Fill out a form without losing what you typed
Work through a long form at your own pace, and keep everything you wrote when something interrupts you.
Almost nobody loses a form through doing something wrong. They lose it because the page timed out, or because they used the browser’s back arrow instead of the form’s own one.
The form below belongs to an invented city called Brambleton. Yours will look a little different, and every one of them has these same four steps: your details, the questions, check your answers, send.
Key points
- Use the form’s own Back button rather than the browser’s arrow
- Press Save and come back later the moment life interrupts
- Read the check-your-answers page, because it is the last chance to change anything
- Write long answers in a notepad first and carry them across
What to remember
- A "check your answers" page exists so you can change your mind. Read it; it is the last chance to change anything without starting again.
- Save and come back later is not an admission of defeat. It is the button the form’s designers put there for real life.
- Copy takes a copy and paste puts it down. The words stay in the notepad as well, which is the whole point.
Try this
Photograph the reference number on the next confirmation screen you ever see, whatever it is for. It costs one second and it turns a difficult phone call into a short one.
Practice: Fill out a form without losing what you typed. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.