---
title: "Form rules for pre-actions"
slug: "form-rules-pre-actions"
updated: 2026-09-28T06:23:24Z
published: 2026-09-28T06:23:24Z
canonical: "help.quickbase.com/form-rules-pre-actions"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.quickbase.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Form rules for pre-actions

## Overview

When setting up [advanced rules](/fastfield/docs/advanced-rules), **pre-actions** refer to the actions that are performed *before* the main action. They allow you to define additional conditions that must be met or applied before executing the main action. For example, you could have a rule with a main action that changes a field color to red for anything considered high severity. A pre-action could first clear the field color, followed by a rule condition that will set it to red if the severity is indicated as *High* or *Very* *High*.

## Example setup

Using the same example, let's set up pre-actions for a rule that changes the field color based on user input. In this scenario, we have a **List** field on our form with 5 answer choices: *Very High*, *High*, *Med*, *Low*, and *Very Low*. Our main action will be to change this field's color to **red** if *High* or *Very High* are selected. ![Rule setup showing the main action to set field color to red for high severity](https://cdn.document360.io/dd260e4e-10bb-4b66-8fb3-5504c272b904/Images/Documentation/17801280915853?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-10-30T08%3A56%3A10Z&se=2026-10-30T09%3A56%3A10Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=woyzL7EeG4XBoc58P4PEC8a7p%2F1TupMhpAwwG3PGSvg%3D)In the screenshot below, you can see how we first set the pre-action **Clear Color**, which will clear the field color depending on the **Severity of the Issue**. Then, we set up a rule condition that will change the color to red if the severity is *Very High* or *High*. ![Pre-action setup showing Clear Color applied before the main rule condition](https://cdn.document360.io/dd260e4e-10bb-4b66-8fb3-5504c272b904/Images/Documentation/17801362716429?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-10-30T08%3A56%3A10Z&se=2026-10-30T09%3A56%3A10Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=woyzL7EeG4XBoc58P4PEC8a7p%2F1TupMhpAwwG3PGSvg%3D) This same logic can be accomplished with an [**Otherwise** or **Else**](/fastfield/docs/handling-complex-logic) condition with your rule, as shown here: ![Rule setup using an Otherwise condition to achieve the same pre-action logic](https://cdn.document360.io/dd260e4e-10bb-4b66-8fb3-5504c272b904/Images/Documentation/17801362720397?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-10-30T08%3A56%3A10Z&se=2026-10-30T09%3A56%3A10Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=woyzL7EeG4XBoc58P4PEC8a7p%2F1TupMhpAwwG3PGSvg%3D)Using pre-actions often comes down to a matter of preference in rule setup.

> [!NOTE]
> Note
> 
> Pre-Actions will run no matter how the rule conditions are set up. So if you aren't careful, you can easily cancel out the actions of another rule.