# Forms and surveys

A form collects the same information the same way every time, for example a site inspection checklist or a customer enquiry form. When someone submits it, Forge records their answers.

## Fill in a form

1. Open the form, or the task that contains it.
2. Fill in what you can. On most forms, Forge keeps your answers as you go.
3. If you need to stop and come back later and the form has a Save progress button, press it.
4. When everything is done, check your answers and press Submit.

If you spot a mistake afterwards, follow your workspace's usual correction process rather than submitting a second response: two answers for the same thing can cause confusion later.

## Save progress and Submit

Save progress and Submit do different jobs.

- **Save progress** keeps your answers so far, including any photos you have already added. It doesn't send anything to the office, change any records or start any follow-up steps. A short line by the buttons tells you where your work stands, for example "Saved at 14:32", "Saved on another device" or "Offline: kept on this device only". If you're offline, Forge tries again by itself when you're back online.
- **Submit** sends your answers to the record and starts anything that is set up to happen next. If something required is still missing, Forge lists exactly what's needed, and you can tap an item to go straight to it. After you submit, the thank-you screen tells you what happened, for example that your answers are saved to the record and your saved progress has been cleared.

Where you can pick up again depends on the form:

- **A form for a job record**, such as one room on an inspection list or the report for one site: saved progress belongs to that record. You, or a colleague with the same link or access, can carry on from another phone or computer. If someone else saved after you opened it, you'll see "Saved on another device" and can choose Load latest.
- **Another form you open inside your workspace:** saved progress is yours, on any device where you sign in.
- **Another link sent to you:** saved progress stays in the browser you used.
- **Public pages and surveys sent as a link:** each visit starts fresh and nothing is kept, unless the form was set up to keep progress. Then it stays in that browser only, and the form shows the Save progress button.

Progress saved online is cleared 30 days after it was last saved.

## For the office: saved progress isn't a submission

Saved progress doesn't appear in your tables or records. It doesn't notify anyone, run follow-up steps or count towards the task. The record only changes when someone presses Submit. If a record is submitted again later, it's updated and its follow-up steps run again, as before. Forge doesn't yet show the office which records have saved progress waiting.

~~~
Check whether [form] keeps saved progress, who can pick it up again, and what happens when someone submits it. Do not submit or change anything.
~~~

## Set up a form

An administrator or your agent can build a form and, where useful, connect it to a table of records, a follow-up task, or a document. Ask to see the questions and what happens after someone submits, before it goes live.

~~~
Find the right form for [job]. Explain who can submit it, where its response is recorded and what happens after submission.
~~~

## What happens after someone submits

Every submission is recorded straight away. What happens next depends on how the form was set up: it can also add a row to a table, create a follow-up task, produce a document, or send a notification. Check this against a real submission before relying on it.

~~~
Show the latest response to this form and any configured follow-up. Do not resend, edit or create a second response.
~~~

## Related help

- [Tables and records](/help/tables)
- [Documents](/help/documents)