You can hide specific form fields from reviewers in Dapple without removing them from the submission form. Hidden fields remain visible to organisers and are captured in submissions as normal — reviewers simply don't see them in their dashboard. Use this to keep sensitive or irrelevant information out of the review process without losing the data.
To hide a form field from reviewers in Dapple, open Form Builder, click the field, open the Advanced tab, and tick Hide from reviewers. The field stays visible to admins but disappears from every reviewer's view of the submission. Use this for any identifying information you don't want influencing the review — names, addresses, demographics.
Why hide fields from reviewers?
Reviewers should evaluate the work itself, not the person who made it. Hiding identifying fields removes conscious and unconscious bias from the equation. Common fields to hide include:
Name
Email address
Physical address
Demographic or ethnicity information
Any other field that could introduce bias
Hidden doesn't mean deleted. The data is still captured and still visible to the admin team — it's just restricted from reviewer view.
Reason | Example |
Personal data — blind review support | Hiding name, address, or contact fields so reviewer anonymisation is consistent |
Commercially sensitive information | Hiding budget or funding amount fields that shouldn't influence scoring |
Internal reference fields | Hiding organiser-facing reference codes or admin notes captured in the form |
Eligibility fields | Hiding fields used for eligibility checking that aren't relevant to the scoring criteria |
Equal opportunities data | Hiding demographic monitoring fields that must not be seen during assessment |
How to hide a field
Open the Project the form belongs to.
Open Form Builder.
Click the field you want to hide.
Click Edit.
Open the Advanced tab.
Tick Hide from reviewers.
Save.
From this point on, the field stops appearing on every reviewer's view of any submission to this project. You can add this retrospectively, even after a submission has been sent to a review. Ticking this box and then saving the latest version of the form will remove it from any review group members.
What happens to hidden field data?
Who | Can see hidden field data? |
Creator (submitting) | Yes — the field appears normally on the submission form |
Reviewer | No — the field is not shown in the reviewer dashboard |
Admin member | Yes — full data is visible in the submission detail view and CSV export |
Hidden field data is included in CSV exports. If you export submissions to share with reviewers externally, redact hidden columns from the export before sharing.
What are edge cases I should be aware of?
Edge case | What happens | What to do |
A hidden field is referenced in scoring criteria | Reviewers score a criterion but can't see the field it relates to | Don't link scoring criteria to hidden fields — reviewers can't score what they can't see |
Creator includes hidden data in a visible field | Reviewers see it — hiding a field doesn't scan file content | Brief creators on what to include in each field; can't be enforced at platform level |
You hide a field after reviews have started | Reviewers who saw it before the change may remember the data | Configure field visibility before sending submissions for review |
Hidden field is a file upload | The file is hidden — reviewers won't see the download link | Confirm this is intentional — hiding an evidence field could prevent fair assessment |
How do I check which fields are currently hidden?
Open the project and go to Form Builder.
Scan the field list — any field with Hide from reviewers enabled shows a reviewer icon with a line through it next to the field label.
Click any field to confirm its visibility settings in the field settings panel.
There is no bulk view of all hidden fields — you check per field in Form Builder.
Best practices
Set field visibility before assigning your Review Panel — changes made after reviewers have started work can create inconsistency.
If you're running blind review, hide name, email, and any bio or profile fields from the form as a belt-and-braces measure alongside the platform-level blind review setting.
Document which fields are hidden and why — useful for audit purposes and for briefing future team members who manage the project.
Always check your CSV export before sharing externally — hidden fields are included in the full export and need to be manually removed if sharing with reviewers.
Don't hide fields that scoring criteria depend on — reviewers can't fairly assess what they can't see.
Where to go next