You've started filling out a Google Form, but something interrupts you. You can come back to the form later, but does Google Forms save progress?
Losing your progress in a Google Form is a common concern, especially if you're working through a lengthy survey or questionnaire.
In this post, we’ll discuss Google Forms’ autosave feature so that you can eliminate the fear of losing all your hard work when you take a break. Ready? Let’s get into it!
Understanding Google Forms autosave features
Whether creating a form or filling it out, Google Forms has introduced a handy autosave feature, alleviating the worry of losing your progress during longer forms and surveys. This feature automatically saves your responses as you type. If you need to pause and return later, your answers will be waiting for you right where you left off.
This is especially useful for complex forms that require detailed information or thoughtful answers. Autosave ensures that your responses are saved as a draft in Google Forms, even if your browser crashes or you accidentally close the tab.
It’s important to know that this feature only works if you're signed into your Google account. The autosave function won't be available if you fill out the form anonymously or without logging in. What’s more, the owner of the form needs to have enabled the autosave feature in order for it to be usable.
Autosave also works during the form creation process. Even if you don’t save your form manually, you can find it again saved as an untitled form by navigating to your recent forms.
How to ensure autosave is turned on in Google Forms
Here are the steps you need to take to turn on the autosave feature in Google Forms. Note: this process only works if you are the creator of the form.
Step 1: Open your form
Navigate to your Google Forms and open the form that you want to enable the autosave feature for.
Step 2: Go to Settings
Toggle over to the ‘Settings’ tab from the ‘Question’ tab.
Step 3: Go to Presentation settings
Click the down arrow next to the ‘Presentation’ tab to open the presentation settings.
Step 4: Make sure autosave is enabled
Within the presentation settings, you’ll find a series of options.
Autosave is enabled by default in Google Forms. This means it’s likely already good to go; however, you can check this by making sure that the ‘Disable auto-save for all respondents’ option is turned off. If this setting is off, your Google form will automatically save progress for all respondents as they fill out your form.
If you work with Google Forms regularly, it helps to be aware of all the platform offers. Learn more about the various Google Forms options and settings and how to make and use a Google Forms survey.
What to know about saving progress with Google Forms
Here are a few things you should know about the autosave feature in Google Forms:
Progress is saved for 30 days
If you’re a respondent, you should know that your progress in Google Forms will only be saved for 30 days. After 30 days, your saved progress will be deleted if the form isn’t submitted.
Progress only saves if you’re logged in
The progress you make on a Google Form will only be saved only if you’re signed into your Google account. If you’re viewing the form anonymously, your progress won’t autosave. However, if you log in with your Google account on a different device, your progress will still be saved.
Factors that impact saved progress
Several factors impact saved progress in Google Forms. Firstly, you need to have access to a particular form for its progress to be saved. You can lose access to a form if the owner deletes or moves it. This is another way of saying the form must be viable for its progress to be saved.
Further, the form owner’s settings can also affect saving progress if they’ve disabled response editing. If the form owner decides to edit or delete particular questions you’ve already responded to, that may not get saved either.
If you’re working with a form that employs branching logic, you may lose access to one or more pages. Learn more about skip logic branching in Google Forms.
Where to find or delete a draft
If you want to find a draft, simply open the form with the link you were provided earlier and use the same Google account that you used previously. Make sure you’re working within 30 days of initially starting on the form, as after this period your autosaved responses will be deleted.
Learn more about what you can do with Google Forms
Google Forms is a versatile platform for creating surveys, quizzes, and event registrations. You can customize questions with various formats such as multiple choice and short answer. It's easy to collaborate with others by sharing forms and adding collaborators.
The platform also offers advanced features such as skip logic branching and add images to help make your forms even more efficient. You can learn about all this and more on the Form Publisher blog, your ultimate resource for everything on Google Forms!
Form Publisher is a Google Forms add-on that enhances the functionality of Google Forms. Head over to the Form Publisher blog to learn more about Google Forms.