Updating a published form

When to use versioning

Once a form is published, the structure is locked in the Form Builder so you can't accidentally break submissions that are already in. That's the safety net — but sometimes you genuinely need to change a published form. Maybe a question wasn't clear, maybe you need a new field, maybe a checklist item is no longer relevant.

Versioning is the way to make those changes safely. Instead of editing the live form, you create a new version as a fresh draft. You edit and preview the new version, then publish it when you're happy. The old version stays live the whole time, so submissions in flight aren't affected.

Use versioning when you need to:

• Add new fields to a published form
• Remove or rename existing fields
• Change show/hide conditions on live questions
• Restructure a form into multiple pages
• Change which fields are required

For changes that don't touch the structure — fixing a typo in the form's name, adding another project link, updating the description — use the Modify Form action instead. It's quicker and doesn't need a new version.

Creating a new version

1. 1

   Open the Forms list and find the published form you want to change.

2. 2

   Click the actions menu on the form's row.

3. 3

   Choose Create New Version.

4. 4

   A new draft is created as a copy of the published version, with the version number bumped (for example v2 becomes v3). The published version stays live in the meantime.

5. 5

   The new draft opens in the Form Builder for you to edit.

The new draft is completely independent of the published version — they share a common ancestor but they're now separate forms. Submissions to the published version stay linked to the published version's structure. New submissions, once you publish the new version, will use the new structure.

Publishing the new version

When the new draft is ready, change its status to Published the same way you'd publish any other form. The system handles the version flag automatically:

• The new version becomes the current version
• The previous current version is no longer current, but stays available
• Existing submissions stay linked to the version they were filled in against
• All future submissions go to the new version

You can keep multiple versions published at once if you want. There's no rule that says only one version can be live at a time — useful if you need an old version to remain available for a particular team while a new version rolls out elsewhere.

Looking at the version history

To see every version of a form, click the Version History action on any version's row in the Forms list. A dialog opens with the full list:

• The version number, e.g. v1, v2, v3
• A status badge showing Draft, Published or Archived
• When the version was created and who by
• A Preview button on each row

The list is in chronological order with the most recent at the top.

Previewing an old version

Click the eye icon on any version to open it in preview mode. The preview:

• Shows the form exactly as users would have seen it
• Is read-only — you can fill fields in to test them but nothing is saved
• Lets you click a test submit to see what would have been flagged as missing or wrong if a real user had filled it in

Preview is useful for:

• Checking what's changed between versions before publishing the new one
• Recalling what an old version looked like when reviewing a historical submission
• Sanity-checking show/hide conditions before promoting a draft to published

The test submit is non-destructive — no actual submission is created.

Old submissions stay accurate

Each submission is locked to the version of the form it was filled in against. When you view an old submission, it's shown using the structure of the version it was made on, not the current version.

This is the whole point of versioning — you can change a form's structure without breaking the historical record. A submission from v1 still shows the v1 fields, even when v3 is now the current version.

Reverting to an older version

There's no direct revert button — but you can get the same effect:

1. 1

   Open the older version in preview to confirm it's the one you want.

2. 2

   Use Create New Version on the older version to spawn a fresh draft from it.

3. 3

   Publish the new draft — it becomes the current version, while the previously current version drops back into the history.

This gives you the same end state as a revert — the older structure is now current — without losing the version that was current in between.

Real-world example

You've been running a daily site inspection form for six months. The team feeds back that the "Weather" question is too vague — they want a dropdown with specific options instead of free text.

1. 1

   On the Forms list, click Create New Version on the daily inspection form.

2. 2

   The new draft opens. Replace the free-text Weather field with a Dropdown. Add the options Dry, Light rain, Heavy rain, Frost, Snow, Wind.

3. 3

   Toggle preview, fill in a test submission to make sure the dropdown looks right.

4. 4

   Publish the new draft.

The new version is now live for any submissions filled in from this point forward. The 200 historical submissions filled in against the previous version still show the original Weather text answers exactly as they were entered.

Next steps

• Finding your way around the Forms list — for the Create New Version action and the Version History dialog.
• Using the Form Builder — for editing the new draft once it's open.
• Reusing forms with templates — versioning works the same way on templates as it does on forms.