How to find a previous version of a form?

abirobson

Hi,

I have a sheet which collects data from 4 different forms. All 4 forms are very similar in their set up and style, with the first set of questions being the same on each. I went in to amend the drop-down answer options one form 1 a couple of days ago and all seemed okay. I completed testing post-amendments and all worked fine.

When I've logged back most of the form has now deleted, only leaving the first 2 questions. This has also replicated itself across the other 3 forms.

Is there a way to revert to a previous version of a form?

Thanks in advance!

John C Murray

It sounds odd that four different forms could all be impacted in the same way.

Is it possible that someone else has edited the forms and added some logic that hides various controls until a certain value is selected in one of the displayed controls?

abirobson

Hi @John C Murray,

That is what I originally thought, but looking through the activity logs no one else has opened the sheets!

It is bizarre, because the link that had auto-filled in the tracker sheet when it was first created still shows each question, but if I go into manage forms to amend the form itself the questions just are not there.

Genevieve P.

Hey @abirobson

When you go to edit the Form, are the fields showing on the side of the form in a list, or not at all?

Keep in mind that form fields are just the underlying columns. This means that if you're using the same dropdown column in all 4 forms, changing the values in the dropdown list for 1 Form will update all other Forms using that field (since it's the same field/column).

If a field has fully been removed from both the main form and the side list, is that column still in the underlying sheet? Deleting a column will remove the field automatically from the form - this would impact all forms associated with that sheet. The Activity Log will identify if a column has been deleted.

If the fields are still columns in the underlying source sheet, but don't appear in the form settings or on the side bar, is it possible there's a browser extension that may be hiding the fields from your Edit view? To check this, try using a completely new browser to take a look at the Edit Form window.

It would be useful to see screen captures (but please block out sensitive data).

Thanks!

Genevieve

abirobson

Hi @Genevieve P.

When I click on one of the forms, there are some previous form field down the side, but even if I chose to 'Add' these back into the form, they are not all there and do not follow the same logics or have answers already written in as they did previously.

All columns can still be found on the main sheet.

I have tried using different browsers, and switching between incognito etc to no avail.

Thank you!

Capture.JPG

Genevieve P.

Hi @abirobson

This is the first report I've seen where the columns in the source sheet don't match what Fields show in a Form (either on the side or in the build of the form).

If you made edits that changed values associated with Logic (e.g. removed a dropdown option that other fields were set to show/hide on), it should have just removed the Logic from the form, not the fields themselves. You would have seen a warning like this:

It is expected that if a field is move out of the build area (either by the trash icon in the form or by the column being deleted in the underlying sheet) that you'll need to add it back in and re-do any logic associated or descriptions.

Did you see anything in the Activity Log around columns being deleted?

abirobson

Hi @Genevieve P.

There is nothing in the activity log re columns being deleted...could it maybe be to do with the fact that the data on the source sheet then feeds into other sheets? I might begin searching through their logs for any unexpected activity!

Genevieve P.

Hmm, good question @abirobson, but no - moving rows from one sheet to another will not impact Forms. Forms are just a way to populate new rows, they aren't associated with any of the already-filled-in row content.

Can you detail exactly what it is that you changed in the Form? Was it just a matter of adjusting dropdown values in a Single Dropdown list? I'd like to replicate your changes to test and see if there's an issue with making the exact change you made.