Saving a "Form" for later use without submitting as of yet

MathewL

We've had to look at other platforms to deliver this functionality (e.g. formstack, formsite), which is really frustrating as we utilise Smartsheet for a lot of projects and keeping work in one place would be much better from both an administration, analysis and end user perspective.

Daniel Gold

Couldn't agree more. For our project intake process we'd like to be able to have a person submit very basic data to get the request in queue, but then come back and add more business value, urgency, impact information that will be used for prioritization. This data can take a little more thought and our business partners would benefit from being able to work on it a little at a time. Giving them access to the underlying sheet isn't going to work for a variety of reasons, and update requests lose all the conditional logic and help text that the original form has. Definitely want to see a "save and complete later" option for form submissions.

vdemattei

We've had to specifically design our forms with the consideration that we can only ask for information that can be filled out efficiently. We cannot ask for information that an applicant would need to go looking for the responses first, for fear of the form expiring or the applicant getting frustrated and deciding not to apply at all. We are having to utilize a completely different software for our longer, more important forms for this very reason. However, we would very much like to collect all of our data directly into smartsheet to utilize all of the other wonderful features smartsheet provides. This is one of the main reasons we are NOT able to utilize smartsheet for all of our needs and are instead spread between multiple softwares/programs.

Cleversheet

@Daniel Gold, I wonder if you might try a combination approach where the user submits their basic data to lodge their request, then they can be sent a message containing a form that enables them to update what they've already submitted (if necessary) and contains a link to a form that has all the conditional logic/help to dump the new content into a separate sheet, with the original and later content combined via INDEX/MATCH so that even though there are technically two sheets, in effect there is only one.

You could check out this method for enabling non-Smartsheet users to update their own content.

Martin Suchy

Add "Save and continue" option into the form so the same user can finish the submission later or eventually to pass over to another user who would finish and submit the form.

When user clicks "Save and continue":

• email including a unique link is sent
• user can access the form later to finalize submission or pass over to another user to finalize

kmay

Hello. I have been working on streamlining a purchase request process using forms and automated approval workflows via Smartsheet. The people testing my pilot have consistently given feedback that they would like to save a form and come back to it, or save a form to copy for a new submission at a later date. With all of the capabilities that Smartsheet has provided, this seems like an easy one. My entire year long project is at risk because of the inability to save forms. Please create this solution quick!

Jacqueline Ennis

I had the same issue and used Dynamic View. The problem is that I have 2000+ users of the form/DV and I need to enter them all as a shared user MANUALLY! Very disappointing

Paul J Smith

Complex form cannot be completed in one sitting. Allow user to save work and continue at a later time.

Paul J Smith

This is a critical shortcoming that must be fixed ASAP!

Emilie

My team is in the process of converting over to Smartsheet for all our applications. The reason we chose Smartsheet in the first place is because of how user friendly it is, and having a save & resume option is very important in order to allow prospective clients to start filling out an application, step away for a bit if needed, and be able to return without losing all their work. Since this isn't available at this time, is there a work around? Thanks for everything you all do!

Cleversheet

@Emilie, you could check out my 4/3/23 reply to @Daniel Gold. Applying the concept illustrated/demonstrated in the SelfUpdate dashboard it would be possible to build a form that asks a set of questions now that can later be edited via UpdateRequest feature by users—even if they don't have Smartsheet accounts.

Sonya Kaur

Is there a way to save a very long form as a draft to continue completing it later and a way of having accessing the completed form as well as the CSV version?

Andrée Starå

Hi @Sonya Kaur

I hope you're well and safe!

Unfortunately, as far as I know, it's not possible now to export as CSV or save as a draft without a workaround, but it's an excellent idea!

Here's a possible workaround or workarounds

• Cleversheets method above is a great one
• You could also use Update Requests after the initial submission
• Split the form in multiple forms
• For the CSV, we could probably use a 3rd-party service like Zapier or similar to save it as CSV

Would any of those options work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Josiane

I would like to have the ability to have forms partially filled out and saved. If a form is closed, the datat that was entered in is gone and will need to have it submitted again. The ability to submit a form and save its progress would be very appreciated.

TammyT

Hello,

When using this in state organizations, it would be helpful to allow people completing forms to be able to save as a draft and return to the form to complete at a later time. PLEASE take this option to production!