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Fields

How to modify Element field queries to change what elements can be chosen

Element fields — Entries, Categories, Users, Tags, Products, and Variants — all work the same way underneath: Formie builds an element query from the field settings, then renders that list as a dropdown, radio buttons, checkboxes, or multi-select. That is much more efficient than copying hundreds of options into a static Dropdown field.

Sometimes the field settings alone are not enough. You might have hundreds of categories but only want a filtered subset, or you need to query on a custom field inside the element. In those cases, modify the element query in a template override — the same way you would in a regular Craft template.

Prerequisites

Set up a template override

After you have a Form Template configured, create an override for the element field type you want to change. The example below uses Categories; the same pattern applies to Entries, Users, and the other element field types.

Create templates/_forms/fields/categories.html:

{% set originalField = field %}

{# Populate the value so query logic can depend on current submission state if needed #}
{% do originalField.populateValue(value, submission) %}

{# Override the `field` with the correct display type #}
{% set field = originalField.getDisplayTypeField() %}

{# Get the value for the field, depending on the display type #}
{% set value = originalField.getDisplayTypeValue(value) %}

{% if originalField.displayType == 'dropdown' %}
    {{ formieInclude('fields/dropdown') }}
{% endif %}

{% if originalField.displayType == 'checkboxes' %}
    {{ formieInclude('fields/checkboxes') }}
{% endif %}

{% if originalField.displayType == 'radio' %}
    {{ formieInclude('fields/radio') }}
{% endif %}

This mirrors Formie's default Categories template. The important part is that elementsQuery is available in this template — it is the live query object Formie built from your field settings.

Modify the query

Add your query changes before the display-type logic. Call setElementsQuery() on the original element field so the modified query is used when options are resolved:

{% do originalField.setElementsQuery(
    elementsQuery
        .limit(2)
        .orderBy('title')
) %}

{% set originalField = field %}
...

When the form renders, only the first two matching categories (ordered by title) appear as choices.

Filter on custom fields

Element queries support the same parameters you use elsewhere in Craft:

{% do originalField.setElementsQuery(
    elementsQuery
        .location('australia')
        .orderBy('city')
) %}

You can chain any valid query method — related elements, custom field values, date ranges, and so on.

Filter based on page context

Because this runs in Twig at render time, you can use the current entry, logged-in user, or request parameters:

{% set currentEntry = craft.app.request.getSegment(2)
    ? craft.entries.slug(craft.app.request.getSegment(2)).one()
    : null %}

{% if currentEntry %}
    {% do originalField.setElementsQuery(
        elementsQuery.relatedTo(currentEntry)
    ) %}
{% endif %}

Apply the override to your form

Assign your Form Template to the form in the form builder (Settings → Form Template), or pass it when rendering:

{{ craft.formie.renderForm('contactForm', {
    theme: '_forms',
}) }}

The exact theme/template key depends on how your Form Template is registered. See Form Templates for setup details.

GraphQL and headless forms

Template overrides only run when Formie renders through Twig. For GraphQL or client-rendered forms, element field options come from the server-side query configured on the field. If you need dynamic filtering in headless flows, use a Custom Provider or listen for the modifyElementQuery event in PHP:

use verbb\formie\events\ModifyElementFieldQueryEvent;
use verbb\formie\base\ElementField;
use yii\base\Event;

Event::on(ElementField::class, ElementField::EVENT_MODIFY_ELEMENT_QUERY, function(ModifyElementFieldQueryEvent $event) {
    if ($event->field->handle !== 'myCategories') {
        return;
    }

    $event->query->limit(10);
});
Last updated: June 27, 2026, 2:14:24 PM
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