Autosave data on forms

Feature Requests
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I would like the ability for forms to auto save data once a user submits something to a field, instead of forcing them to get to the end of the form to submit all of the data.

I’ve had users complain that they lost data while working on a form because they stopped half way through it thinking it would auto save like most forms work now.

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Hi @IAmAKnacker

There are pros and cons to this which, on balance, make me prefer the way Knack deals with this - although I have lost a client because of it once.

My reasoning is as follows:

  1. If you go for field saving when entered then it is basically impossible to build proper validation and other rules into your system.
  2. For things like sending emails or record rules what would the point be at which the process is triggered (of course this could be triggered by a field being completed I guess).

I have worked with systems which take the other approach of creating an empty record when a user starts filling it in and these things are definitely an issue - you end up with quite a lot of partially complete records which are not properly validated.

Just my thoughts on the matter though.

Julian

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Hi @JulianKirkness

You can still use conditional rules on the fields on the database side to do input validation. Depending on the form you can also leverage tasks to possibly deal with records, etc.

I definitely understand their is value in relying on the submit button to perform some sort of action, but i think if there was the option to use an auto save feature instead of the form submit, it would make the forms that much more useful to end users.

Imagine you are completing a form with 100 questions and your were on question 99 and your internet connection drops, or you lose power, you would have to go back and answer all 99 questions again. Yes, you can break up the form into child pages but having the auto save would make things so much easier.

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Hey @IAmAKnacker

I had this exact issue with an existing client that has an insurance company. They often have to send multiple page forms to clients.
I used Jotform, which has a save and resume feature. Once the submission is complete it triggers Integromat and I pull that data into Knack.

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@CarlHolmes. Thanks for the information. I see the form could be embedded within a webpage to give it a uniform look.

The way we use knack is, on behalf of our clients we are sending questionnaires to their vendors and asking the vendors to complete them. Our client table is connected to the request which is connected to the questions. The vendor is connected to the questions. How are you taking unique responses from the clients and associating it with the client table (which I assume you have setup).

To save on database record size, we have the questions set up as fields so there is only one row of answers. When we create the form, we use child pages to break up the questions to provide “save” points for clients. Its the only solution I could come up with that would prevent someone from losing all of their responses.

I am trying to think of the workflow that will allow us to import vendor responses from a Jotform to the request. Does Jotforms have its own database where the information is stored? API? I am open to writing some code to pull data out of one API and put it in via another.

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