Once you start collecting form responses, you may need to perform management actions on the submitted data. This can include removing test entries, deleting unwanted submissions, or handling data for compliance reasons. This guide covers common data management tasks in Formora.

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Data Integrity: Editing Submissions

To maintain the integrity and auditability of collected data, Formora generally treats individual form submissions as immutable records once they are submitted. This means that direct editing of a field value within a received submission is typically not supported through the standard interface.

Why No Direct Editing?

  • Audit Trail: Ensures that the data reflects exactly what the user submitted at a specific point in time.
  • Data Accuracy: Prevents accidental or unauthorized changes that could corrupt the original submission record.
  • Compliance: For many use cases (e.g., surveys, applications, feedback), the original, unaltered submission is the official record.

What If a Correction is Needed? If a user informs you of a mistake in their submission:

  1. Internal Note: Make an internal note or annotation associated with the submission ID if your external systems allow.
  2. Request Resubmission: If feasible, ask the user to submit the form again with the corrected information. You can then delete the incorrect submission.
  3. External Correction: For internal record-keeping, you might export the data, make corrections in your own spreadsheet or database, and note the discrepancy with the original Formora submission ID.

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Deleting Submissions

Formora allows you to delete submissions. This action is permanent and should be done with caution.

Deletion is Permanent: Once a submission is deleted from Formora, it cannot be recovered through the platform. This action will also affect your form analytics and any reports based on the total number of submissions.

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Marking, Tagging, or Changing Submission Status (Feature Dependant)

Some platforms offer features to help organize and manage response workflows, such as:

  • Marking as Read/Unread: To keep track of which submissions have been reviewed.
  • Flagging: To highlight important or follow-up submissions.
  • Archiving: To move processed or older submissions out of the main view without deleting them.
  • Custom Tags/Statuses: Applying labels like “Approved,” “Pending Review,” “Contacted,” etc.

Availability in Formora:

  • At present, explicit features for custom tagging, status changes (beyond potentially an internal read/unread state), or archiving of submissions have not been detailed in the available component information.
  • If such features exist, you would typically find options to apply these statuses or tags either in the main responses table (perhaps as a quick action on each row) or within the detailed single submission view.
  • These statuses, if available, could then often be used as filters in the responses view.

If you require such workflow features, check your Formora interface for any available options or consider using export methods to manage this data in external tools.

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Handling Incomplete or Partial Submissions (Feature Dependant)

If your form is multi-page, Formora might offer functionality to save incomplete or partial submissions (e.g., if a user completes some pages but abandons the form before final submission).

  • Identification: If saved, these would likely be indicated as “Incomplete” or “Partial” in the responses table.
  • Management: Options for managing partial submissions might include:
    • Viewing the data that was entered before abandonment.
    • Deleting them if they are not useful.
    • (Less commonly) Allowing an administrator to complete them, or sending a reminder to the user to complete them (if contact info was captured).

Refer to Formora’s specific documentation on multi-page forms or your response dashboard for how partial submissions are handled if this feature is active.

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Data Privacy and Compliance Considerations

When managing form response data, especially deleting it, always be mindful of:

  • Your Organization’s Data Retention Policies: How long are you required or permitted to keep submitted data?
  • Data Privacy Regulations: Compliance with regulations like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), or other local laws is crucial. These regulations often grant individuals rights regarding their data, such as the right to erasure.

Formora provides you with tools to manage data; however, ensuring compliance with all applicable laws and policies is your responsibility.

Properly managing your response data ensures your dataset remains clean, relevant, and compliant. Next, learn about Exporting Response Data for use in other applications or for offline analysis.