build your field layout. In Sprout Forms, you start building your layout and then need to create the fields you want to use.)  
> **username_0**: Sweet, thanks @BenParizek! I'm excited to see the next upgrade. Sprout Forms strikes just the right balance of ease-of-use for simple forms and custom configurations for more complex applications. Happy customer here!  

---

