🏗️ Step 1: Add the Page to Your Form
Log in to your portal and go to the Grant Editor tab → Cycle Pages subtab.
Choose the specific Program and Cycle you are working on.
Scroll down to the page type dropdown menu and select Custom Narrative.
Check the respective boxes if this page should appear in your Interim or Final Report.
Enter a title exactly as you want it to appear to applicants in their Table of Contents (e.g., "Project Narrative" or "Organizational Background").
Set the sequence and click the Add button. Your new page will now appear in the list of pages above.
🎨 Step 2: Add Content and Questions
Populate the page with instructions and questions.
Click the pencil icon ✏️ to the right of your new Custom Narrative page.
In the Info/Instruction text field at the top, enter guidance or directives your applicants need for this specific section.
Click the Type dropdown to select a question type.
Click the Add button to customize the question.
Click Update when done creating your question.
Continue adding questions until your page is complete.
🎥 Click here for video alt-text.
A screen recording of the GO Smart "Grant Editor" interface showing an administrator adding a "Custom Narrative" page titled "Organizational Background" to the "Operational Grant 2026" cycle. The administrator then adds a "Text Area (Small)" question titled "Applicant Email," marks it as required, and previews the functional form field.
💡 Tips:
Don't crowd too much onto one page! If your narrative is long, use multiple Custom Narrative pages to create a "stepping stone" experience for your applicants.
All of the applicant’s profile information is displayed on the first page of the view-only forms (Application, Interim Report, Final Report, etc.). This alleviates the need to collect this information again within a form.
👉 View this tutorial for an in-depth walkthrough on creating and customizing a question field.
👉 View this tutorial for an explanation of all question types.
🗑️ How to Remove a Page
If you no longer need a Custom Narrative page, follow these steps to delete it:
Go to the Grant Editor tab → Cycle Pages subtab and find the page in your table.
Option A (Direct Delete): If a red 🗑 (trash icon)is visible, click it to remove the page immediately.
Option B (Clean First): If there is no Trash icon:
Click the Edit icon for that page.
Remove all questions from the page by clicking the red trash icon 🗑️ next to each question.
Return to the Cycle Pages tab. You should now see a red trash icon 🗑️ available for that page.
ℹ️ Additional Custom Narrative Features and Tutorials
📁 Media Uploads: Use the "File Upload" question type on a Custom Narrative page to collect work samples, images, or PDF support materials.
♻️ Reusable Templates: You can save the page as a Template to deploy it in future cycles quickly.
🔁 Multiple Submissions: Use Custom Narrative pages to build "Multiple Submission" sets—perfect for items like "Artist Bios" where an applicant needs to submit the same set of questions for several different people.
🔀 Conditional Logic: Implement conditional logic on custom narrative pages to dynamically show or hide questions.
