A form has a status of Draft, Published or Closed. If you want to discard the form (and all data captured), you can also delete the form entirely.


Filter for forms on the dashboard based on their status or access Dashboard form actions


This article covers:


Draft form status

When a form is created, it initially has a Draft status. This indicates that the form is under construction and data cannot be captured yet. Although you can still assign a Draft form to a data collector, it will not appear on their handset until the form is Published. Changes made to a Draft form will be autosaved and will not be lost even if you navigate away from the page. 


Note: Web collection can only be enabled once a form has been published.


A list of all your Draft forms can be viewed on the workspace's dashboard or in the quick-switch menu.




Published form status

A Published form is live and available to any data collectors assigned to the form to capture data. When a form is published (from the Form Designer), it is given a version number. The first time the form is published, it is marked as version 1 and the form's status changes from Draft to Published. Each subsequent time the form is published, the version number increments automatically.



You are able to make changes to a published form without affecting the version that data collectors may already be using. Each time you make a change to a form, the number of "unpublished changes" (displayed in the toolbar in the Form Designer) increments. When you are ready for these changes to be made live, simply publish a new version of the form. The new version downloads automatically to any assigned data collectors and a notification is sent to each assigned data collector.


Versioning is covered in more detail here. 


If a data collector is offline, they will only receive the new version once they have connectivity - but it will download automatically. Should they have any incomplete forms on their handset (see data collector collection settings), they will be warned that a newer version of the form is available when they attempt to resume the in-progress form. They can choose to either complete the form using the version they started with, or discard the in-progress data and start over with the latest version of the form instead. A submission is always linked to the version of the form that was used to capture it.


Published forms can be closed or deleted (see below), but they cannot be changed back to Draft.


A list of all your Published forms can be viewed on the workspace's dashboard or in the quick-switch menu.





Closed form status

Once a form has been Closed no further data can be collected but it is still available for analysis. A form should be closed once data collection has been completed. Closing a form will unassign it from all data collectors and any in-progress instances of the form will be removed (deleted) from data collector handsets. On the console, any unpublished changes to the form will be discarded, and the form will become read-only. You will still be able to access the Grid on the Analyse page of the form and access your data and reports as you were able to when the form was Published.


Note: If data collectors are offline at the time of closing the form, the form will only be removed from their handsets once they have connectivity.


To close a form:

  1. From the Design tab, select the settings icon in the toolbar (next to Preview). 
  2. Select 'Close' from the drop-down.




A list of all your Closed forms can be accessed from the workspace's dashboard or in the quick-switch menu.



Re-opening a closed form


Should you wish to resume data collection, you can re-open a closed form at any point. The form returns to the Published status and the last published version of the form is available for further editing or re-assignment.


Note: Data collectors must be reassigned to a reopened form before they will be able to access it on their handsets. You can do this from the Collect tab.



Deleting a form


Deleting a form deletes all pages, fields, data (submissions) received and reports associated with the form permanently. Deleting a form is permanent. 


The form is also removed from all data collector handsets. Only users with the relevant permissions may delete a form.


Note: If data collectors are offline at the time of deleting the form, the form will only be removed from their handsets once they have connectivity.


To delete a form:

  1. Navigate to the Dashboard.
  2. Select the settings icon next to the form that you wish to delete.
  3. Choose 'Delete form' from the drop-down.


Note: You cannot undo deleting a form.