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

LTen

Agree that there needs to be a save and continue option for forms! This is a serious fault in Smartsheets. I can work around not having sections, but I need a save button for our processes. Forms are timing out and users are frustrated.

bisaacs

Agreed with everyone here, being able to save a partially completed form is core functionality that is sorely missing. While we all appreciate the fact this feature is on the mobile app, I'd wager a pretty large sum that most forms that would benefit from being able to save and complete later aren't being filled out on a phone.

Brian_Richardson

This just cropped up as a use case for us. Our transportation folks get audited, and the auditors/trainers use a clipboard to capture their results, then transfer that into Google Sheets. What a pain! So we're trying to roll out tablets to these folks with a Smartsheet form and sheet to capture results and automate the follow-on actions.

Unfortunately we cannot use the Smartsheet Mobile App on the tablets due to lockdown/restrictions in allowing those tablets to authenticate. So we must use something that's broadly available - hence a Smartsheet form link.

The issue is, when using the Smartsheet form in a Chrome tab, it's very easy for the auditor to accidentally drag down the tab and cause it to refresh, resulting in a loss of many answered questions from the form. Again, we cannot use the Mobile App, so having an option in the form to continuous save the draft response would be fantastic!

Director Dan

Our use case is that we utilize this for many narrative reports. For example, our weekly report collects data throughout the week and is submitted once a week. Due to the narrative nature, this is entered from a laptop. We have folks that draft it in Word all week and then transfer it to the Smartsheet at the end of the week. Adding the save function to the web application is equally as important as having it available in the mobile application in our case.

BFoster

We use the request forms for our clients to obtain a lot of technical information. Often the client needs to take time to look up the information elsewhere and then come back to filling in the form. A "Save and Resume" feature would be AMAZING to help us move further into Smartsheets and mitigate customer complaints.

Cleversheet

While this approach is a suitable workaround for certain save-form situations, granted it’s too clunky for other use cases. But feel free to check it out.

StacyR

Not being able to save incomplete forms and return to them at a later time has been a major negative with Smartsheet. We are a state agency that collects information from local government agencies and would love to use Smartsheet forms for this. However, the forms are lengthy and likely challenging for someone to complete in one sitting. We tried asking them to prepare their responses in advance in Microsoft Word and then cut-paste into Smartsheet. That is just extra work for them, and has led to errors in entry and people accidently closing the wrong tab and losing all of their work while transferring the information. Also, because these are government agencies we are obtaining information from, it is usually information that is stored on their computers and using a table or phone to complete the form in the app is not a viable option.

If saving incomplete forms was a viable option the number of licenses and connected users to our account would increase dramatically.

Cleversheet

@StacyR, you could see if something along these lines might work for you. This was developed specifically so that multiple government agencies could submit, and later edit, their own content. It uses an initial form that establishes the instance (and enables uniquely identifying it), then one or more Update Requests can be chained together as needed so that individual entries can be augmented and/or revised an unlimited number of times.

This is a very basic design just to illustrate the concept. You'd have to do some fancy footwork in workflows, messaging, field presentation, etc to finesse it for your needs.

deicke

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/96548/saving-a-form-for-later-use-without-submitting-as-of-yet

We are discussing moving away from SS because we need this feature for our users. Any updates before I make my recommendation to Cabinet? From their perspective, this should be a basic functionality and they will not use the mobile app. Thank you in advance.

Mere

It is crazy frustrating that this doesn't exist. Like a previous commenter, I am sending out surveys to emergency responders on shift who have to jump at an alarm and leave whatever they are doing. For a strategic planning survey to reset is obnoxious and I don't think that requiring an app download to a personal device is appropriate.

I've transferred my survey/form to Jotform, but their Public vs. Private Terms and Conditions leave much to be desired.

The automation that Cleversheet created is awesome IF none of the questions are required. As soon as you try to submit with required questions unfilled, the form lights up like a Christmas tree and can't be saved, so the automation is moot.

I would love Smartsheet to take this seriously.

nbreeden

This is one of the most frustrating parts of using Smartsheet. I work at a community college in the Outcomes and Assessment department. We use Smartsheet to collect very lengthy responses from faculty and staff from across the college. Since Smartsheet forms (on the web) does not have Save and Resume features, people end up writing all of their responses in a Word doc and someone (often me) has to copy and paste the responses into a form. This is not a sustainable workaround long term.

Here are some use cases and a description of how it goes without using the Word + copy & paste method:

First use case: faculty have a data dashboard on one screen and a Smartsheet form on another. They reflect and respond to questions for each data report. This can take 45 minutes or more and, if there is an interruption, the form times out and they need to start over. They often need to seek input from others, who may not be able to be present at the same time.

Second use case: we distribute annual reports anonymously for peer reviewers to give feedback. Those reviewers take time to read through the reports on one screen while responding to questions in a Smartsheet form on the other. Just as in the above case, if there are interruptions, it times out and they need to start over. It can take them 30 minutes or more to complete the form.

Smartsheet needs Save and Resume features for its forms. It would be ideal if folks could click a "Save and Continue Later" button and receive a Resume link in their email to continue the form later. Or, better yet, if it recognized their credentials and gave them a list of incomplete forms to choose from and resume, that would be ideal. We do not use Smartsheet forms with people outside the organization and many of our employees have free collaborator accounts.

One thing to add is that, with our Word workaround, all the copying and pasting introduces more room for error, on top of being incredibly time-consuming.

lydia k.

We keep all data for our internal grants in Smartsheets and would like to use a Smartsheet form for grantee reporting. Since this is a lengthy form with several narrative pieces and sections that will require the external user to find data to enter, we need them to be able to save their progress and return. Ideally, they could share their progress with other users as well. We will be using QuestionPro instead since it offers a save & continue feature and emails the external user a link to return and complete their submission.

Automationer

This feature would be a significant upgrade for our users! Often, the form user will jump in to the form, get through most of it, then realize there is a field that they don't know the answer to, get frustrated, and abandon the process altogether. Once they obtain the information they were looking for, they don't want to do the work all over again. It makes the form users less and less sticky over time.

Nik Fuentes

I completely agree with everyone here.

I will also specifically agree with @Andrée Starå that this function is available at least by proxy with Dynamic Views, which are sort of like a hyrid of a Report and a Form [for those who haven't used them]. They're very useful and my team has relied on them in the absence of savable forms, as well as for its own merits.

The only reason I don't say it fully solves the issue is that Dynamic Views don't work on Smartsheet Mobile! Or at least, not without jumping through hoops to get it to work. That's probably a dealbreaker for people right there.

My point is, Dynamic Views might be a good enough substitute for now, but save-able forms is absolutely a must-have feature.

Naren

what is the planned timeline to release this in the web version?