Save and continue later

Long and multi-page forms lose completions when visitors get interrupted. Formie stores incomplete submissions in the database, optionally exposes a save button with resume links, and can restore in-progress state automatically when someone returns. This walkthrough configures the feature end-to-end for a job application or registration form.

Prerequisites

• Save & Continue Later
• Configuration — retention and token settings

Two related behaviours

Both store real submission records marked incomplete until the final step completes.

Step 1 — Enable multi-page or long single-page form

Save-and-continue shines on:

• Multi-page forms (progress saved on each page navigation)
• Long single-page forms with many fields

Ensure Enable Multi-Page Forms is on globally unless you intentionally run single-page only (Settings or enableMultiPageForms in config).

Step 2 — Automatic submission state

On the form Settings tab, enable Automatic Submission State when visitors should resume an in-progress submission if they return to the same form URL in the same browser session (without a resume link).

• Enabled — Formie restores the incomplete submission on return
• Disabled — Form starts fresh unless the user opens a resume link

Automatic state uses database-backed submission state.

Step 3 — Add a save button

On the page where users should be able to save deliberately:

1. Open page settings in the form builder
2. Enable Show Save Button
3. Set Save Button Label (for example Save and finish later)
4. Choose link vs button display if your template supports it

When clicked, Formie creates a resume link with a token tied to that in-progress submission. The link works across browsers and devices — treat it like private access to a draft, especially for forms collecting personal data.

Anyone with a resume link can continue that in-progress submission.

Step 4 — Configure retention

Align plugin settings with how long users might wait before returning:

return [
    '*' => [
        'saveResumeTokenTtlDays' => 30,
        'maxIncompleteSubmissionAge' => 60,
        'submissionStateRetentionDays' => 60,
    ],
];

Also review the form's Data Retention settings under form builder Settings for completed submission cleanup — separate from incomplete retention.

Step 5 — Submission statuses for incomplete records

Incomplete submissions appear in the control panel like other submissions, usually with an incomplete flag. Filter and report on them using Submission Statuses.

Consider a status workflow for teams reviewing abandoned applications — for example, Incomplete → Follow up → Complete.

Step 6 — Email notifications

By default, notifications fire on complete submissions. Decide whether partial saves should trigger email:

• Usually no — wait for final submit
• If yes — add a notification with a condition on submission completeness (or a custom workflow task)

Avoid spamming admins on every page step unless that is intentional.

Step 7 — Headless and GraphQL

Save-and-resume works for client-rendered forms when using Formie's client session model. Bootstrap via formieClientForm; partial saves flow through submitFormieClientForm with incomplete state.

Resume links point at your Craft front-end URL with a token query parameter — ensure your SPA or Twig template loads the form and passes the token to Formie's client bootstrap.

Step 8 — Security and privacy

• Resume links are capability URLs — do not log them in analytics or expose them in referrer headers to third parties
• Set TTL short enough for your compliance requirements
• On GDPR-sensitive forms, document save-and-continue in your privacy notice
• Disable save buttons on forms where partial data must not persist (use automatic page progress only, or single-page with no save)

Related

• Save & Continue Later
• Configuration
• Submission workflow and stages explained