Overview
By default, CommCare offers a few features to help manage forms on the device. Since some of these features are not visible until discovered, and thus somewhat confusing, this page lays out the basics of how forms are managed.
Configuration Options
Currently Incomplete and Saved form management are enabled by default. You can disable them by going to your Application Settings and choosing "disable" for each feature under the Android Settings section.
If you have CommCare Sense (in the Applicatoin General Settings) turned on, then that will also disable both Incomplete and Saved Forms.
When the features are disabled, incomplete and saved form records are not created, and all of the user interface options pertaining to them will be removed from the CommCare application's home screen.
Incomplete Forms
What are incomplete forms?
Incomplete forms are forms that have been started but not finished. This could happen, for example, if the client or user is suddenly called away but plans to finish the form later.
Instead of losing the information the user has already filled out, the user can save the form to the phone as "incomplete" and return to it at any time.
How do I save a form as incomplete?
There are three ways you can save a form as incomplete:
- Pressing the back button during form entry (to cancel entry and return to CommCare) results in a popup asking whether changes to the form should be saved. If the user chooses to save the changes, the current form will be saved and marked as incomplete.
- During form entry, if the user brings up the soft menu and chooses Save Form, the form will be saved in its current form as incomplete.
- At the end of form entry there is a checkbox specifing whether the form should be marked as complete (checked by default). If the user unchecked the box and then clicks the button to exit, the form will be marked incomplete
Once you have saved the form as incomplete, it will be saved in an encrypted format to the device's storage.
How do I continue a form I saved as incomplete?
There are two ways to resume entry of an incomplete form
- From the CommCare home screen, select Incomplete under the Form Records heading, navigate to the incomplete form, and select it.
- If the form is associated with a case, then the next time the user selects that same case and form they will have the option to resume the incomplete form. A dialog box will ask whether the user wants to resume the form which that had previously started and saved as incomplete. From here, the user can resume entry, start a new form, or delete the incomplete form (and start a new form).
If you choose to continue an incomplete form, the original incomplete form you saved will remain saved on the phone unless you save it again or complete the form. If a user pressed the back button and chooses to not save their changes, for instance, the original incomplete form remains as it was before form entry. If the user presses Save Form on the menu, however, it will update the existing saved form with the new version.
How can I remove an incomplete form?
If an incomplete form is stale and should be removed, this can be done from either of the 2 screens described in the steps to continue the form. To remove an incomplete form from the Incomplete Forms screen, you can long-click a form and then choose Delete Record
Considerations for Using Incomplete Forms
Incomplete forms are most useful for projects where people are frequently interrupted but able to resume work relatively quickly. In addition incomplete forms is only recommended for advanced users.
It is important not to leave incomplete forms open for a long time, because this makes it more likely that case data will be changed before the form is actually submitted. For example, if you have an incomplete form about a particular case, and then fill out another form that updates the same case prior to finishing the incomplete form, your case data may not reflect the most recent information.
In addition if a project uses incomplete forms the Form Completion Time report will likely not be accurate, as uses the total time from when the form was first opened until the time when the form was closed. If an incomplete form is left open for a long time this will throw off the calculations used in this report and it will appear that users are taking a very long time to complete forms.
Unsent Forms
Once a form has been entered and processed by CommCare it is stored in an encrypted format to be sent to the server as soon as a connection is available. These unsent forms aren't available to view individually, but the number of unsent forms can be checked by navigating to the CommCare home screen and reading the message underneath the Sync with Server button. If that message does not contain a notification about unsent forms, all forms have been sent.
Saved Forms
What are saved forms?
Once a form has been completed CommCare, it is then saved on the device in an encrypted format so it can be reviewed in a read only format in the future. Forms remain saved on the phone for a while even after they have been sent to the server. You can choose how long they stay on the phone by using the setting Days for Review in the Android Settings section of the Application Settings.
Forms are only saved to the device in this way after they have been processed and submitted to the server.
How can I see my saved forms?
You can view these forms by navigating to the Saved button under the Form Records heading on the home screen. The forms can be selected and viewed in a read only format.
How can I remove saved forms?
If necessary the records can manually be removed from the device's local storage in the same manner as Incomplete forms.
Considerations for Using Saved Forms
Saved forms are useful in projects where users want to be able to refer back to forms that they recently submitted, or a supervisor wants to be able to spot-check recent submissions. This can be a useful part of workflow, but it is important to note that if the app is reinstalled or a user logs into another device the saved forms will not be restored; they are specific to the device from which they were submitted. Submitted forms are always available from CommCareHQ.