When people fill in longer forms, they may accidentally refresh the page, close their tab, or need to finish later. FormFinch can restore their entered answers in two ways: automatic session recovery in the same browser tab, and optional device storage that you can enable in form settings.
Session recovery and device storage
Every published form automatically keeps entered answers in the active browser session. If a respondent refreshes the page or uses the browser back and forward buttons in the same tab, FormFinch restores those answers immediately.
Optional device storage goes a step further. When you enable this setting, respondents can choose to save their progress on their device. They can then return within seven days to finish the form, even after closing the tab or restarting their browser. Saved drafts stay on that specific device and browser profile. FormFinch does not sync drafts across different devices or browsers.
Enable device storage for a form
Device storage is turned off by default. You can enable it per form in the Form Designer:
- Open your form in the Form Designer.
- Click Settings in the status bar.
- Under Page Settings, turn on Allow respondents to save progress on this device.
- Publish the form so the change becomes active on the live form.
This option is a general form setting rather than an Extra. You can find it alongside other page options, such as automatic form navigation.
What respondents get automatically
Without any extra setup from you or action from the respondent, FormFinch temporarily saves entered answers during an active browser session. If the respondent refreshes the page or navigates back and forward in the same tab, their answers reappear right away.
This automatic recovery does not work if the respondent closes the tab, opens the form in a new tab, or switches to another browser. It is also not active in Preview mode or when someone is editing a previously submitted form.
What respondents see with device storage
When you enable device storage, respondents who have not saved progress before will see a prompt with the button Save progress on this device. With one click, they turn on local saving. FormFinch then saves their entered answers to their device until they submit the form, discard the draft, or the draft expires.
If they return to the form within seven days, FormFinch asks Continue where you left off? before restoring their answers. The respondent can choose to continue or click Start over to begin with a blank form. Once a respondent opts in, future changes are saved automatically on that device without asking again.
Respondents can delete their saved draft at any time by clicking Discard saved progress on this device.
What gets saved
FormFinch saves answers as soon as the respondent confirms them: by clicking outside a text field, selecting an option, or navigating to another page. Text that someone is currently typing is not saved until they leave the field.
Saved data includes the current page, visited pages, and any field values that are visible based on your form’s conditional logic. When the draft is restored, hidden fields and cleared default values are updated properly.
Uploaded files can also be saved as part of a draft, but they are stored for about 24 hours. If an uploaded file expires before the respondent returns, FormFinch removes that file from the draft and displays a notice in the form.
If your form includes Appointment/Booking fields, a previously selected time slot might no longer be available when the respondent returns. In that case, they need to choose an available slot before they can submit the form.
When saved progress is cleared
FormFinch deletes saved progress when:
- The respondent submits the form successfully.
- The respondent chooses Start over or clicks Discard saved progress on this device.
- You publish a new version of the form. Publishing updates the live form structure. Existing drafts are invalidated and removed the next time someone opens the form on that device.
- A draft has not been updated for more than seven days, or was created more than 30 days ago.
If you turn off device storage in the Form Designer and publish the form again, saved drafts are invalidated the same way. FormFinch cannot delete drafts on devices that are offline or have not reopened the form yet.
Interaction with prefill and edit mode
If a form uses both Query prefill and saved progress, FormFinch applies the URL parameters first and then restores the saved draft. Saved answers always take precedence. If a field has a saved answer in the draft, FormFinch keeps that value even if the URL provides a parameter for the same field. Any fields that do not have a saved answer will still receive their prefilled values from the URL.
When a respondent opens a link to edit a previously submitted form, FormFinch loads their submitted answers directly from the server. Local drafts are never applied when editing an existing submission.
Privacy and storage
Session recovery works entirely within the active browser tab without showing any prompts to the respondent.
Device storage saves draft field values locally in the respondent’s web browser. FormFinch does not store those draft records on its servers and cannot recover them on another device for you or the respondent. Only someone using that same device and browser profile can view, continue, or discard the draft.
Uploaded files are an exception: when a draft includes uploads, the file contents are stored temporarily on FormFinch servers for about 24 hours so they can be restored. See What gets saved above.
If a browser blocks local storage—for example, in private browsing mode, when storage quota is full, or when storage is disabled—saving and restoring are turned off automatically. The form continues to work normally, but answers will not be saved for later.
Multiple tabs
If a respondent opens the same form in multiple tabs on the same device, both tabs share the same draft. The tab where an answer was saved most recently will overwrite previous changes.