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Let people save and continue

Respondents can close a long survey and come back to the same question, on the public link or a personal link.

Long surveys lose people halfway. With save and continue, answers are saved as people move between questions, so they can close the page and pick up where they left off. It is on by default; change it in the survey's Settings tab, under Save and continue.

What respondents see

  • A quiet line says their progress is saved, and where: in this browser on the public link, with their personal link on a personal link.
  • On return, a Welcome back message says their earlier answers are filled in, with a Start over button that forgets them. They land on the question they were on.
  • Submitting deletes the saved answers.

Where answers are kept

  • Public link: saved on our servers against a secret token that lives in a cookie in that browser. Only a hash of the token is stored. Another browser or device doesn't find the draft, unless you offer Email me a link (below).
  • Personal link of a named survey: saved against the participant, so the link opens the draft from any device.
  • Personal link of an anonymous survey: kept in the person's own browser only. Nothing on our servers ties unfinished answers to a person, which is what an anonymous survey promises.
  • Embeds and surveys with save and continue turned off don't save progress.
Answers to sensitive questions are never saved on our servers before submission. They stay in the open tab, so a reload keeps them, but closing the tab clears them and the person answers those questions again.

Email me a link to continue

Switch on Offer “Email me a link to continue” and people on the public link can send themselves a link back to their saved answers. The email carries only the link and the date it stops working, in their language, never their answers. The address is used once to send it and isn't stored. Sending is rate limited, per draft and per visitor, so the form can't be used to mail people in bulk. It isn't offered in anonymous surveys, because an email address would tie a person to their unfinished answers.

How long answers are kept

Unfinished answers are deleted after the number of days you set (30 by default, from 1 to 365) from the last time the person answered. Files uploaded into a draft are removed when the draft goes. Turning save and continue off deletes every saved draft of the survey straight away.

If you publish a change meanwhile

A returning respondent's answers are checked against the newest published version. Answers to questions that were removed or no longer fit are dropped, and the person continues on the question they were on, or on the first question that needs an answer again.

To see where people stop instead of waiting for them to return, open Where people drop off.

Still stuck? Talk to us and we’ll help you sort it out.