How to Let Customers Save Progress and Complete Forms Later

Give people time to gather information, get approvals, or find documents—without losing their progress or starting over from scratch.

Build Time & Skill

10-15 min

Beginner

What you'll learn

How to enable Save & Resume so form users can save their progress, return later via email link, and complete submissions on their schedule

Screenshot of the Save and Resume email settings in Cognito Forms, and an illustrated cursor hovering over a "Save" button

Long forms require time. Clients need to gather documents, employees need manager approvals, customers need to find payment information. Without a way to save progress, every interruption becomes an abandoned form, and you lose valuable submissions because people don’t want to start over.

With Cognito Forms’ Save & Resume feature, you can:

Reduce form abandonment for complex intake, onboarding, and payment processes by letting people return exactly where they left off.
Improve completion rates by giving people the flexibility to work at their own pace across days or weeks.
Maintain control over link expiration times and form security while offering convenience.

How to Set Up Progress Saving: Step-by-Step

Allowing progress saving on your forms takes just a few minutes. You’ll turn on the Save & Resume feature, configure how long links stay valid, customize the email people receive, and test the experience before going live.

Step 1: Enable Save & Resume

Turn on the feature that lets form users save their progress and return later.

screenshot of the "Save and Resume" setting in Cognito Forms turned on

Open the Workflow menu at the top of the form builder.
Toggle Save & Resume to On.
A Save button automatically appears at the bottom of your form.

Once enabled, anyone filling out your form can click the “Save” button and receive a unique link to their in-progress entry.

Step 2: Configure link expiration

Control how long Save & Resume links remain valid. This balance between convenience and security depends on your specific use case.

screenshot of the "Save and Resume" expiration setting in Cognito Forms with a drop-down showing options of 1, 4, 7, 14, 21, or 28 days

For the Expires setting, you have two options:

Never expire: The link works indefinitely until someone submits the form (changing the status from Incomplete). Choose this for applications or registrations where people need unlimited time to gather information.
After X days: Set a specific timeframe from 1 to 28 days after the initial save. The link expires after your chosen period or when the entry status changes from Incomplete (whichever comes first). This works well for time-sensitive processes like event registrations or quote approvals.

When a link expires, users see a customizable Not Available Message. You can edit this message to explain why the link no longer works and provide next steps (like contacting your team or submitting a new form).

Step 3: Customize the Save & Resume email

When someone saves their progress, they can either copy the link directly or email it to themselves. Customize this email to match your brand voice and provide clear instructions.

Animated GIF of a cursor clicking to the Save and Resume workflow settings in Cognito Forms and configuring the Save and Resume email options

Configure these email settings:

From: Set both the display name and email address that the message comes from.
To: You have two options here:
- Leave blank so the form user can input any email address when saving.
- Use Insert Field to auto-populate an email address from an Email field or Person field already on your form.
Message: Write instructions explaining what the link does and how long it remains valid. Keep it brief and action-oriented.

Quick Tip

If you’ve embedded your form on your website, check Send resume links to embedded forms to redirect people back to your site instead of the Cognito Forms domain.

Step 4: Test the experience

Before sharing your form, verify that Save & Resume works as expected and provides the right user experience.

Animated GIF of a cursor filling out a monthly expenses form, clicking "Save," opening an email with a "Resume Now" button, reopening the same entry, and finishing the fields

Fill out part of the form using the Public Link.
Click the Save button at the bottom.
Choose to email the link to yourself.
Check your email and click the link to reopen your entry.
Confirm you return to exactly where you left off, with all data preserved.

This testing process helps you catch any issues with link expiration settings, email formatting, or the overall flow before your real form users encounter them.

Quick Tip

When someone opens a Save & Resume link for a multi-page form, their progress is automatically saved as they navigate from page to page.

When Save & Resume Becomes Essential

While Save & Resume benefits many forms, certain scenarios make this feature absolutely critical. These are the situations where abandonment rates drop dramatically once you enable progress saving.

Lengthy intake forms and applications: Client onboarding, job applications, and intake forms often span multiple pages and require information people don’t have at their fingertips. Save & Resume respects that reality and turns these frustrating obstacles into manageable tasks people can complete in stages.
Payment collection forms: People rarely have payment information readily available. Whether they need to get budget approval, locate a company credit card, or verify account details with accounting, payment forms see high abandonment without progress saving.
Multi-department approval workflows: Employees submitting requests often can’t complete forms in one sitting when they need manager signatures, budget codes, or departmental approvals before submission. Save & Resume prevents them from losing work while they gather required sign-offs.

When to Consider a Client Portal

If you’re working with clients, members, or partners who need ongoing access to multiple forms or entries, you should consider creating a full portal experience with Guest Access.

Add Guest Access when:

Clients or members need to submit forms regularly over time
People need to view and update multiple past submissions
You want to give external users a central view of all their interactions with you

Guest Access transforms individual Save & Resume links into a comprehensive portal where external users log in once and see all their forms, entries, and tasks in one place. It’s the natural evolution for mature workflows and long-term relationships.

For detailed guidance on setting up client portals, see our Guest Access documentation.

Start Reducing Form Abandonment Today

Long forms don’t have to mean lost submissions. Enable Save & Resume to give people the flexibility they need while maintaining the professional, efficient workflows you depend on. Whether you’re onboarding clients, collecting payments, or processing applications, this single feature can dramatically improve completion rates and user satisfaction.

FAQ

Yes, they can save their progress as many times as needed within the expiration timeframe. Each time they click Save, they can use the same link they previously received and will receive the link again. The Entry Audit Log tracks saves that are at least one hour apart, giving you visibility into how many times someone returned to complete the form.

When a link expires, users see your customized “Not Available Message” instead of the form. This message can explain why the link expired and provide next steps, like contacting your team or submitting a new form. Links expire either after your set timeframe (up to 28 days) or when the entry status changes from Incomplete (whichever comes first).

Yes, saved entries count toward your plan’s entry limit even while they remain in Incomplete status. These entries contain data and consume storage, so they’re viewed as “In Progress” and counted just like submitted entries.

Yes, Save & Resume works with embedded forms. Enable the Send resume links to embedded forms option in your Save & Resume settings to ensure the link redirects people back to your website where the form is embedded, rather than to the Cognito Forms domain. This maintains a seamless, branded experience even when people return to complete their form later.