A form response that is missing, locked or not downloadable is almost always explained by one of four things: the response's status, the form's settings (Require Subject, Require Signature, Require Approval, Restrict Access), your role's Scope of Support, or an expired link. Check them in that order. The one case that is not a problem at all is an Approved or Awaiting Approval response: those are locked on purpose, for everyone, including administrators.
Participants are labelled Clients, Students, Residents or Explorers depending on the account type. This article calls them participants.
Who can do this, and where
Everything here happens in the Equip web app under Forms.
Team members need Forms access on their role. Account administrators see every response in the account.
Other team members see responses according to their role's Scope of Support (Settings, Permissions, Custom Roles): Full sees every response, Designated sees responses about their designated participants plus responses they submitted themselves, Restricted sees only responses about themselves or that they submitted.
Participants cannot start a form response from the web app. They fill forms through a link or invitation sent to them.
Forms is turned on for your account by the Equip team. If you do not see Forms in the left menu, ask us to enable it.
Response statuses
The badge on each row of a form's Responses list tells you the status:
Badge | Meaning |
Pending | An invitation was sent and nobody has opened it yet. The row shows an Invited Date. |
In Progress | The responder clicked Save & Finish Later. Saved answers are kept but nothing is submitted. |
Awaiting Approval | Submitted on a form with Require Approval turned on. Locked until an approver acts. |
Completed | Submitted on a form without approval, or submitted and not yet approved. |
Approved | Completed and approved. Hovering shows the approval date. |
Denied | An approver denied it. Only the responder can edit and resubmit it. |
Invitation Link Expired | A Pending invitation whose link has passed the form's link expiry window. |
Steps to find the cause
In the left navigation click Forms, open the form, and find the response in the Responses list. Read its badge using the table above.
Click the row to open the response. If the button you expect is missing (Edit Response, Download, Approve Response, Deny Response, Resend), match it against the rules under "Limits and what the errors mean".
On the form page, read the settings panel: Require Subject, Require Approval, Require Signature, Allow External Responses, Allow Anonymous Responses, Requires Approval From. Each Yes changes what is allowed.
If a team member cannot see responses that an administrator can see, open Edit Form and check the Restrict Access toggle ("Limit which roles can view this form's responses"). If it is on, only account administrators, the roles listed under it, and the person who submitted each response can see them. When the toggle is on and no roles are listed, the placeholder reads "Only super admins can access".
If the team member is not on the restricted list, check their role's Scope of Support under Settings, Permissions, Custom Roles.
If the response was invited and shows Invitation Link Expired, open it and click Resend to issue a new link.
Limits and what the errors mean
Editing
Awaiting Approval and Approved responses cannot be edited by anyone, including administrators. To change one, an approver must deny it first.
Denied responses can only be edited by the person who submitted them, through Edit and Resubmit on the response. If the form requires a signature, they must sign again. Otherwise they see: "Signature is required when resubmitting a denied response."
Completed responses on a form with Require Signature turned on cannot be edited. Completed responses on forms without a signature can be edited by any team member who can open them.
Pending responses show no Edit Response button. In Progress responses can be edited.
Responses to a form shared by an umbrella account can be filled and viewed in the sub-account, but the form itself cannot be edited there.
Downloading
The Download button is hidden on Denied responses.
On a custom form (one built from Equip questions), Download is hidden while the response is Pending or In Progress. The response must be submitted first.
On a PDF document form, an In Progress response can still be downloaded.
Team members whose role acts as a Supporter cannot download a response while it is Awaiting Approval.
A downloadable response also appears under Documents on the participant's profile once it is completed and has a subject. Documents from a Restrict Access form are hidden by the same role rules as the response.
Submitting
"No subjects were selected." appears when the form has Require Subject turned on and no participant was chosen. Pick a subject or turn Require Subject off on the form.
"There was an error submitting the response! Please check the form for errors." means a required question, the signature or the subject is missing. The fields are marked on the form.
"Response saved. You can finish it later." confirms a Save & Finish Later. The response is In Progress, no notifications go out, and it is not counted as a submission.
Approving and denying
Only the people listed under Requires Approval From can approve or deny. Deny Response is offered only while the response is Awaiting Approval.
"Response was successfully approved!" and "Response was denied." confirm each action. A denied response that is corrected and resubmitted shows "Response was resubmitted for approval." and goes back to the approvers.
Event form requests
The Form dropdown under an event's Data Collection, Request Form lists only custom forms with Require Subject turned off. PDF document forms and any form that requires a subject are not offered, because an event-level form has no single participant to attach to.
The request is created 5 minutes after the event ends and only if the event has attendees. Each registrant whose role is in Send to Roles receives a to-do titled "Complete [form title]", due at the end of the next day. Saving the event again reschedules the request.
Links and invitations
Copy Link and Download QR Code appear in the form's menu only when the form does not require a subject, allows external responses, and is Active.
Links and invitations stop working after the form's link expiry window (30 days by default; a blank value means they never expire). Someone who opens an expired link sees the page "This form link has expired" with the note "Nothing you sent before is lost." Nothing already saved is deleted.
Resend is available on invited responses that are Pending, In Progress or Denied and have a responder email. It confirms with "Reminder sent to [email]." If the address is not deliverable you see "Cannot send reminder — invalid email address."
Deleting
A form with responses is not deleted, it is discarded and hidden: "Form was successfully discarded." Only a form with no responses is deleted outright.
"Questions with submitted answers cannot be deleted." appears when you remove a question that already has answers. Remove it from a duplicate of the form instead, or leave it in place.
FAQ
Why is my form missing from the event form dropdown?
The Request Form dropdown on a calendar event only lists custom forms that have Require Subject turned off. Open the form, click Edit Form, turn off Require Subject and save. PDF document forms never appear there.
Can staff see the answers in an in-progress response?
Yes. Anyone who could see the response once it is completed can open it from the Responses list while it is In Progress and read the saved answers. It is still not a submission: no notifications have gone out, and it will not appear in the Form Responses report until the responder clicks Submit Response.
Why can't I download an in-progress form response?
On a custom form, Download is only offered after the response is submitted. Ask the responder to open the response and click Submit Response, or open it yourself with Edit Response and submit it. PDF document forms can be downloaded while in progress.
Why can't I edit an approved response?
Approved and Awaiting Approval responses are locked for everyone, including account administrators, to keep the approval record intact. An approver must deny the response first. The responder can then use Edit and Resubmit.
A team member can't see a form's responses that I can see. Why?
Either the form has Restrict Access turned on and their role is not on its list, or their role's Scope of Support is Designated or Restricted, which limits them to responses about their designated participants or about themselves. Add their role under Restrict Access on the form, or change the role's Scope of Support under Settings, Permissions, Custom Roles.
A responder says the form link expired. What do I do?
Open the form, find their response in the Responses list and click Resend. The new link uses the form's link expiry window again. To lengthen or remove the window for future links, edit the form's link expiry days; a blank value means links never expire.
Why is Copy Link missing from the form's menu?
Copy Link and Download QR Code only show when the form does not require a subject, allows external responses, and is Active. A form that requires a subject has to be filled from a participant's profile or sent as an invitation instead.
Why did deleting my form only mark it as discarded?
A form that has responses is discarded rather than deleted, so the responses and their documents are kept. Forms with no responses are deleted permanently.
Related
Viewing Form Responses
Form Restrictions
Save & Finish Later for Forms
Approving Forms
Denying Form Responses
Sending Form Reminders
Request Forms from Calendar Events
Understanding Role Terminology in Equip
Form Responses Report